# Living in Cambridge, United Kingdom

> Open, sourced figures for Cambridge: take-home pay, monthly costs, who may live there, climate, air, safety and health. Figures as of 2026-11-05. Canonical page: https://borgo.abcastor.com/city/cambridge-gb/

## Key facts

- Cambridge has about 145,674 residents (GeoNames).
- On a gross salary of £50,000 a year, an employee in Cambridge takes home about £39,520 a year (£3,293 a month) after income tax and employee contributions, an effective rate of 21.0% (United Kingdom 2026 rules).
- A one-bedroom home in Cambridge rents for about £1,255 a month (city figure; Price Index of Private Rents, Office for National Statistics, 2026-09).
- In Cambridge the average daily high (air temperature in the shade) peaks at 22.8 °C in August and the average daily low falls to 1.3 °C in January (Historical weather (ERA5 reanalysis), Open-Meteo, 2021-2025).
- Cambridge has about 21 nice days a year, days that are dry, mostly clear and feel 18 to 30 °C on average from 8 am to 8 pm, most of them in August (6) (Historical weather (ERA5 reanalysis), Open-Meteo, 2021-2025).
- Between 2021 and 2025 the air in Cambridge reached 38.4 °C at its hottest and −10.6 °C at its coldest (Historical weather (ERA5 reanalysis), Open-Meteo).
- It rains or snows (at least 1 mm) on about 127 days a year in Cambridge (Historical weather (ERA5 reanalysis), Open-Meteo, 2021-2025).
- The shortest day in Cambridge lasts 7 h 42 min and the longest 16 h 46 min (computed from latitude).
- Everyday prices in the United Kingdom sit at 92.4 on an index where the United States is 100 (World Development Indicators, World Bank, 2025).
- Life expectancy at birth in the United Kingdom is 81.4 years (World Development Indicators, World Bank, 2024).
- The United Kingdom records 1.12 intentional homicides per 100,000 people a year (World Development Indicators, World Bank, 2021).
- Besides citizens of the United Kingdom, citizens of Ireland (Common Travel Area) can live and work in Cambridge without a visa.

## Take-home pay (United Kingdom, 2026 rules)

| Gross a year | Take-home a year | A month | Effective rate |
|---:|---:|---:|---:|
| £25,000 | £21,520 | £1,793 | 13.9% |
| £50,000 | £39,520 | £3,293 | 21.0% |
| £84,000 | £59,277 | £4,940 | 29.4% |

Employee: income tax (Scottish rates for Scottish cities), employee National Insurance class 1 category A. Sources: [GOV.UK: rates and thresholds for employers 2026 to 2027](https://www.gov.uk/guidance/rates-and-thresholds-for-employers-2026-to-2027), [GOV.UK: income tax rates and personal allowances](https://www.gov.uk/income-tax-rates).

## A month on the reference profile

Assumed: one person, €60,000 gross a year, a one-bedroom home, everyday spending of €1,200 a month in Lisbon scaled by each country's price level.

- Take-home pay: £3,311
- Rent: £1,255 (Price Index of Private Rents, 2026-09)
- Everyday spending: £1,432
- Health care, out of pocket: £53
- Left each month: £570

## Who can live and work here without a visa

- Citizens of the United Kingdom
- Citizens of Ireland (Common Travel Area; source: [Common Travel Area guidance](https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/common-travel-area-guidance))

