Milton Keynes among UK's most burnt-out cities, new study reveals
Milton Keynes has been named among the UK's more burnt-out cities, with new research revealing that workers in the city report one of the highest anxiety levels in the country, despite enjoying relatively short commutes.
A ranking by PEO Metrics compared 57 UK cities across seven indicators linked to workplace burnout, including working hours, salary growth, overtime, commuting times, anxiety levels and sickness absence. Milton Keynes ranks 27th nationally with a score of 47.58 out of 100, placing it ahead of Cambridge, Bristol, Oxford and Brighton.
The UK's top 10 most burnt-out cities
Lichfield - 62.86
London - 61.60
Norwich - 54.11
Southampton - 53.93
Doncaster - 53.79
Stoke-on-Trent - 52.98
Derby - 52.44
Cardiff - 51.86
Birmingham - 51.66
Peterborough - 51.62
Scores are out of 100, with higher scores indicating greater burnout-related pressures.
Milton Keynes records a reported anxiety level of 3.80, the fourth-highest among all 57 cities analysed, behind only Norwich (4.37), Worcester (3.85) and Southampton (3.81).
Despite this, the city has the shortest median commuting time in the entire study at just 11.3 minutes, considerably lower than London's 33 minutes and Cambridge's 19.7 minutes.
Employees in Milton Keynes work an average of 37 hours per week, alongside 0.94 hours of paid overtime. The city also records a sickness absence rate of 1.1%, below London's 1.8% and Cambridge's 1.3%.
Annual salary growth stands at 6%, higher than London's 5.7% but below neighbouring Oxford (9.8%) and Cambridge (3.5%).
The city's ranking highlights differences across southern England. Peterborough ranks 10th nationally with a burnout score of 51.62, while Cambridge places 30th with 46.59. Meanwhile, St Albans ranks 46th with 40.28, and Oxford sits considerably lower in 50th place, scoring 36.31.
Nationally, Lichfield takes first place with a score of 62.86, followed by London (61.60) and Norwich (54.11).
At the opposite end of the ranking, Stirling records the lowest burnout-related score at 25.01, followed by Canterbury (28.65) and Edinburgh (31.50).