Ten counties in the UK could be home to a new generation of tech talent after the rise of remote work across the country, according to new research.
With Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg suggesting that 50% of the company’s workforce could be working remotely by 2030, the strong likelihood is that other tech organisations will follow suit, meaning areas of the UK with a lower cost of living could become far more desirable for those wanting to escape city life.
And research by cloud talent creators Revolent revealed that Ayrshire, Wrexham, Vale of Glamorgan, Inverclyde and County Antrim come out top when comparing the cost of living and rent in the UK against the median salary for entry level roles in tech, which sits at £34,438. That opens up the possibility of city residents looking to escape to somewhere quieter, boosting local economies in the process.
| UK top 10 | Rent plus other cost per year | |
| 1 | Ayrshire | £9,792.00 |
| 2 | Vale of Glamorgan | £11,208.00 |
| 3 | Inverclyde | £11,496.00 |
| 4 | County Antrim | £11,496.00 |
| 5 | Wrexham | £11,640.00 |
| 6 | Dundee | £11,724.00 |
| 7 | Cumbria | £11,916.00 |
| 8 | Durham | £11,976.00 |
| 9 | Shropshire | £12,120.00 |
| 10 | County Londonderry | £12,168.00 |
One report showed that, on average, employees are prepared to accept a 10% decrease in salary if they could work from anywhere in the world fully remotely, with 56% of tech professionals specifically reporting an increase in their levels of happiness as a result of working from home. With a skills gap on the verge of a crisis hitting the industry, remote work removes the barriers involved with relocation and opens up technology as a viable career option to much more of the UK population than it has before.
“Remote work offers an incredible opportunity to shift the dial for the tech workforce,” said Nabila Salem, President at Revolent. “We know many people new to the tech industry want to remain in big cities and enjoy the benefits that brings with it. However, others don’t want that or struggle to accommodate the long commute that it sometimes demands. And with many businesses removing that requirement to attend the office in-person, it opens up a huge amount of the country to a new audience.”
While the lucrative salaries on offer for tech professionals mean that tech hubs such as London, Manchester, Cardiff and Edinburgh aren’t going to disappear any time soon, it does offer a new way of living for those aspiring to a career in technology, as well as an opportunity to help companies retain staff.
The research is based on the median UK salary for Junior Salesforce Developer and Administrator across the UK from the Mason Frank Careers and Hiring Guide: Salesforce Edition, and Junior IT Technician from the Nigel Frank Careers and Hiring Guide: Microsoft 365 and Azure Edition, compared with the average cost of living and rent for the most populated city in that county.
Methodology:
Figures are based on the median pay for entry-level tech roles, including Junior Salesforce Developer, Salesforce Administrator, Junior IT Technician and Junior Systems Engineer, using data from https://www.masonfrank.com/insights/salesforce-careers-and-hiring-guide and https://www.nigelfrank.com/insights/microsoft-365-azure-careers-and-hiring-guide. Cost of living figures are based on information from https://livingcost.org/ for the most populated city in each county. The amount was calculated based on the average cost of rent plus utilities(this does not include recent increase in energy prices) in each city plus the monthly cost of living for one person. This was then multiplied by 12 to work out the annual cost of living in each county. There was no information available for the following counties Cornwall, Isle of Wight, Northumberland, Rutland, Blaenau Gwent, Caerphilly, Carmarthenshire, Ceredigion, Conwy Flintshire, Gwynedd, Anglesey, Monmouthshire, Pembrokeshire, Powys, Rhondda Cynon Taf, Aberdeenshire, Angus, Argyll and Bute, East Dunbartonshire, East Lothian, East Renfrewshire, Falkirk, Midlothian, Scottish Borders, West Dunbartonshire, County Down, County Armagh, County Fermanagh. Therefore they have been omitted.