What is the smartest city in United Kingdom?

By smart reach (the evidenced score weighted by how many people a city serves), London leads United Kingdom in the 2026 rankings, #1 of 386 worldwide, scoring 95% against the ISO 37120-series aligned smart city framework, ahead of Leeds and Edinburgh. Rankings are based on public evidence, with every score traceable to its sources.

How many smart cities in United Kingdom are ranked?

77 United Kingdom cities are assessed and ranked, with an average smart score of 78.5% across 86 evidence-based criteria spanning open data, mobility, environment, governance and the economy.

Country rankings

Smart Cities in United Kingdom

The 77 assessed smart cities in United Kingdom, ranked by smart reach: scored against 86 evidence-based criteria from the ISO 37120-series aligned smart city framework and weighted by how many people each city serves. What each city verifiably has, not how it markets itself; every score links to its public sources.

Cities ranked

Average score

78.5%

Top by smart reach

London

Its score

95%

In UK	City	Score	Worldwide by reach	Criteria present
1	London	95%	#1	81/86
2	Leeds	90.9%	#10	75/86
3	Edinburgh	90.2%	#20	74/86
4	Birmingham	84.5%	#23	64/86
5	Belfast	90.1%	#26	74/86
6	Manchester	86.5%	#27	66/86
7	Liverpool	87%	#29	70/86
8	Coventry	86.9%	#34	66/86
9	Sheffield	84%	#35	66/86
10	Plymouth	87.8%	#43	69/86
11	Newcastle upon Tyne	86.9%	#44	70/86
12	Glasgow	80.6%	#52	57/86
13	Bradford	81.3%	#54	65/86
14	Bristol	81.6%	#56	64/86
15	Salford	83.4%	#65	67/86
16	Cardiff	80.7%	#68	61/86
17	Derby	83.2%	#69	65/86
18	Nottingham	80.9%	#72	63/86
19	Chelmsford	84.6%	#75	67/86
20	Milton Keynes	81.3%	#79	65/86
21	Portsmouth	81.7%	#80	56/86
22	Exeter	85.8%	#83	67/86
23	Kingston upon Hull	80.6%	#86	65/86
24	York	81.9%	#87	64/86
25	Dundee	83.5%	#95	65/86
26	Swansea	79.9%	#96	55/86
27	Wolverhampton	79.4%	#99	61/86
28	Colchester	81.1%	#100	62/86
29	Cambridge	83.8%	#102	66/86
30	Leicester	76.1%	#106	58/86
31	Sunderland	77.4%	#110	50/86
32	Oxford	79.7%	#124	62/86
33	Preston	79.9%	#125	62/86
34	Lancaster	79.7%	#127	63/86
35	Westminster	77.1%	#128	60/86
36	Southend-on-Sea	77.9%	#130	55/86
37	Newry	77.8%	#131	58/86
38	Brighton & Hove	74.3%	#137	58/86
39	Wakefield	73%	#138	57/86
40	Peterborough	76.2%	#139	57/86
41	Doncaster	72.7%	#148	52/86
42	Wrexham	79.5%	#149	59/86
43	Armagh	74.1%	#153	58/86
44	Newport, Wales	75.8%	#155	50/86
45	Londonderry	80.1%	#156	61/86
46	Lisburn	81%	#159	66/86
47	Bath	77.7%	#163	59/86
48	Lincoln	77.8%	#164	59/86
49	Chichester	76.2%	#168	55/86
50	Stoke-on-Trent	71.1%	#172	51/86
51	Carlisle	76.2%	#175	58/86
52	Southampton	70.1%	#178	40/86
53	Gloucester	73.2%	#184	55/86
54	Winchester	73.9%	#187	53/86
55	Norwich	70.8%	#189	52/86
56	Hereford	78%	#190	57/86
57	Bangor, County Down	77.1%	#199	61/86
58	Chester	74.3%	#202	54/86
59	Aberdeen	69.2%	#203	48/86
60	Inverness	78.4%	#205	60/86
61	Stirling	73.4%	#208	43/86
62	Canterbury	69.8%	#210	46/86
63	Lichfield	72.2%	#212	50/86
64	Perth, Scotland	85.5%	#215	64/86
65	Dunfermline	72.6%	#228	47/86
66	Durham	74.6%	#232	56/86
67	Salisbury	68%	#244	44/86
68	Ely	78.3%	#246	58/86
69	St Albans	64.7%	#248	44/86
70	Ripon	77.6%	#255	60/86
71	Worcester	64.9%	#258	39/86
72	Wells	78.2%	#266	61/86
73	City Of London	80.2%	#268	61/86
74	Bangor, Gwynedd	74.3%	#273	55/86
75	Truro	68.3%	#291	49/86
76	St Asaph	69.7%	#327	50/86
77	St Davids	73.3%	#334	55/86

How United Kingdom's smart cities are ranked

Each of the 77 cities in United Kingdom is assessed against the same 86 criteria as every other city worldwide, so the scores are directly comparable. AI agents gather evidence from official public sources and mark each criterion present, partial or absent. Read more about how the assessment works.

All 387 cities worldwide Explore the live map