Best places in South East for young professionals

Persona weighting: Affordability (rent) 25%, Connectivity (broadband) 25%, Living cost (council tax) 20%, Safety (low crime) 15%, Health (life expectancy) 10%, Schools (Ofsted Good+) 5%.

Updated quarterly · last recomputed 2026-06-19 from the latest government data releases.

What is the best place to live in South East for young professionals?

As of 2026-06-19, the best South East local authority for young professionals is Bracknell Forest, scoring 72.3/100 on the Gera Persona Fit index — a persona-weighted composite of rent, crime, Ofsted schools, broadband, life expectancy and council tax across 64 South East local authorities. GeraRent recomputes it quarterly.

Gera Persona Fit: Bracknell Forest 72.3/100How this is computed

#	Area	Persona Fit	GLS
1	Bracknell Forest	72.3	76.0
2	Milton Keynes	69.6	70.1
3	Fareham	68.2	69.5
4	Gosport	68.2	66.6
5	Worthing	68.0	66.3
6	Rushmoor	67.8	67.4
7	Epsom and Ewell	66.8	69.3
8	Southampton	66.6	62.9
9	West Oxfordshire	66.4	67.5
10	Slough	66.0	66.8
11	Portsmouth	65.3	64.5
12	Adur	64.7	65.4
13	West Berkshire	64.6	67.5
14	Medway	64.5	65.2
15	Reading	64.5	65.0
16	Windsor and Maidenhead	64.5	66.0
17	Havant	63.9	64.9
18	Wokingham	63.3	67.4
19	Eastbourne	62.5	62.4
20	Cherwell	62.4	64.0
21	Isle of Wight	62.4	56.7
22	Swale	62.3	62.4
23	Crawley	62.0	63.4
24	Spelthorne	61.9	63.6
25	Mid Sussex	61.8	64.5
26	Horsham	61.7	65.3
27	Basingstoke and Deane	61.6	63.6
28	Vale of White Horse	61.6	64.9
29	Thanet	61.2	60.7
30	Gravesham	61.0	62.3
31	Runnymede	60.6	63.2
32	Hart	60.2	64.6
33	Dover	59.7	60.9
34	Reigate and Banstead	59.7	62.6
35	Tunbridge Wells	59.7	62.9
36	Surrey Heath	59.6	63.4
37	New Forest	59.5	63.7
38	Eastleigh	59.4	63.2
39	South Oxfordshire	59.4	63.4
40	Ashford	59.2	61.9
41	Buckinghamshire	58.6	61.5
42	Maidstone	58.4	60.9
43	East Hampshire	58.2	62.3
44	Test Valley	58.0	62.2
45	Elmbridge	57.6	62.7
46	Tonbridge and Malling	57.6	60.9
47	Folkestone and Hythe	57.4	59.0
48	Woking	56.5	61.3
49	Canterbury	56.4	59.0
50	Dartford	56.3	58.7
51	Guildford	56.3	61.6
52	Waverley	55.8	61.2
53	Chichester	55.7	59.9
54	Rother	55.6	58.9
55	Hastings	55.3	56.1
56	Lewes	54.0	58.5
57	Sevenoaks	53.8	59.3
58	Mole Valley	53.7	60.5
59	Wealden	53.0	58.0
60	Winchester	53.0	59.1
61	Tandridge	52.6	58.2
62	Brighton and Hove	51.6	53.7
63	Arun	50.8	55.6
64	Oxford	47.2	53.5

Young professionals in other regions

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Sources (all Open Government Licence v3.0):

ONS — Price Index of Private Rents — as of May 2026.
HM Land Registry — UK House Price Index — as of April 2026.
MHCLG — Council Tax levels set by local authorities in England — as of 2026-27.
Ofcom — Connected Nations (Gera Broadband Index) — as of July 2024.
ONS — Life expectancy by local authority — as of 2017-19.
Ofsted — State-funded school inspection outcomes — as of 31 May 2026.
Home Office — Police recorded crime (PFA) + ONS population — as of Year ending December 2025.

Licence: Open Government Licence v3.0 © Crown copyright. Recorded-crime figures are neutral official statistics shown as context only and must not be used to characterise an area or its residents.