## Climate (Historical weather (ERA5 reanalysis), 2021-2025)

| Month | High °C (air) | Low °C (air) | Lowest °C | Highest °C | Nice days | Wet days | Daylight |
|---|---:|---:|---:|---:|---:|---:|---:|
| Jan | 7.1 | 1.3 | −6.0 | 15.0 | 0 | 11.4 | 8 h 12 min |
| Feb | 9.5 | 3.2 | −10.6 | 16.7 | 0 | 10.4 | 9 h 47 min |
| Mar | 11.5 | 3.8 | −4.1 | 21.5 | 0 | 12.0 | 11 h 48 min |
| Apr | 13.4 | 4.4 | −2.4 | 23.1 | 0 | 8.2 | 13 h 54 min |
| May | 17.0 | 8.3 | 1.0 | 25.8 | 1 | 13.0 | 15 h 45 min |
| Jun | 21.3 | 11.9 | 5.6 | 30.9 | 5 | 8.2 | 16 h 45 min |
| Jul | 22.6 | 13.7 | 9.1 | 38.4 | 4 | 12.2 | 16 h 15 min |
| Aug | 22.8 | 13.6 | 8.4 | 33.2 | 6 | 8.2 | 14 h 37 min |
| Sep | 20.4 | 11.8 | 4.5 | 32.2 | 4 | 9.4 | 12 h 33 min |
| Oct | 16.0 | 9.2 | 1.1 | 23.5 | 0 | 11.2 | 10 h 28 min |
| Nov | 10.9 | 5.5 | −3.9 | 17.6 | 0 | 10.2 | 8 h 40 min |
| Dec | 8.8 | 4.2 | −6.0 | 15.1 | 0 | 12.8 | 7 h 44 min |

Nice days: dry, mostly clear and feeling 18 to 30 °C on average from 8 am to 8 pm. Lowest and highest: the extremes of 2021-2025.

