iStockStirling has been voted as the happiest place to live in Scotland.
A poll of 21,000 people across the UK put the central belt town as number one north of the border, ahead of Edinburgh in fourth place, Glasgow in seventh and Aberdeen in tenth.
This Happy home index has been published by Rightmove every year for the past decade.
Happiness measures in the index include friendliness and community spirit, whether people feel they can be themselves, nature and green spaces, opportunities locally to develop skills and amenities including schools, restaurants, shops and sports facilities.
Hexham in Northumberland was crowned Britain’s overall happiest place to live the poll.
St Ives in Cornwall, which came top last year, was eighth in this year’s rankings.
Rightmove’s study also found that people living in coastal villages tended to be the happiest group in the study.
Around a third of this year’s top 20 happiest towns are market towns, it added.
The coronavirus pandemic has prompted many people to move home in order to make lifestyle changes.
The study found that more than two-thirds (69%) of people who had moved in the last year relocated to a different area. Nearly two-thirds of these people (64%) reported feeling happier where they now live.
Eight in ten (1%) of those who had moved from a town to a village said they now feel happier with where they live.
Rightmove predicts 1.5 million house sales will have taken place this year.
Tim Bannister, Rightmove’s director of property data, said: “It’s been an incredibly busy year in the housing market, with a lot of people deciding that now is the right time to move.”
Scotland’s top ten happiest places to live (including overall rankings across Britain):
- Stirling (6)
2. Perth (11)
3. Inverness (51)
4. Edinburgh (76)
5. Dundee (80)
6. Ayr (94)
7. Glasgow (98)
8. Kirkcaldy (141)
9. Paisley (149)
10. Aberdeen (156)
Top 20 happiest places in Britain, according to Rightmove:
1. Hexham, North East
2. Richmond-upon-Thames, London
3. Harrogate, Yorkshire and the Humber
4. Hove, South East
5. Llandrindod Wells, Wales
6. Stirling, Scotland
7. Monmouth, Wales
8. St Ives, South West
9. Anglesey, Wales
10. Leamington Spa, West Midlands
11. Perth, Scotland
12. Hitchin, East of England
13. Woodbridge, East of England
14. Kendal, North West
15. Macclesfield, North West
16. Exeter, South West
17. Salisbury, South West
18. Horsham, South East
19. St Albans, East of England
20. Guildford, South East
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