Discover Sheffield
This is a fabulous place to live. Sheffield is the UK’s fifth largest city. It is a dynamic, changing economy, with more than 20,000 businesses. But it is also the UK’s greenest city. More than a third of the city lies within the Peak District National Park.
The great outdoors, next door
What makes Sheffield unique is the combination of a bustling city centre with the vast open countryside of the Peak District.
Many people choose to commute to the city centre from one of the stunning surrounding villages, while city dwellers can often be found at weekends walking, cycling and climbing the famous landscape which sits just a 20 minute drive away.
A green city
Sheffield is known as England’s greenest city, with 200 parks, woodlands and gardens, and more trees per person than any city in Europe. We are also the least congested city in England, with an average commute time of 23 minutes.
Regeneration efforts in recent years complement this green heritage, making the city a mixture of cutting edge urban design and relaxing open spaces.
A festival city
Sheffield has a busy calendar of annual events and festivals, from internationally renowned film festival Doc/Fest to Sheffield Food Festival, which brings over 200,000 people into the city centre, there’s always something happening in the city centre.
Each year Tramlines, the UK’s largest inner city music festival takes over hundreds of venues across the city, Off the Shelf brings literary figures to Sheffield, and business leaders from around the country attend Made, the national festival for entrepreneurs.
A cultural and creative city
While Sheffield is world-famous for its steel-making heritage, today we are equally known for our creative and design industries, which have an annual turnover of over 1 billion. They employ more than 18,000 people in the city region, 7.2% of the population – well over the national average.
As well as a thriving local music scene, we have one of Britain’s largest theatre complexes and nine major art galleries, along with more artists’ studios than anywhere in the UK outside London.
A friendly city
The city’s people have a well-deserved reputation for their friendliness and hospitality. The sense of welcome and community leads locals to call Sheffield ‘the biggest village in Britain’.
We have one of the country’s highest graduate retention rates – many stay in Sheffield to work and raise families, giving the city a highly qualified population. The cost of living in Sheffield is 10% lower than the national average.
