London, 2 July, 2025: New data reveals the U.K. is undergoing an ever-evolving transformation in how and where people choose to live, driven by rising living costs, flexible working, and the desire for more space.
Analysis from Experian has identified the key and emerging trends in communities across the country. It found that the fabric of the British countryside is changing — increasingly shaped by younger people and families trading city skylines for countryside calm, while households are evolving, with more families now living together across generations.
These insights come from the eighth release of Mosaic — Experian’s AI-powered classification and segmentation tool that helps businesses, charities and public sector organisations better understand their audiences. With expanded classifications of households into 18 groups and 68 types combined with additional consumer data, Mosaic offers a deeper, more detailed view of evolving lifestyles across the U.K.
Younger people and families on the move: cities in transition
Two Mosaic groups in particular — High-Flying Metropolitans and Successful City Families* — are leading the shift away from major cities. Over the past five years, 21% of these households have relocated from London, with similar patterns emerging in Manchester, Liverpool, Birmingham, and Leeds.
For High-Flying Metropolitans, Manchester recorded the highest number of movers after London, while Leeds has seen the fewest. Successful City Families showed a slightly different pattern. While cities like London, Manchester, and Birmingham have seen fewer families from this group staying, Liverpool and Leeds are bucking the trend — attracting more families and highlighting the continued appeal of certain urban centres for family life.
New dynamics: a changing countryside
Driven by the search for more space, affordable homes and access to nature - without losing city connections - a wider range of families, age groups, and lifestyles is now settling in the countryside. Five years ago, two-thirds of the rural population fell into just two Mosaic groups and seven segment types. This has now expanded into four groups and 12 segment types: Country Heritage, Upmarket Commuters, Respectable Retirement, and Modest Meadows.**
A new type of mover has also emerged — Greenfield Dreamers. These are successful professionals with children who have moved into newly built homes in rural developments. Enabled by the rise of remote and hybrid working, they’ve choosing larger properties in commutable countryside locations, blending career continuity with a better quality of life.
In addition, far from being disconnected, today’s countryside residents are highly digital. The four Mosaic groups*** most likely to use online grocery and delivery services are all rural-based, as are many of the top spenders on health and beauty products — highlighting a growing demand for convenience and lifestyle-driven services in non-urban areas.
Household evolution: Living together, across generations
In 2025, more families are living together across generations — driven by the need for elderly care and childcare support, as well as the cost of housing that has left many young adults unable to get on the property ladder or secure a tenancy independently, and have returned home to save for a deposit.
As a result, many working parents often have grandparents and young and adult children under one roof. Experian identified three types**** most likely to contain these households, which cover different demographics, income brackets, and city and country locations: Close Kin city dwellers, suburban Family Collectives, and firmly out-of-town Rural Kinship households.
Colin Grieves, Managing Director of Experian Marketing Services UK&I, said: “These trends, if permanent, mark a fascinating change in the make-up of the UK and its communities. Younger homeowners, families and professionals are clearly casting their net wider when it comes to where they want to call home, enjoying the benefits of rural living without compromising their careers, thanks to flexible working.
“These shifts raise important questions for local authorities, town planners, and businesses, who will have to continue to adapt to meet the needs of these new communities. At the same time, the number of residents moving away from city centres challenges planners and marketers to reimagine urban living. Revitalising centres with retail and cultural experiences could be key to drawing people back.”
To find out more about Mosaic 8 visit: Mosaic Platform | Smarter Segmentation for Smarter Decisions
ENDS
Notes to Editor
*Mosaic 8 classification identifies two key groups leaving city locations:
· High-flying Metropolitans: Career-focused young households rewarded with good salaries, living in desirable city apartments
· Successful City Families: Families with comfortable incomes living in good quality urban houses within big city suburbs
**Mosaic 8 new key groups identified in rural locations (2025):
· Country Heritage: Well-off owners of comfortable properties in rural locations with land or surrounding gardens
· Upmarket Commuters: High-income families in quality, modern-era homes located in desirable, low-density neighbourhoods
· Respectable Retirement: Senior outright-owners of mid-range homes, with sufficient pension incomes to provide for their later years
· Modest Meadows: Rural residents in affordable houses situated in country locations further from transport links
***Mosaic 8 types most likely to use online grocery delivery (2025):
· Room to Grow: High income families living in rural locations to provide a country upbringing for their families in a spacious environment
· Flourishing Families: Affluent families with several children in spacious family homes in green neighbourhoods
· Greenfield Dreamers: Thriving families with children, who own larger homes in recently built housing developments
· Rural Roots: Families, often with children, in affordable homes situated in and around small communities in low-density, rural areas
****Mosaic 8 types identified as most likely to contain multi-generational households (2025):
· Close Kin: City families with full houses of adult and school-age children, with mid-range incomes, close to jobs, schools and shops
· Family Collectives: Families in older properties in city locations
· Rural Kinship: Prospering multi-generational households in countryside properties with generous surrounding plots
Media contact:
Robert Goodman, PR Manager, Corporate & Business, UK&I, Experian
Tel: +44 7989 398 498 / Email: Robert.Goodman@Experian.com
About Mosaic 8
Deploying the latest modelled data and AI learning techniques, Mosaic 8 segments households into 18 groups and 68 detailed types, based on shared and typical characteristics.
Now with an even more granular view of the UK population, it helps marketers, businesses, charities, public sector bodies and other organisations better understand their existing customers and reach ready-made audiences through omnichannel marketing campaigns without the need to rely on outdated census-based approaches.
Upgrades to Mosaic 8 include:
· A complete rebuild of segmentation groups incorporating more household-level data, enabling a deeper understanding of consumer behaviours, attitudes, and preferences — even among neighbours in the same postcode.
· Enhancements including ‘New build Housing’ now segmented into four distinct types (previously one), and student accommodation is more accurately identified thanks to upgraded data inputs and improved classification.
· Enhanced integration with additional Experian datasets, including ‘Consumer Dynamics’ mobility and spending insights to gain a rich, deeper understanding of travel and spending habits.
· Activation through Experian’s growing network of media channel partners, making it easier than ever to reach the right audiences with precision across Social, Display, Programmatic, CTV, and OOH
About Experian
Experian is a global data and technology company, powering opportunities for people and businesses around the world. We help to redefine lending practices, uncover and prevent fraud, simplify healthcare, deliver digital marketing solutions, and gain deeper insights into the automotive market, all using our unique combination of data, analytics and software. We also assist millions of people to realise their financial goals and help them to save time and money.
We operate across a range of markets, from financial services to healthcare, automotive, agrifinance, insurance, and many more industry segments.
We invest in talented people and new advanced technologies to unlock the power of data and to innovate. A FTSE 100 Index company listed on the London Stock Exchange (EXPN), we have a team of 23,300 people across 32 countries. Our corporate headquarters are in Dublin, Ireland. Learn more at experianplc.com.