Four in 10 young Londoners plan to quit the capital due to crime, housing crisis and struggling jobs market

Two in five young adults are likely to leave London in the next five years due to crime levels, stalling career opportunities and high rental costs, new research has revealed.

A new report from the London Heritage Quarter suggests 18 to 30-year-olds are experiencing a sharp decline in their quality of life, with some young Londoners suggesting life in the capital was now a matter of “survival”, rather than opportunity.

The research, carried out by Public First, also found that a third of this age group expect to leave London within the next two years – this equates to around 600,000 people, and 800,000 in the next five years.

This is primarily down to the fact that young Londoners “feel the city has become too expensive to live in, too hard to get ahead in, and for many, too unsafe,” the report reads.

81 per cent say the city is more costly than they expected, while 61 per cent believe the cost of living has become worse since the Covid-19 pandemic.

Ambitious youngsters are also questioning whether it’s worth moving to London for the sake of their career.

Two in five lower earners – those taking in under £30,000 a year – say prospects have worsened in the last five years, with employers hit by increases in National Insurance contributions. This has meant that even those who do enter the the workforce are “stuck in lower-paid roles for longer, limiting the opportunities for career progression and wage growth that our polling shows young Londoners most want”.

In addition, the proliferation of remote and hybrid working has prompted half of young adults surveyed to say they would be more open to living outside the city, even while working within the capital.

The report also highlights the impact of crime, particularly on young women living in the city. Overall, 51 per cent say the city feels less safe than it did in 2021, while almost four in five have been affected by crime in some way.

It concludes that while London has not lost its “magnetism” for young people – 38 per cent of 18 to 30-year-olds who live outside the capital say there are somewhat or very likely to move into the city in the next two years – the increasing population churn of this demographic will mean young Londoners are unlikely to use the capital as anything more than a stepping stone before moving back out.