The Urban Desirability Paradox: UK Urban-rural Differences in Well-being, Social, and Economic Satisfaction

As the majority of the global population resides in cities, it is imperative to understand urban well-being. While cities offer concentrated social and economic opportunities, the question arises whether these benefits translate to equitable levels of satisfaction in these domains. Utilizing a novel, robust, and objective measure of urbanicity on a sample of 156k UK residents, we find that urban living is associated with lower scores across seven dimensions of well-being, social satisfaction, and economic satisfaction. Additionally, these scores exhibit greater variability within urban areas, revealing increased inequality. Lastly, we identify optimal distances in the hinterlands of cities with the highest satisfaction and least variation. Our findings raise concern for the psychological well-being of urban residents and show the importance of non-linear methods in urban research.