Norwich has been named the UK’s best place to be single in 2026 – beating out big-hitters like London, Liverpool and Glasgow in a new data-led ranking that looks at where solo living actually feels good, not just Instagrammable.
The study, commissioned by adult services platform AdultWork, analysed 346 local authorities across England, Scotland and Wales to see where single people get the best blend of dating opportunities, affordable rent, things to do and personal safety. Each area was scored on five factors – dating pool, affordability, daytime and dining spots, nightlife and crime rates – to create a ‘freedom index’ score out of 100 and a national league table of single-life hotspots.
Norwich tops the list
Norwich takes first place thanks to a mix of a generous dating pool and solid lifestyle perks. Around 65.1% of adults in the city are legally single, which works out at 78,635 people and puts Norwich among the highest proportions of single adults in the country.
It also does well on the fun stuff: there are 650 dining and daytime venues – 53.8 per 10,000 adults – plus 160 pubs and bars, giving plenty of options for low-key coffee dates or big nights out.
A typical one-bedroom rental costs £9,360 a year, which is 30.5% of the local median salary of £30,716, putting Norwich in the middle of the pack on affordability but still far from the punishing ratios seen in the priciest parts of the UK.
The UK’s top 10 single-life hotspots
The top of the ranking shows a surprisingly varied picture – from Welsh countryside to inner-city boroughs.
- Norwich, East of England – freedom index score 63.78
- Liverpool, North West – 62.39
- Powys, Wales – 61.59
- Dundee City, Scotland – 61.10
- Lincoln, East Midlands – 60.98
- Gwynedd, Wales – 60.31
- Camden, London – 59.36
- Islington, London – 58.90
- Glasgow City, Scotland – 58.58
- Blaenau Gwent, Wales – 58.22
Liverpool grabs second place with a strong social scene: 254,020 single adults (63% of its population), 1,775 restaurants and cafés, and 521 pubs and bars – some of the highest venue-per-person ratios in the study.
Powys in mid Wales comes third, helped by the cheapest one-bed rents in Wales at £5,556 a year (just 17.9% of local median wages) and one of the best pub densities in the entire ranking.
London: great nights out, mixed picture overall
London doesn’t top the list, but two of its boroughs – Camden and Islington – do break into the top 10, reflecting their huge concentration of bars, restaurants and single residents. They show that parts of the capital still offer a strong setup for people who want an active single life, provided they can handle the rent.
Zoom out, though, and the data is less kind to London and the South East. This region dominates the bottom of the ranking: Harrow comes last out of all 346 areas, followed by Redbridge and Hart, with high rents and only modest dating pools coming up again and again. In Harrow, for example, a one-bedroom flat costs £16,500 a year and swallows 43.9% of the local median salary – before you’ve even thought about paying for drinks or dinner.
How the ‘freedom index’ works
Rather than just counting how many single people live in each area, the study tries to capture what it actually feels like to live there as a single adult. Each local authority is scored on:
- Dating pool (30% weighting): the share of legally single adults (never married and never in a civil partnership).
- Affordability (20%): how much of the local median annual wage would be needed to rent a one-bedroom property for a year, with lower percentages scoring higher.
- Dining and daytime venues (15%): restaurants, cafés, takeaways and hotels per 10,000 adults.
- Nightlife (20%): pubs, bars and nightclubs per 10,000 adults.
- Safety (15%): recorded crimes per 1,000 people, with safer areas scoring better.
Data comes from several official sources, including the 2021 Census, ONS earnings and rental price statistics, the Food Standards Agency establishment register and crime data from Police.uk. Each metric is scored out of 10 and standardised before being combined into a final score out of 100.
Rethinking where to be single in 2026
An AdultWork spokesperson says the results challenge the idea that “single life in Britain happens mainly in London”, pointing out that smaller cities like Norwich, Liverpool, Lincoln and Dundee, plus rural Welsh areas such as Powys and Gwynedd, all offer competitive lifestyles for people who aren’t coupled up.
For anyone feeling squeezed by high rents in the capital or the commuter belt, the numbers suggest it could be worth widening the search – especially if you care as much about disposable income and nights out as you do about the dating pool. Whether that means moving, or just daydreaming on Rightmove for now, will come down to what matters most in your own version of ‘freedom’.
