Can We Guess What UK City You'll Live in Five Years From Now?

By: Zoe Samuel
Estimated Completion Time
4 min
Can We Guess What UK City You'll Live in Five Years From Now?
Image: joe daniel price/Moment/Getty Images

About This Quiz

Every British person who has ever been abroad has had the experience of telling a foreigner which country they come from, only to have that person assume that they live in London. After all, London is the only really big city in the U.K. — other than the capital, only Birmingham clocks in over a million residents.

However, there are dozens of smaller cities in Britain that have all sorts of awesome things going for them. Manchester has great nightlife. Liverpool has a thriving jobs market. Newcastle has way more theatres than you'd expect in such a small space. Cambridge has some of the brightest minds in the world, crammed into a shockingly small space. Brighton is family-friendly, affordable, and has a lovely view and even some pleasant sunny weather!

It's true — whatever sort of lifestyle you like, there is a city in the UK that will suit you. If you are young and ambitious but haven't yet started a family, there are larger cities like Glasgow and Cardiff. If you're more relaxed and just want to afford a good house in an area with little unemployment, there's Oxford. If you love beautiful architecture and natural history, there's Salisbury.

Which of these suits you, or will do in five years? Let's find out!

1 ambitious On a scale of 1-10, how ambitious are you?
Four
Eleven
Eight
Six

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2 Brexit Scotland If Brexit triggers Scotland leaving the U.K. and rejoining the E.U. on its own, which side of that border would you like to be on?
South
North
I don't feel strongly.
I go back and forth.

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3 field of work What field do you work in?
Retail
Finance
Showbiz
Academia

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4 skyscrapers Skyscrapers: good or evil?
Evil
Excellent!
Fine in moderation
Very evil

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5 kids How many kids do you anticipate having in five years' time?
Two
None
One
Three

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6 London show How important is it to be able to get to London for an evening show?
Fairly
Not at all
Not really, but a weekend here and there is good!
Very

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7 hike Where would you like to go for a hike?
New Forest
Scottish Highlands
Brecon Beacons
Cotswolds

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8 neighbour What is the best sort of neighbour you could imagine?
Nice ordinary people
Up-and-comers
Creative people
Intelligent people

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9 usual Saturday night What is your usual Saturday night activity?
Go out for pizza and a movie with the family
Drinks at a trendy bar where I flirt with people!
Drinks at a dive bar with friends
Go to a stimulating lecture

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10 dating How large a dating pool is the minimum sustainable requirement?
I'm married already!
At least 50,000
A couple tens of thousands
Up to 10,000

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11 historic surroundings How historic do you like your surroundings to be?
Very
I don't mind either way.
I like a mix.
Entirely

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12 institution What institution would you love to have anchoring your city's economy?
Cathedral (i.e. tourism)
Financial companies
The BBC
A world-class university

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13 flying overseas How many times a year do you fly overseas?
Once
12 or more
Two or three
Four

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14 Natural born brit Are you a native-born Brit?
Definitely, and so is my whole family.
Yes, but my boo isn't.
Yes, but not all my relatives are!
No

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15 car ownership What's your take on car ownership?
It's necessary, but you should get a small one.
Car-sharing is the way to go.
A car is too expensive.
Cars are bad and you should just live somewhere that you can take a bus or train.

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16 pets What sort of pet would you like to own in five years?
Two large dogs
Bird
Cat
Two smaller dogs

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17 house If you lived in a house that was listed, thus you could never do a major renovation, how much would that bother you?
I would not mind as long as I could make smaller changes.
I would never live in such a house.
I'd be annoyed if it meant the floorplan was set up in a silly way.
That's the dream!

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18 filming movie You're walking through your town and see people filming your favorite show. What is it?
Downton Abbey
Peaky Blinders
Doctor Who
The Crown

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19 home city What do you absolutely NOT need in your home city?
Any excitement whatsoever
I need one of everything!
Londoners
Cool people

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20 british city Technically a city is anywhere with a cathedral — but really it's about numbers. How small is too small for a proper city?
35,000
500,000
300,000
120,000

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21 Christmas Whether you're Christian or not, Christmas is the big family holiday in the UK. Where do you like to celebrate it?
We host it at home with our family.
I travel to somewhere hot with my boo.
I go to my parents' place.
We go to family nearby.

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22 Accents Which regional accent appeals to you the most?
West Country
Scottish Lowlands
Welsh
Estuary

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23 London How do you feel about those foreigners who think all British people are from London?
I've never met one. Wow, do they really think that?
I think they're hilarious.
I think they're offensive.
I feel sorry for them.

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24 motorway What do you need to know will NEVER happen in your city?
Big modern monstrosities being built all over it
I need to know anything COULD happen!
High unemployment
A motorway being routed through it

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25 Sunlight Are you badly-affected by lack of sunlight?
Yes, I can be.
No, and I burn in moments! The less sun the better!
Not very badly, no.
Not if I get a few days in the sun every year.

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26 Cooking from scratch How many nights per week do you want to cook from scratch?
Seven
Two or three
Four or five
Six

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27 Students How many students would you like to be around?
None
A few here and there, but not compared to the locals
Quite a few
Loads and loads!

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28 inconvenience What inconvenience are you happy to put up with if everything else about your home is just right?
No restaurants open after 9:30 pm
It's literally always raining.
No convenient international airports that serve the U.S.
Nowhere to park in the whole city

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29 tourists Students aside — do you mind dealing with a lot of tourists in your town?
I'd be fine with that, seasonally.
I'd prefer not.
I don't feel strongly.
I welcome them all the time!

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30 associate with you What do you hope people will associate with you because of where you live?
I'm classy.
I'm hardworking.
I'm creative.
I'm clever.

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You Got:

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