66% of Brits consider Manchester to be the second city not Birmingham

A new survey has revealed that more than half of Brits now consider Manchester to be the second city, rather than Birmingham.

At this point, the debate over where should hold the unofficial title of ‘Britain’s second city’ has raged for almost as long as London has been the capital… but now, in a bid to get to the bottom of the issue, a new YouGov study of more than 55,000 Brits investigates which urban areas the public feel have the strongest claim to holding the title.

Overall, it was revealed that 66% of Brits believe Manchester has a ‘strong case’ for being considered Britain’s second city, compared to 48% for Birmingham, and 49% for Edinburgh

When picking the city they most consider to be Britain’s second city, the public are, however, divided as 34% say it’s Manchester while 30% opt for Birmingham.

As you can probably imagine, the answer to this age-old question varies significantly depending on where you are in the country.

Belief that Birmingham is Britain’s second city is concentrated in and around the West Midlands, whereas Manchester’s claim likewise finds its strongest support on its home patch (77% in Greater Manchester), though this does not extend to every part of the North West, with the people of Merseyside being more likely to consider Liverpool (34%) the second city than Manchester (27%).

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Perhaps key to explaining why having a population roughly twice the size of Manchester’s doesn’t immediately settle the 'second city' debate in Birmingham’s favour is that just 14% of Britons consider population size to be the most important factor in determining a second city… pic.twitter.com/ThtAgJSKqq

— YouGov (@YouGov) May 22, 2026

Despite all this though, Manchester being considered the second city is the most common view across a ‘reasonably wide’ spread of England, YouGov found.

Beyond geographical differences, there’s also seen to be a small generational divide over the title too.

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• Two Greater Manchester towns named among UK’s best places to buy your first home

Among younger Brits, Manchester is the clear favourite, with 42% of 18-24 year olds seeing it as Britain’s second city, while Birmingham edges out Manchester for the silver city medal among over-65s by a margin of 35% to 29%.

Featured Image – Manchester City Council