West Yorkshire is where opportunity lives. Say hello to the best place to live, work and invest in the UK. Home to Bradford - the 2025 UK City of Culture, the Northern square mile, a thriving creative hub, manufacturing powerhouse and a trailblazing HealthTech sector. Our thriving region is the ideal place to invest your business.
Read on to discover more about what makes our region so great. Both for you and your business.
With a strong £74 billion economy, it’s a hotspot for education, featuring seven world-class universities. Plus, it's a booming hub for creativity. There's no better place in the UK to invest in your business.
West Yorkshire is home to over 95,000 businesses. It also has more scale-up businesses than any other area in the UK, outside London. Your business growth starts right here.
Growth is the key word. West Yorkshire hosts several key sectors, including digital tech and AI, HealthTech, manufacturing, green economy and financial services.
The future looks even brighter. With a young, talented workforce (Bradford has the youngest population of any European city) and a diverse community speaking over 170 languages, growth in West Yorkshire has no limits.
Did you know that Leeds is one of the top 5 cities in the UK to start and scale-up a business? There’s never been a better place to kick-off your entrepreneurial ambitions.
Our £6.3 billion financial and legal cluster is the biggest outside London. We also host the Bank of England, the Financial Conduct Authority and the National Wealth Fund. Additionally, we have top centres for financial research and innovation.
Our region is recognised by the UK Government as a world leader in Artificial Intelligence. More students study AI here than anywhere else in the UK.
West Yorkshire has the largest manufacturing workforce in the North. Employing over 110,000 workers, we are a hotspot for a rapidly changing manufacturing environment.
West Yorkshire, named one of the ‘Best Places to Live 2025’ by The Sunday Times, is home to top-rated areas like Ilkley, Hebden Bridge and Horsforth. Between 2023 and 24, the region delivered more affordable homes than any time since 2000, making it more liveable and affordable than ever.
Over 92% of premises in West Yorkshire have gigabit-capable internet. This includes 87% with full fibre, much higher than the 74% average across England. (Think Broadband, January 2025).
Calderdale is a place of creativity, trade and innovation. A place of great opportunity and inclusion. You just have to look up, look out and look within to see the beauty of our buildings, our landscapes and the strength of our character.
Councillor Jane Scullion
Leader of Calderdale Council
Kirklees is a such a brilliant place to represent. We have strong and diverse communities, cutting-edge industries and a huge sense of pride in our heritage. We’ve got a bright future too. Major improvements are coming to our transport network and we’re attracting investment into the economy in every part of Kirklees. All of this is going to bring opportunities for future generations in Huddersfield, Dewsbury, Batley and beyond.
Carole Pattison
Leader of Kirklees Council – Kirklees Together
Leeds offers something unique; we are large enough to attract global brands but also agile enough to wrap our arms around smaller companies and the innovators of the future. We want Leeds to continue to be an outward looking city, part of a strong, northern economy that acts as a beacon for investment, a place that businesses and talent want to call home.
Councillor James Lewis
Leader of Leeds City Council
For Wakefield council, economic wellbeing is something which delivers social justice and a sense of belonging. It builds active participation and dignity for all our residents. At the same time as driving inclusive and environmentally sustainable economic prosperity.
Councillor Denise Jeffery
Leader of Wakefield Council
City of Culture status will place Bradford district at the heart of the country’s cultural conversation attracting talent, and investment as well as creating new skills and jobs and building civic pride.
Councillor Susan Hinchcliff
Leader of Bradford Council
