Map shows full list of cities thousands of brits are leaving for seaside towns

Britain's cities are facing a mass exodus with people swapping the hustle and bustle for quieter seaside towns. Data published by the ONS has shown a sharp rise in the number of people

relocating to coastal towns and, on the opposite side of the trend, the population of the UK’s major cities is in decline. Internal migration data shows all the main cities in England saw

more people moving out in the last year than the numbers who moved in. The popular seaside destination of Cornwall saw the highest population increase, with close to 5,000 additional people

joining the county from other locations in the UK over the last year. By comparison, Birmingham, the second largest city in Britain, saw the overall number of residents fall by 17,500 after

over 73,00 people migrated out of the area. During 2023, around 860,000 people left London to live somewhere else in the UK, far more than the 730,000 who settled in the capital over the

same period. A similar pattern was observed across other major cities, including Leeds, Leicester, Coventry, Bristol and Sheffield. Nottingham and Manchester both saw the number of residents

fall by thousands, resulting in an overall population decline of 8,300 and 7,900 respectively. The only key city that saw a net increase in was Cardiff, which gained around 2,500 new

residents. The figures appear to show cities in England are losing their appeal, possibly due to the higher costs of rent and housing in many urban areas. Coastal regions which saw an

overall increase in their resident population were Dorset, Somerset, West Norfolk and East Yorkshire. In the year to June 2023, nearly 25,000 people relocated to Cornwall, balanced only

partially by an outflow of 20,000 residents to other locations. The 5,000 new residents drawn to the area’s mix of rural scenery and picturesque coastline will increase the county’s

population by around just under one percent. By comparison, Brighton and Hove, another popular seaside destination, saw an overall drop of 2,000 residents. The data counts people who decided

to relocate from one part of England and Wales to another, and does not account for immigration from abroad.