YORK has been revealed as the best place for hybrid working.

Average broadband speeds of 159Mbps, large areas of green space, low crime rates, and close proximity to Leeds, described as a major work hub, have seen York crowned as the UK’s ideal hybrid working location.

The city tops the new Hybrid Working Index, created by the comparison and switching service, Uswitch, which ranks more than 100 of the UK’s biggest towns and cities on eight metrics.

These include crime rate, quality of schools, green spaces, air quality, distance to closest hub city and GPs per 100,000 people.

Edinburgh and Belfast come second and third. Redditch, Harrogate, Bristol, Darlington, St Helens, Bath and Exeter complete the top ten best places to live for hybrid working.

With a quarter of workers planning to divide their time between home and a workplace regularly, broadband speed is the most important factor for three in five people when working from home.

The UK’s biggest cities rank further down in the index, with London 23rd, Birmingham 30th, and Manchester coming 82nd.

With so many people making their home in the capital, London scored well on amenities like coffee shops and had the highest average house price on the index.

But the Big Smoke fared poorly on its crime figures and low percentage of green space, and was far down the field with an average download speed of 102 Mbps.

Before the pandemic, only one in ten people divided their week between home and work, but this has now doubled to 22 per cent, and workers expect this to rise further over the next six months.

The proportion of people solely working from their workplace has fallen from three quarters (76 per cent) to just over half (56 per cent) of workers.

A quarter of people say they would like to move house to take advantage of hybrid working.

When choosing a new place to live, half say house prices are most important, followed by green spaces, crime rates, broadband speeds, air quality, local GP numbers and the quality of local schools.

For hybrid workers, broadband connectivity is a key ingredient to ensure they can perform their day job at home.

More than two thirds of people rated it as the most important factor when working remotely, while just over a quarter say a more reliable broadband connection would encourage them to increase the time they spent working from home.

Ernest Doku, broadband expert at Uswitch.com, said: “The last few years have turned our working lives on their head, and many of us have enjoyed the benefits of leaving the commute behind and spending more time at home.

“It’s been an opportunity for many to escape the rat race, move away from the big cities and enjoy life in a more rural setting.

“Our Hybrid Working Index reveals some of the country’s best places to live if you’re alternating between working from home and the office. York comes top thanks to its combination of superfast broadband, huge amount of green spaces, and close proximity to work hub Leeds.

“If you’re moving to a new area to work remotely, the speed - and reliability - of your broadband connection will be one of the most important things about your new location.

“Do your research and pop your prospective postcode into an online comparison to see what speeds you could get before committing to a move."