OXFORD has been named the 'best place to live and work' in the UK for the second year running.

The city beat 42 others to come top of the 2018 Good Growth for Cities index, put together by Pricewaterhouse Coopers and the Demos think tank.

The index ranks cities using a range of measures including employment, workers’ pay, house prices, transport, the environment, work-life-balance and inequality.

Oxford ranked so highly due to its wide range of jobs, good access to healthcare, the amount of new businesses and high income levels.

But it was still lagging behind other cities on work-life balance, affordable house prices and transport.

The city narrowly beat close neighbour Reading to the top spot while other southern cities Southampton, Milton Keynes and Bristol made up the top five.

Northerners criticised the list online for a lack of representation with Coventry and Leicester the most northerly places to feature outside of Scotland in the top 10.

On a separate most improved cities list, produced by the same organisations, Preston was ranked highest, followed by Middlesbrough and Stockton and then Hull.

London came in a lowly 15th on the best cities list, with the capital held back by high housing and transport costs and higher inequality.

Top 10 ranking cities

1. Oxford

2. Reading

3. Southampton

4. Milton Keynes

5. Bristol

6. Edinburgh

7. Swindon

8. Coventry

9. Aberdeen

10. Leicester

Top 10 most improved cities

1. Preston

2. Middlesbrough and Stockton

3. Hull

4. Milton Keynes

5. Birmingham

6. Wakefield and Castleford

7. Aberdeen

8. Liverpool

9. Swindon

10. Manchester