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Healthiest Places to Live in the North East

12 upper-tier local authorities in the North East, ranked by the Gera Healthy-Place Index — air quality, life expectancy and GP access from real government data.

What are the healthiest places to live in the North East?

In the North East, Northumberland is the healthiest place to live on the Gera Healthy-Place Index, scoring 75.4/100 across 12 upper-tier local authorities. It combines clean air (max 7/16 μg/m³ PM2.5/NO2, DEFRA 2024), life expectancy of 81.2 years (ONS) and 100.0% of GP practices rated Good or Outstanding (CQC).

Source:Gera Healthy-Place Index — composite of DEFRA + ONS + CQC open data·as of Air 2024 calendar year; life expectancy 2017-19; GP ratings 2026-06-01updated annually (last: )
Healthiest places in the North East — Gera Healthy-Place Index (DEFRA + ONS + CQC, OGL v3.0)
Region rankLocal authorityGHPIMax PM2.5 / NO2Life expectancyGP Good/Outstanding
1Northumberland75.4 / 1007 / 16 μg/m³81.2 years100.0%
2Redcar and Cleveland70.8 / 1007 / 16 μg/m³80.0 years100.0%
3Darlington69.1 / 1007 / 20 μg/m³80.4 years100.0%
4Hartlepool64.2 / 1008 / 19 μg/m³79.1 years100.0%
5County Durham58.9 / 1008 / 25 μg/m³80.0 years95.0%
6Sunderland58 / 1009 / 26 μg/m³79.2 years100.0%
7South Tyneside57.9 / 1009 / 27 μg/m³79.4 years100.0%
8North Tyneside56.6 / 1009 / 27 μg/m³80.1 years95.0%
9Newcastle upon Tyne54 / 1008 / 32 μg/m³79.9 years96.6%
10Stockton-on-Tees53.5 / 1009 / 31 μg/m³80.1 years95.2%
11Gateshead49.6 / 1009 / 31 μg/m³79.8 years92.0%
12Middlesbrough48 / 1009 / 32 μg/m³77.8 years100.0%

North East areas in detail

Other regions

Healthiest places in the North East: FAQs

Which is the healthiest place to live in the North East?
Northumberland ranks healthiest in the North East on the Gera Healthy-Place Index (75.4/100), ahead of 11 other upper-tier local authorities in the region, on a composite of DEFRA air quality, ONS life expectancy and CQC GP access.
How many North East areas are ranked?
12 upper-tier local authorities in the North East have full data on all three pillars and are ranked. Nationally, 145 English areas are included; areas missing any pillar are excluded transparently, never estimated.

Healthcare across the North East

A GeraClinic UK-registered clinician can see you by secure video from anywhere in the UK — wherever you are in the region, often the same day.

Contains public sector information published by Gera Systems and licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0 (source data). Source: Gera Healthy-Place Index — composite of DEFRA + ONS + CQC open data (Air 2024 calendar year; life expectancy 2017-19; GP ratings 2026-06-01, published 19 June 2026).