Newcastle has moved up two places to 10th of the 26 UK cities in Oxford Economics' 2026 Global Cities Index, although it fell eight places globally, to 150th out of 1,000.

The index, published on 16 September, ranks cities across five categories covering economics, human capital, quality of life, environment and governance.

Newcastle ranked 142nd globally and 12th among UK cities in 2025, according to figures published by Time Out in May that year.

Its move up the domestic table reflects larger falls elsewhere. Leicester dropped from 130th to 153rd globally and Southampton from 135th to 167th, taking both below Newcastle. No UK city overtook it.

The shifts were widespread. Of the 25 UK cities outside London, 23 fell in the global rankings. Time Out's 2025 list gives rankings only, with no category scores, so the change in position cannot establish whether Newcastle's underlying performance improved or worsened.

Newcastle received an overall score of 65.9 out of 100, narrowly ahead of Liverpool on 65.8 and Leicester on 65.7. The three cities occupy global positions 150, 152 and 153 respectively, separated by just 0.2 points.

The category breakdown provides a clearer comparison with other UK cities.

Newcastle scored 73.7 for quality of life, above the UK city average of 71.7 and sixth highest nationally. Its environment score of 84.6 was also above the UK average of 82.0, placing it seventh.

The position was weaker on economic performance and human capital. Newcastle scored 53.0 for economics against a UK average of 55.0, ranking 16th of the 26 cities. Its human capital score of 50.0 compared with the national average of 52.5, placing it 14th.

All 26 UK cities received the same governance score of 80.5, making that category of little use in distinguishing their relative performance.

Manchester, ranked 90th globally, scored 72.2 overall, while Leeds was 103rd with 70.3. Manchester's human capital score of 60.2 was more than 10 points ahead of Newcastle.

Middlesbrough, the only other North East city in the index, ranked last among the 26 UK cities and 285th globally, down from 243rd in 2025.

It scored 56.3 overall, with 75.8 for environment, 68.6 for quality of life, 49.1 for economics and 36.4 for human capital. Like Newcastle, it received 80.5 for governance.

The largest difference between the two North East cities was in human capital, where Newcastle scored 13.6 points higher.