People moving from London tend to choose locations within easy commuting distance, a new study from ukphonebook.com has found – with Chelmsford being the top destination.
In the past three years, over 350,000 people have left the city for greener pastures. ukphonebook.com analysed its in-depth location data to find where these London leavers are heading to. They looked at the number of people who moved out of London in 2020 and 2023, and discovered where they live now.
Top 10 places people moved to since 2020 after living in London
The most popular choice of location for people moving from London was the nearby Chelmsford. This comes as no surprise, as this Essex location still has easy access to London but with lower house prices.
Total moved from London since 2020
1. Chelmsford: 19,327
2. Tonbridge: 16,526
3. Guildford: 16,360
4. Redhill: 15,470
5. Hemel Hempstead: 13,422
6. Medway Towns: 13,112
7. Brighton: 12,271
8. Southend on Sea: 11,286
9. Reading: 10,676
10. Slough: 10,130
Find an interactive map of all the top 10 locations on ukphonebook.com (embed code available)
A Chelmsford City Council spokesperson said: “Chelmsford is a great place to live and work, with excellent transport links to London.
“It takes just half an hour to get from Chelmsford station to Liverpool Street and a second mainline station at Beaulieu Park is due to open in the district at the end of 2025.
“The district is also blessed with beautiful green spaces and has some of the highest numbers of Green Flag parks found in the East of England. With great schools, universities and innovators in technology, science and education all based in Chelmsford, it’s easy to see why it’s a popular choice.”
Of the top 10 locations, Brighton is furthest from London – but at around 47 miles from London it shows that people leaving the big smoke still want to be within touching distance.
House price difference of most popular destinations
Using Rightmove data, ukphonebook.com found the difference in house prices between Greater London and movers’ new home towns.
Homes in Chelmsford are – on average – £322,371 cheaper than in Greater London. Despite it only being 40 miles away and just 1 hour on the train away from King’s Cross.
All the top 10 provided a considerable financial incentive to leave London. Guildford had the highest average house price – and that was still £120,985 cheaper than living in London.
Those moving to the Medway towns in Kent could expect a saving of £391,474 on their home.
Average house price difference to London HP
- Chelmsford: -£322,371
- Tonbridge: -£240,489
- Guildford: -£120,985
- Redhill: -£204,826
- Hemel Hempstead: -£283,113
- Medway Towns: -£391,474
- Brighton: -£368,944
- Southend on Sea: -£372,284
- Reading: -£288,734
- Slough: -£277,612
Top 10 regions people chose after living in London
The most popular counties for those leaving Greater London all border London – Kent, Essex, and Surrey. Each attracted over 30,000 people in the past three years from London.
Councillor Mark Durham, Essex County Council Cabinet Member for the Arts, Heritage and Culture, said: “We have scenic rural locations, picturesque villages, beautiful country parks and historic towns and cities, all surrounded by our stunning 350-mile coastline.
“We are also located close to London and have excellent transport connections, including two international airports, while around three-quarters of our schools are rated ‘Good’ or above by Ofsted.”
County: Arrivals from London since 2020
- Kent: 37861
- Essex: 36664
- Surrey: 31830
- Hertfordshire: 30222
- Berkshire: 20806
- West Midlands: 12660
- East Sussex: 12271
- Hampshire: 11859
- Cambridgeshire: 10147
- Greater Manchester: 9799
Moving away from counties directly outside London, the most popular destination was the West Midlands (12660). Greater Manchester also made the top 10 with nearly 10,000 people heading north in the past three years.
At a wider regional level, we can see how the majority of people stayed within the South East – with over 200,000 leaving London for somewhere close by.
However, we can also see large numbers heading north – whether to the North West (20964), Yorkshire (14924) or even further into Scotland (11547).
We also discovered that a number of people left mainland Britain completely with the Isle of Man and Channel Islands attracting hundreds of people.
Region: Arrivals from London since 2020
- South East: 200126
- South West: 40074
- East Midlands: 25439
- North West: 20964
- West Midlands: 18195
- Yorkshire: 14924
- Scotland: 11547
- East: 7974
- Wales: 6698
- North East: 6100
- Northern Ireland: 1885
- Isle of Man: 254
- Channel Islands: 140
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How we gathered our data
ukphonebook.com uses a variety of data sources, including Land Registry house price sales and postcode data. We combine these various publicly available sources to provide a highly detailed search function.
We also have access to historical data, so we can see which people lived in a London postcode in 2022 and 2020, and where those same people live today.
We have not revealed any personal details in our analysis, as we always comply with data regulations and GDPR laws.
Who is ukphonebook.com?
York-based Simunix is the team behind ukphonebook.com, which offers powerful, accurate and up-to-date people and business search.
It makes UK people and business data available to its customers for search and analysis purposes. Its dataset is made up of over 130 million records including:
- Directory enquiries information from the full UK telephone directory
- Address information from the Royal Mail Postal Address Finder (PAF)
- People information from the UK Electoral Roll
- Company and director information from Companies House data
- Telephone number screening information from the TPS and CTPS registers