Town makes top ten of happiest places to live
Survey was conducted across Scotland
Paisley has made the top ten list of the happiest places to live in Scotland.
The town – which is the largest in Scotland – ranked ninth on the “Happy at Home” index, which asked thousands of people across the country how they feel about where they live.
Happiness measures in the index compiled by Rightmove include friendliness and community spirit, whether people feel they can be themselves, nature and green spaces, opportunities locally to develop skills and amenities including schools, restaurants, shops and sports facilities.
In Scotland, Stirling nabbed the top spot, followed by Perth and Inverness in second and third place.
Other places in the top ten were Edinburgh, Dundee, Ayr, Glasgow, Kirkcaldy and Aberdeen.
Rightmove’s study also found that people living in coastal villages tended to be the happiest group in the study.
Around a third of this year’s top 20 happiest towns are market towns, it added.
The coronavirus pandemic has prompted many people to move home in order to make lifestyle changes.
The study found that more than two-thirds of people who had moved in the last year relocated to a different area.
Nearly two-thirds of these people reported feeling happier where they now live.
Eight in ten of those who had moved from a town to a village said they now feel happier with where they live.
Rightmove predicts 1.5 million house sales will have taken place this year.
Tim Bannister, Rightmove’s director of property data, said: “It’s been an incredibly busy year in the housing market, with a lot of people deciding that now is the right time to move.”