The 2026 Cities Outlook report, which examines the economic performance of the UK’s 63 largest towns and cities, also showed the Peterborough jobs market has grown by 23.9 per cent – almost a quarter - from 2014 to 2024 giving it the third highest jobs growth.
Councillor Mohammed Farooq, Cabinet Member for Growth and Regeneration, said: “By many measures Peterborough is performing well as a city. It had the third highest jobs growth from 2014 to 2024 when compared to 62 other cities and the fifth highest population growth over the same period at 14.2 per cent which was twice the national average.
“It also has the 13th highest number of businesses per 10,000 people, the 14th highest ratio of private to public sector jobs, and the 16th highest housing stock growth. Peterborough was even in the top third of cities for productivity at £40/hr, just slightly below the national average of £41.3/hr.
“This shows we are making real progress in building a bigger, better Peterborough for our residents. However, we are also mindful there is still work to be done to raise living standards for Peterborough people.
“Our growth plans now are now focussing on bringing more highly skilled and highly paid jobs to give our residents higher levels of disposable income to make Peterborough a city of opportunity for all. Working with our partners in the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority, Homes England, ARU-Peterborough and others we want to create an environment that attracts substantial investment into regeneration, that supports our businesses to grow, to innovate, and to diversify, and gives Peterborough residents both present and future a city they can be proud of where they want to live and spend time.”
The annual Cities Outlook Report is written by national think tank Centre for Cities and can be viewed here www.centreforcities.org/cities-outlook/
On Friday (30 January) the Leader of Peterborough City Council, Cllr Shabina Qayyum, the Mayor of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Paul Bristow and city MPs Andrew Pakes and Sam Carling were among the panellists at the Peterborough Growth Summit hosted by the Cambridgeshire Chamber of Commerce at Anglia Ruskin University Peterborough.
The summit was part of the chamber’s calendar of events to mark its centenary in Peterborough. It gathered together business leaders, entrepreneurs, public-sector partners and community stakeholders to explore how Peterborough has transformed – and how we build on that momentum.