The UK Tradie Shortages Index

A new study by reveals the BEST AND WORST places in the UK for electricians, builders, plumbers and gardeners to set up shop – following massive shortages of skilled workers across England and Scotland.

From sparkies to brickies, plumbers to landscapers, the results revealed the best cities with the most jobs available, the average salaries for each role and how much hiring a tradie could set you back (if you’re a consumer) – vital information amidst a cost of living crisis.

To work out the findings, our dataset considered 50 locations from England, Wales and Scotland. Looking at available tradespeople in the area versus the population, the total amount of jobs and the average salary per trade in each city. 

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Using these two tools, both tradies and consumers can\ discover where in the UK they will be able to get the most out of their working goals.

Whether you’re looking to know where your home renovations are going to cost the least or where you will be able to bring home the most dosh for your family by doing the exact same work.

Find out the best tradie wages and biggest shortages below

York is the worst city to be a tradesperson, with an average take-home wage of just £29,506 a year.

In second place is Stoke-on-Trent, with £30,226 and Swansea, where tradies can expect £30,236. 

Although these prices aren’t to be sniffed at, builders and other industry professionals might think about moving to Newcastle-upon-Tyne, where they can cash in an eye-watering £41,396 per year in comparison.

This is closely followed by Milton Keynes with £40,670 and Glasgow, where Scottish tradespeople are netting in the most, with roughly £40,078 a year. 

Moving for work: the top five places with a shortage of tradespeople

Unsurprisingly, London comes in as the top UK city with the highest number of trade jobs available – a sky high 15,166 – followed by Bristol with 2,149 and Manchester in third with 1,896 vacancies free.

On the flip side, places like Dudley in the West Midlands currently have very few jobs available, coming top with just 70 listed roles. In second place you have Blackpool with 102 and this is followed by Dundee with 148. 

However, based on a shortage of active tradespeople per capita, trade professionals should consider moving to the following areas: 

• Sunderland 
• Liverpool 
• London 
• Blackpool 
• Dundee 

Although Dundee has the fewest jobs available, it also clocks in with 104 professionals in operation – the fewest active tradies according to Rated People in 2023. 

For tradespeople looking to start a business somewhere new, setting up shop in any of the locations on this list means less competition – giving them a definite advantage!

Combining all of these metrics, the following are the overall best and worst cities ffor

Best UK cities for hiring tradies

Brighton: plenty of competition with 426.75 tradespeaple per capita

When it comes to getting the pick of the bunch, Brighton comes up top for the most tradies per consumer – with a whopping 426.65 per capita. 

The sunny seaside resort has recently been named in the ‘top 10 coolest places to live in the UK’, attracting digital nomads from big cities, holidaymakers and prospective homeowners in spades. 

When it comes to renovations, Brighton offers more competition between tradespeople – so people looking to get a little extra work done can shop around for the best price. 

Sunderland: with just 31.90 per capita, expect pricey renovations and long wait times

With a budding population of 335,415 in 2023, the port city is the worst place for consumers looking to pick and choose their tradespeople. 

Sunderland has a concentration of just 31.90 of tradies per capita, giving people a set scope of plumbers, builders, electricians and gardeners for their upcoming projects. 

However, this is great news for tradies looking to make some serious money and work to their own schedule  – having cornered the market, they can pretty much do as they like. 

Where should tradespeople avoid?

If tradies are looking to beat the competition, then they should stay away from Brighton.

That’s the city with the highest concentration of tradies in comparison to populace, meaning that builders, plumbers, gardeners and electricians will likely have to cut their rates to attract homeowners. 

Following Brighton, the study found that following places to avoid include: 

• Stockport 
• Peterborough 
• Gloucester 
• Bournemouth 

The best – and worst – places for tradies to get paid by hour

When it comes to getting paid, the study revealed which cities are the best for tradespeople looking to make a substantial profit on a yearly basis. 

Split into the builders, gardeners, plumbers and electricians, the study also found where certain trades struggle, ranked by the average wage – making a handy insight for prospective businesses.

Builders

In the UK, the lowest paid builders can be found in the seaside resort of Blackpool. 

Although the town is seeing a £300m investment as part of its central development plan and visitor attractions, the reality for tradespeople is a much different story. 

Builders can only expect to see £25,085 a year on average, a very different story to those doing the same job down South.

In London, builders can expect to earn an impressive £43,198, thanks to a thriving population and a huge boom in ongoing projects. When it comes to building, the big smoke is where the money is.

Gardeners 

Although Plymouth ranked top for the cheapest place to hire a gardener in the UK per hour, the place where they are paid the least is actually in Swansea. 

Welsh tradies specialising in this area are taking home £32,902 – which is almost £10,000 less than the highest paid gardeners in the UK.

These can be found in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, where gardeners and landscapers are netting, on average, a whopping £44,521 a year. 

Electricians

Stockport was found to be one of the worst places to be a tradie, especially for electricians. 

Sparkies in the Greater Manchester town are paid the least out of 50 locations considered in the study, earning roughly £26,720 a year. 

That’s just under £20,000 lower than their Southern counterparts in London, who are among some of the highest earning tradespeople according to the findings. 

With electricians in the capital earning £45,103 a year on average, tradespeople might consider switching to the big smoke for work.

Plumbers

The study revealed that some of the lowest paid tradespeople of any specialism in the UK are actually in the port city of Portsmouth. 

Plumbers operating across Portsea island can only expect to earn £18,839 – a shockingly low number compared to both high and low results across the data.

It’s even more surprising when compared to what the highest earning plumbers are bringing in, with professionals in Liverpool netting £42,913 a year on average. 

That’s a staggering difference of £24,074.

The best – and worst – places in the UK to be a tradesperson overall

London – BEST – followed by: 

• Liverpool
• Glasgow 
• Birmingham
• Bristol

Ranked on all contributing scores and factors, such as availability per capita, competition and wage, the results for the best and worst places to be a tradesperson found that London still takes top spot. 

Coming in second is Liverpool, which has been tipped as a hot destination after receiving global attention as the host of the Eurovision Song Contest – prompting plenty of interest in the property and rental market. 

With more people looking to renovate their homes and holiday lets, Glasgow and Birmingham are up next, with Bristol coming in as the fifth best place for tradies to make money. 

Stockport – WORST – followed by: 

• Blackburn
• York
• Dudley
• Doncaster

Using the same factors, tradespeople should steer clear from Stockport. The Greater Manchester town comes bottom for earnings, job supply and a really competitive market – making it a much trickier place for tradies to make a living. 

Blackburn and the walled city of York are second and third, respectively, with the market town of Dudley coming fourth in the rankings. 

Finally, the city of Doncaster comes in fifth, rounding up the top five worst places to be a tradesperson in the UK. 

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Methodology

The data has been collected from the following sites and collated together to create a regionalised proprietary tool on tradie shortages in the UK. 

Population – https://www.ons.gov.uk/census 

Average cost of Labour – https://www.hamuch.com/rates/

Average wage/jobs live – https://www.adzuna.co.uk/jobs/search?q=Builder&loc=80934&ac_where=1 

Tradie ratings – https://www.checkatrade.com/ 

Sources

https://www.recruiteasy.co.uk/blog/construction-industry-predicts-continued-labour-shortage-for-2023

https://www.ratedpeople.com/blog/home-improvement-trends-report