## Every figure

| Figure | Value | Period | Level | Source | Licence |
|---|---:|---|---|---|---|
| Rent, one bedroom | £1,255 a month | 2026-09 | city | [Price Index of Private Rents](https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/inflationandpriceindices/datasets/priceindexofprivaterentsukmonthlypricestatistics) | OGL-UK-3.0 |
| Rent, three bedrooms | £1,908 a month | 2026-09 | city | [Price Index of Private Rents](https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/inflationandpriceindices/datasets/priceindexofprivaterentsukmonthlypricestatistics) | OGL-UK-3.0 |
| Childcare fees, one child | £14,747 a year | 2026 | United Kingdom-wide | [OECD Tax-Benefit Models: net childcare costs](https://www.oecd.org/en/data/indicators/net-childcare-costs.html) | OECD terms for data (any use, with citation) |
| Childcare fees, two children | £28,850 a year | 2026 | United Kingdom-wide | [OECD Tax-Benefit Models: net childcare costs](https://www.oecd.org/en/data/indicators/net-childcare-costs.html) | OECD terms for data (any use, with citation) |
| Childcare, net of support: couple, one child | £2,949 a year | 2026 | United Kingdom-wide | [OECD Tax-Benefit Models: net childcare costs](https://www.oecd.org/en/data/indicators/net-childcare-costs.html) | OECD terms for data (any use, with citation) |
| Childcare, net of support: couple, two children | £5,770 a year | 2026 | United Kingdom-wide | [OECD Tax-Benefit Models: net childcare costs](https://www.oecd.org/en/data/indicators/net-childcare-costs.html) | OECD terms for data (any use, with citation) |
| Childcare, net of support: single parent, one child | £2,949 a year | 2026 | United Kingdom-wide | [OECD Tax-Benefit Models: net childcare costs](https://www.oecd.org/en/data/indicators/net-childcare-costs.html) | OECD terms for data (any use, with citation) |
| Childcare, net of support: single parent, two children | £5,770 a year | 2026 | United Kingdom-wide | [OECD Tax-Benefit Models: net childcare costs](https://www.oecd.org/en/data/indicators/net-childcare-costs.html) | OECD terms for data (any use, with citation) |
| Out-of-pocket health spending | US$853 a year per person | 2024 | United Kingdom-wide | [World Development Indicators](https://databank.worldbank.org/source/world-development-indicators) | CC-BY-4.0 |
| Paid holiday by law | 28 working days a year | 2026 | United Kingdom-wide | [Paid holiday by law, from the labour codes cited](https://github.com/ABCastor/borgo/blob/main/src/fetch/family.ts) | CC-BY-4.0 |
| Public holidays on working days | 8 days a year | 2026 | region | [Nager.Date public holidays](https://date.nager.at/) | MIT |
| Paid leave for mothers | 11.7 weeks at full pay | 2025 | United Kingdom-wide | [OECD Family Database: parental leave systems (PF2.1)](https://www.oecd.org/en/data/datasets/oecd-family-database.html) | OECD terms for data (any use, with citation) |
| Paid leave for fathers | 0.4 weeks at full pay | 2025 | United Kingdom-wide | [OECD Family Database: parental leave systems (PF2.1)](https://www.oecd.org/en/data/datasets/oecd-family-database.html) | OECD terms for data (any use, with citation) |
| Price level | 92.4 index, US = 100 | 2025 | United Kingdom-wide | [World Development Indicators](https://databank.worldbank.org/source/world-development-indicators) | CC-BY-4.0 |
| Wet days | 127 days a year | 2021-2025 | city | [Historical weather (ERA5 reanalysis)](https://open-meteo.com/en/docs/historical-weather-api) | CC-BY-4.0 |
| Homicides | 1.12 per 100,000 | 2021 | United Kingdom-wide | [World Development Indicators](https://databank.worldbank.org/source/world-development-indicators) | CC-BY-4.0 |
| Life expectancy | 81.4 years | 2024 | United Kingdom-wide | [World Development Indicators](https://databank.worldbank.org/source/world-development-indicators) | CC-BY-4.0 |
| Life satisfaction | 7.5 of 10 | 2022 | United Kingdom-wide | [OECD Well-being Database (How's Life?)](https://www.oecd.org/en/data/datasets/well-being-database.html) | OECD terms for data (any use, with citation) |
| Research output | 22,529 works per 100k residents | 2025 | city | [OpenAlex institutions](https://openalex.org/) | CC0-1.0 |
| Research output per resident | 95 of 100 | 2025 | city | [OpenAlex institutions](https://openalex.org/) | CC0-1.0 |
| Universities and colleges | 7 organisations | 2026-10-27 | city | [Research Organization Registry](https://ror.org/) | CC0-1.0 |
| Research institutes | 27 organisations | 2026-10-27 | city | [Research Organization Registry](https://ror.org/) | CC0-1.0 |
| Founders Running Club | no chapter | 2026-10-27 | city | [Founders Running Club communities](https://foundersrc.com/communities) | Public listing (facts of presence only; no licence stated) |
| Coworking spaces | 6 within 10 km | 2026-10-27 | city | [OpenStreetMap via the Overpass API](https://www.openstreetmap.org/copyright) | ODbL-1.0 |
| Climbing gyms | 5 within 10 km | 2026-10-27 | city | [OpenStreetMap via the Overpass API](https://www.openstreetmap.org/copyright) | ODbL-1.0 |
