The Sunday Times Best Places to Live guide assesses a wide range of factors, from jobs, exam results and broadband speed to culture, community spirit and local shops in order to compile the definitive top locations for people to make their home.

Helmsley and Malton are amongst eight Yorkshire locations in this year’s guide, which is published on Sunday. Other Yorkshire locations include Pateley Bridge, Saltburn and Richmond.

York and Harrogate appear in the Best Places Top 20 perennials, which celebrates the places that have appeared in almost every list over the past five years.

Organisers say the listings rely on hard data and robust statistics on crime and education, but also on expert knowledge from a judging panel with their own experience of the villages, towns and cities, such as local pubs, ease of transport and the range of attractive property.

A spokeswoman said the guide was more personal, detailed and comprehensive than before, weighing up everything from considering the likely impact of the local plan, to whether the post office was still open, the range of housing, and the quality of the coffee.

“Numbers on a spreadsheet can only tell us so much, so we carefully balance statistics with our writers’ decades of knowledge and expertise to create the definitive list of the best places to live in the UK.”

Countrywide plc said it had provided average property prices for all people, from someone renting their first flat to a family buying their forever home.