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York can rank among Britain’s most affluent cities and still have households facing poverty. A University of York report published in 2026 revisits living standards in the city 125 years after Seebohm Rowntree’s landmark study, finding that high housing costs and fragmented support systems remain central pressures. The university says 18.2% of children in the City of York local authority area lived in relative poverty after housing costs in 2025.
What the 2026 report examines
The University of York’s Cost of Living Research Group published Poverty and Progress? 125 years on from Rowntree’s study of life in York in 2026. It compares poverty in York today with conditions in Rowntree’s era, considers policies intended to address poverty, and includes experiences of residents who grew up in poverty. The university’s announcement of 5 October 2026 says the report finds policy systems are fragmented and siloed, while stretched funding limits how effectively support can work together. It also identifies examples of local leadership and innovative policy.
The report’s title looks back to Seebohm Rowntree’s Poverty: A Study of Town Life, published in 1901. The university describes that work as a detailed examination of living conditions in York that advanced the scientific measurement of poverty. The 2026 report marks 125 years since its publication and asks what poverty and living standards look like in the same city now.
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How affluence and poverty coexist in York
The university announcement says Centre for Cities characterized York as the UK’s “most affluent city” because a greater share of its neighbourhoods fall within the least-deprived fifth than in any other major city. That is a ranking based on the distribution of neighbourhood deprivation; it does not mean every neighbourhood or household is prosperous, nor does it measure household income or housing affordability directly.
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The announcement reports that 18.2% of children in the City of York local authority area lived in relative poverty after housing costs in 2025. It also says low-income households in York were more likely to fall below the poverty line than equivalent households in London during 2024/25, without stating a percentage or margin for that comparison. The measures and periods are distinct, so neither should be treated as a direct explanation of the city’s affluence ranking.
Why housing costs matter
The university places housing among the pressures experienced by households. Its announcement ranks York 17th of 63 major cities for average house prices and 16th least affordable of 63 for housing affordability, describing York as the least affordable housing market among the cities in that comparison. These are rankings within a comparison of 63 major cities, not every town and settlement in Britain.
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Dr Kit Colliver, an author of the report in the University of York’s Cost of Living Research Group, describes the wider impact this way: “While York is widely celebrated as the most affluent city in the North, the findings demonstrate that thousands of local families are quietly struggling against soaring housing and energy costs, fragmented support services, and a tourist-centric city centre that leaves many low-income residents feeling isolated and priced out of civic life.”
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What the report recommends
The university summarizes the report’s recommendations in three connected areas:
- Invest in local infrastructure and services. Strengthen the local capacity residents rely on.
- Make existing support easier to use and better targeted. Remove access barriers and direct help more effectively to people who need it.
- Coordinate across sectors and levels of government. Align local and regional resources around shared goals.
The overall approach combines national policy change with local investment and reform. The report’s diagnosis is not simply that help is absent: siloed systems and limited funding can make existing support less effective when services cannot work together.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What the figures do—and do not—show
The figures and characterizations here come from the University of York’s announcement, which summarizes the report. The announcement does not provide the underlying methods or definitions for the cited measures, nor the percentage difference in the York–London comparison. It therefore supports a clear account of the reported findings, but not further methodological claims or a single composite measure of poverty and affluence. Comparisons between cities should keep geography, period, and measure distinct: neighbourhood deprivation, relative poverty after housing costs, house prices, and affordability describe different things.
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