| Public swimming pools | 6 within 10 km | 2026-10-27 | city | [OpenStreetMap via the Overpass API](https://www.openstreetmap.org/copyright) | ODbL-1.0 |
| Public swimming pools (official) | 6.4 per 100,000 | 2018 | city | [Urban Audit: cities and greater cities](https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/cities/database) | Eurostat reuse with acknowledgement (Decision 2011/833/EU) |
| Hackerspaces and makerspaces | 1 within 10 km | 2026-10-27 | city | [OpenStreetMap via the Overpass API](https://www.openstreetmap.org/copyright) | ODbL-1.0 |
| Green space | 9.1 % of land | 2026-10-27 | city | [OpenStreetMap via the Overpass API](https://www.openstreetmap.org/copyright) | ODbL-1.0 |
| Distance to the sea | 65 km | Natural Earth 5.1 | city | [Natural Earth (coastline, land, countries and populated places)](https://www.naturalearthdata.com/) | Public domain |
| Distance to the mountains | 300 km | terrain tiles 2017 | city | [Terrain Tiles (Terrarium) on AWS Open Data](https://registry.opendata.aws/terrain-tiles/) | Public domain (USGS, NOAA) and Open Government Licence – Canada, with attribution |
| Nearest major airport | 36 km | 2026-10-27 | city | [OurAirports airports](https://ourairports.com/data/) | Public domain |
| Airports within 100 km | 6 airports | 2026-10-27 | city | [OurAirports airports](https://ourairports.com/data/) | Public domain |
| Rail and metro stations | 6 within 10 km | 2026-10-27 | city | [OpenStreetMap via the Overpass API](https://www.openstreetmap.org/copyright) | ODbL-1.0 |
| Cycle paths | 259 km within 10 km | 2026-10-27 | city | [OpenStreetMap via the Overpass API](https://www.openstreetmap.org/copyright) | ODbL-1.0 |
| Commuting by public transport | 12.4 % of commuters | 2011 | city | [Urban Audit: cities and greater cities](https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/cities/database) | Eurostat reuse with acknowledgement (Decision 2011/833/EU) |
| Road deaths | 0.00 per 10,000 | 2014 | city | [Urban Audit: cities and greater cities](https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/cities/database) | Eurostat reuse with acknowledgement (Decision 2011/833/EU) |
| Born abroad | 33.3 % of residents | 2018 | city | [Urban Audit: cities and greater cities](https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/cities/database) | Eurostat reuse with acknowledgement (Decision 2011/833/EU) |
| English speakers | 98 % of population | CLDR 49 | United Kingdom-wide | [CLDR territory information](https://cldr.unicode.org/) | Unicode-3.0 |
| English is official | yes | CLDR 49 | United Kingdom-wide | [CLDR territory information](https://cldr.unicode.org/) | Unicode-3.0 |
| Internet speed | 64 Mbit/s | 2023 | city | [M-Lab NDT statistics (daily city aggregates)](https://www.measurementlab.net/data/) | CC0-1.0 |
| Adults with a degree | 79.2 % of adults | 2018 | city | [Urban Audit: cities and greater cities](https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/cities/database) | Eurostat reuse with acknowledgement (Decision 2011/833/EU) |
| Everyday needs on foot | 89 % of streets | 2026-11-05 | city | [OpenStreetMap via the Overpass API: walking and cycling](https://www.openstreetmap.org/copyright) | ODbL-1.0 |
| Cycle network | 0.93 km per km² of land | 2026-11-05 | city | [OpenStreetMap via the Overpass API: walking and cycling](https://www.openstreetmap.org/copyright) | ODbL-1.0 |
| Walking or cycling to work | 48.8 % of commuters | 2011 | city | [Urban Audit: cities and greater cities](https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/cities/database) | Eurostat reuse with acknowledgement (Decision 2011/833/EU) |
| Out of the dense city | 0.9 km | 2025 | city | [GHS Urban Centre Database 2025 (R2024A), general characteristics](https://human-settlement.emergency.copernicus.eu/ghs_ucdb_2024.php) | CC-BY-4.0 |
| Politics, left to right | centre, 5.6 of 10 | 2024-07-04 | United Kingdom-wide | [Political position from election results](https://github.com/ABCastor/borgo/blob/main/pipeline/inputs/politics.json) | CC-BY-4.0 |
| Abortion in law | also on social or economic grounds | 2026-11-05 | United Kingdom-wide | [Abortion in law, from the statutes cited](https://github.com/ABCastor/borgo/blob/main/src/fetch/rights-law.ts) | CC-BY-4.0 |
| Doctors | 3.3 per 1,000 people | 2023 | United Kingdom-wide | [World Development Indicators](https://databank.worldbank.org/source/world-development-indicators) | CC-BY-4.0 |
| Unemployment | 4.7 % of the labour force | 2025 | United Kingdom-wide | [World Development Indicators](https://databank.worldbank.org/source/world-development-indicators) | CC-BY-4.0 |
| Control of corruption | 1.53 -2.5 to 2.5 | 2025 | United Kingdom-wide | [Worldwide Governance Indicators](https://www.worldbank.org/en/publication/worldwide-governance-indicators) | CC-BY-4.0 |
| Same-sex couples in law | marriage | 2026 | United Kingdom-wide | [Same-sex couples in law, from the statutes cited](https://github.com/ABCastor/borgo/blob/main/src/fetch/rights-law.ts) | CC-BY-4.0 |

