Dundee has been named as Scotland's most creative city in new research

Dundee has been named the most creative city in Scotland and the third most creative city in the UK in a new report examining where creatives have the best access to opportunities, spaces and affordable living.

The Creative Cities Report, produced by creative software company Affinity, ranked 50 UK cities using a series of measures including creative job opportunities, cultural venues, arts funding, university courses, coworking spaces and living costs.

Dundee placed third overall, behind Worcester and Carlisle, putting it ahead of some of the UK’s best-known creative centres.

The city was highlighted for combining a strong cultural offer with relatively affordable living costs, as well as significant levels of arts investment.

According to the report, Dundee has 98 creative spaces and receives the equivalent of £237,102 in arts funding per 10,000 residents.

The average monthly cost of living used in the study was £1,291, helping Dundee perform strongly across the report’s three main categories of access to space, access to opportunities and affordability.

Affinity also highlighted Dundee’s status as the UK’s first UNESCO City of Design, a designation the city has held since 2014.

The ranking adds to Dundee’s growing reputation as a centre for design, culture and the creative industries, with the city home to organisations and institutions including V&A Dundee, Dundee Contemporary Arts, Dundee Rep Theatre, DJCAD and a longstanding video games sector.

Rather than focusing purely on the size of a city’s creative economy, the research sought to examine how practical it is for creative professionals to actually live and work there.

Creative spaces considered in the study included museums, theatres, galleries and music venues, while the opportunities category examined jobs and salaries across roles including product design, UX design, graphic design and photo editing.

University courses and the number of creative agencies were also taken into account.

Each factor was standardised per 10,000 residents, with cities then given a Creative Benchmark score out of 100. A score of 50 represented the average across the cities included in the study.

Affinity said the results suggested smaller cities were increasingly competing with traditional creative centres such as London and Manchester by offering a stronger balance between career opportunities and cost of living.

Worcester topped the UK ranking with a score of 79, while Carlisle finished second and Dundee completed the top three.

More than half of the 50 cities examined recorded a score above the UK creative benchmark, with the report suggesting creative activity and opportunity are becoming increasingly spread across the country.

The findings come as the creative industries continue to play a major role in the UK economy, contributing an estimated £145.8 billion in gross value added in 2024 and supporting millions of jobs.

For Dundee, the latest ranking provides another boost to the city’s creative credentials, placing it not only at the top of Scotland but among the leading creative cities anywhere in the UK.