Edinburgh ranked the most expensive city in UK for students as cost of living crisis bites

Edinburgh has seen an increase in the student part-time working hours to make ends meet.

Edinburgh is the most expensive place in the UK for students when it comes to the overall cost of living, according to a new survey.

Faced with mounting costs, including soaring rents and supermarket spends, students in Edinburgh are working more in part-time jobs to make ends meet, according to a Natwest survey. The Capital is the only city which has seen an increase in the part-time working hours of students when compared to 2022. Meanwhile, Bournemouth tops the list of UK cities as the most affordable, with higher-than-average term-time income.

The survey found students in Edinburgh have a monthly term-time income of £1,453, the lowest of all the cities ranked, while students’ total monthly spending in the Capital is £1,072.61.

Student Accomodation in Edinburgh Photo: Scott Louden

The NatWest Student Living Index survey covers 63 university cities and towns, looking at the spending habits, lifestyle and cost of living for students across the UK. More than 3,050 students were surveyed to identify the most affordable place to study. How much students spend on going out and the income they earn from part-time work are considered as part of the findings.

One in five said they had considered leaving or ending their course early due to financial difficulties but would find a way to manage, while 29 per cent said it was a concern for them.

This year has shown that rent has increased by an average of 30 per cent for students, with the national average monthly rent now at £591.90. London is the most expensive city in the UK for students to rent, with an average cost of £840.30 per month.

Supermarket spend continues to be the second biggest outlay for students outside of rent, with monthly spend seeing a sizeable jump. It’s up by 44 per cent year-on-year, rising to £109.57 each month. As the cost-of-living squeeze hits home, students are spending an average of 24 per cent less on going out than the previous year.

Some four in ten felt their university offered no support to help them with the cost-of-living crisis, up from a quarter in 2022. Nine in ten students said they had made changes to their lifestyle in order to live within their budgets.