No open figure yet for: your childcare cost, health insurance premium, sunshine, fine dust (pm2.5), green urban areas (official), commute time, monthly transit pass, developers on github.

## Comparisons

- [Cambridge vs Amsterdam](https://borgo.abcastor.com/compare/amsterdam-nl-vs-cambridge-gb/index.md)
- [Cambridge vs Berlin](https://borgo.abcastor.com/compare/berlin-de-vs-cambridge-gb/index.md)
- [Cambridge vs Bristol](https://borgo.abcastor.com/compare/bristol-gb-vs-cambridge-gb/index.md)
- [Cambridge vs Brussels](https://borgo.abcastor.com/compare/brussels-be-vs-cambridge-gb/index.md)
- [Cambridge vs Cork](https://borgo.abcastor.com/compare/cambridge-gb-vs-cork-ie/index.md)
- [Cambridge vs Dublin](https://borgo.abcastor.com/compare/cambridge-gb-vs-dublin-ie/index.md)
- [Cambridge vs Edinburgh](https://borgo.abcastor.com/compare/cambridge-gb-vs-edinburgh-gb/index.md)
- [Cambridge vs Geneva](https://borgo.abcastor.com/compare/cambridge-gb-vs-geneva-ch/index.md)
- [Cambridge vs London](https://borgo.abcastor.com/compare/cambridge-gb-vs-london-gb/index.md)
- [Cambridge vs Madrid](https://borgo.abcastor.com/compare/cambridge-gb-vs-madrid-es/index.md)
- [Cambridge vs Manchester](https://borgo.abcastor.com/compare/cambridge-gb-vs-manchester-gb/index.md)
- [Cambridge vs Paris](https://borgo.abcastor.com/compare/cambridge-gb-vs-paris-fr/index.md)
- [Cambridge vs Porto](https://borgo.abcastor.com/compare/cambridge-gb-vs-porto-pt/index.md)
- [Cambridge vs Rome](https://borgo.abcastor.com/compare/cambridge-gb-vs-rome-it/index.md)
- [Cambridge vs Rotterdam](https://borgo.abcastor.com/compare/cambridge-gb-vs-rotterdam-nl/index.md)

## Credits

- Borgo contributors, from the statutes cited in each figure's note ([CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/))
- Unicode CLDR territory information. Copyright © 1991-2026 Unicode, Inc. Used under the Unicode License v3 (https://www.unicode.org/license.txt) ([Unicode License v3](https://www.unicode.org/license.txt))
- Borgo contributors, from the statutes cited in each figure's note ([CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/))
- Borgo's summary of the Common Travel Area guidance; contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0 ([Borgo's own summary of the law cited (CC BY 4.0); the official text is cited, not copied](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/))
- Source: Eurostat, Urban Audit (© European Union). Borgo keeps each city's latest value and converts units where its note says so Eurostat is not responsible for Borgo's use of its data. ([European Commission reuse policy (Decision 2011/833/EU): reuse with the source acknowledged and changes stated](https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/main/help/copyright-notice))
- Founders Running Club communities list (facts of presence and links only) ([No licence from the publisher: only facts of presence are stored](https://foundersrc.com/communities))
- Places, coordinates, populations and time zones from GeoNames (geonames.org), CC BY 4.0 ([CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/))
- GHS-UCDB R2024A, European Commission, Joint Research Centre, CC BY 4.0, doi:10.2905/1a338be6-7eaf-480c-9664-3a8ade88cbcd; Borgo derives the distance from the centre to the urban centre's edge Shores and lakes from Natural Earth (public domain) decide which directions lead on to land. ([CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/))
- Borgo contributors, from the labour codes cited in each figure's note ([CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/))
- The M-Lab NDT Data Set, 2023-01-01–2023-12-31. https://measurementlab.net/tests/ndt ([CC0 1.0 (public domain dedication)](https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/))
- Public holidays from Nager.Date (date.nager.at), MIT License, Copyright (c) Nager ([MIT License](https://opensource.org/license/mit))
- Made with Natural Earth (public domain) ([Public domain (dedicated by the publisher)](https://www.naturalearthdata.com/about/terms-of-use/))
- OECD (2026), Net childcare costs, OECD Tax-Benefit Models, https://www.oecd.org/en/data/indicators/net-childcare-costs.html Reusers must cite the OECD as above and pass this acknowledgement requirement on to anyone they share the data with. ([OECD terms for data: any use, with the OECD citation passed on](https://www.oecd.org/en/about/terms-conditions.html))
- OECD (2026), OECD Family Database, PF2.1 Parental leave systems, https://www.oecd.org/en/data/datasets/oecd-family-database.html Reusers must cite the OECD as above and pass this acknowledgement requirement on to anyone they share the data with. ([OECD terms for data: any use, with the OECD citation passed on](https://www.oecd.org/en/about/terms-conditions.html))
- OECD (2026), OECD Well-being Database (How's Life?), https://www.oecd.org/en/data/datasets/well-being-database.html Reusers must cite the OECD as above and pass this acknowledgement requirement on to anyone they share the data with. ([OECD terms for data: any use, with the OECD citation passed on](https://www.oecd.org/en/about/terms-conditions.html))
- Source: Office for National Statistics, Price Index of Private Rents. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0 ([Open Government Licence v3.0](https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/))
- Weather data by Open-Meteo.com (https://open-meteo.com/), CC BY 4.0 Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2021-2025. Neither the European Commission nor ECMWF is responsible for any use that may be made of the Copernicus information or data it contains. ([CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/))
- OpenAlex (openalex.org), CC0 ([CC0 1.0 (public domain dedication)](https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/))
- © OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL 1.0 (https://www.openstreetmap.org/copyright) ([Open Database License 1.0](https://opendatacommons.org/licenses/odbl/1-0/))
- © OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL 1.0 (https://www.openstreetmap.org/copyright) ([Open Database License 1.0](https://opendatacommons.org/licenses/odbl/1-0/))
- Airports from OurAirports (ourairports.com), public domain ([Public domain (dedicated by the publisher)](https://www.naturalearthdata.com/about/terms-of-use/))
- Borgo contributors, from official election results and ParlGov party positions (Döring, Huber and Manow, ParlGov 2024 release, CC0) ([CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/))
- Research Organization Registry (ror.org), CC0 ([CC0 1.0 (public domain dedication)](https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/))
- Terrain Tiles on AWS Open Data (Mapzen, a Linux Foundation project): SRTM and GMTED2010 terrain data courtesy of the U.S. Geological Survey; ETOPO1, U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration; Canada terrain data contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Canada ([Terrain Tiles source terms: public domain (USGS, NOAA) and Open Government Licence – Canada, with attribution](https://github.com/tilezen/joerd/blob/master/docs/attribution.md))
- World Bank, World Development Indicators, CC BY 4.0 (underlying sources named in each figure's note: ICP, IMF, UNODC, UN Population Division, WHO, ILO, UNESCO Institute for Statistics) ([CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/))
- World Bank, Worldwide Governance Indicators, Control of Corruption estimate, CC BY 4.0 ([CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/))

## Cite

Borgo, "Living in Cambridge", https://borgo.abcastor.com/city/cambridge-gb/, figures as of 2026-11-05. Name the original source of any figure you quote. JSON: https://borgo.abcastor.com/api/city/cambridge-gb.json