Structural baseline: bundled city files were last changed 2026-05-08–2026-09-25. Those are file-maintenance timestamps, not observation dates. Rankings use historical workforce composition and fixed heuristic weights; they are not real-time labour-market readings or displacement probabilities.

This historical comparison assigns higher heuristic exposure weights to retail, administrative support, manufacturing, financial services, and logistics. These are the 10 cities with the highest scores under that model. The ranking is a screening tool, not a forecast of job losses or their timing.

Swindon scores 89.0/100 on the heuristic exposure index, placing it among the highest-scoring cities in this dataset. A combined 53.2% of employment sits in sectors assigned higher heuristic exposure weights — retail, admin, manufacturing, financial services, and transport. The result identifies concentration under this model; it does not estimate a probability, timing, or number of jobs displaced.

Telford scores 88.6/100 on the heuristic exposure index, placing it among the highest-scoring cities in this dataset. A combined 53.1% of employment sits in sectors assigned higher heuristic exposure weights — retail, admin, manufacturing, financial services, and transport. The result identifies concentration under this model; it does not estimate a probability, timing, or number of jobs displaced.

Crawley scores 87.4/100 on the heuristic exposure index, placing it among the highest-scoring cities in this dataset. A combined 51.2% of employment sits in sectors assigned higher heuristic exposure weights — retail, admin, manufacturing, financial services, and transport. The result identifies concentration under this model; it does not estimate a probability, timing, or number of jobs displaced.

Slough scores 86.2/100 on the heuristic exposure index, placing it among the highest-scoring cities in this dataset. A combined 49.7% of employment sits in sectors assigned higher heuristic exposure weights — retail, admin, manufacturing, financial services, and transport. The result identifies concentration under this model; it does not estimate a probability, timing, or number of jobs displaced.

Luton scores 84.9/100 on the heuristic exposure index, placing it among the highest-scoring cities in this dataset. A combined 50.4% of employment sits in sectors assigned higher heuristic exposure weights — retail, admin, manufacturing, financial services, and transport. The result identifies concentration under this model; it does not estimate a probability, timing, or number of jobs displaced.

Peterborough scores 82.4/100 on the heuristic exposure index, placing it among the highest-scoring cities in this dataset. A combined 48.8% of employment sits in sectors assigned higher heuristic exposure weights — retail, admin, manufacturing, financial services, and transport. The result identifies concentration under this model; it does not estimate a probability, timing, or number of jobs displaced.

Northampton scores 82.1/100 on the heuristic exposure index, placing it among the highest-scoring cities in this dataset. A combined 48.3% of employment sits in sectors assigned higher heuristic exposure weights — retail, admin, manufacturing, financial services, and transport. The result identifies concentration under this model; it does not estimate a probability, timing, or number of jobs displaced.

Wolverhampton scores 81.5/100 on the heuristic exposure index, placing it among the highest-scoring cities in this dataset. A combined 48.5% of employment sits in sectors assigned higher heuristic exposure weights — retail, admin, manufacturing, financial services, and transport. The result identifies concentration under this model; it does not estimate a probability, timing, or number of jobs displaced.

Basildon scores 81.3/100 on the heuristic exposure index, placing it among the highest-scoring cities in this dataset. A combined 47.6% of employment sits in sectors assigned higher heuristic exposure weights — retail, admin, manufacturing, financial services, and transport. The result identifies concentration under this model; it does not estimate a probability, timing, or number of jobs displaced.

Sunderland scores 81.1/100 on the heuristic exposure index, placing it among the highest-scoring cities in this dataset. A combined 48.7% of employment sits in sectors assigned higher heuristic exposure weights — retail, admin, manufacturing, financial services, and transport. The result identifies concentration under this model; it does not estimate a probability, timing, or number of jobs displaced.

Methodology

Rankings use bundled historical workforce-composition snapshots and CopeCheck's hand-set sector-exposure weights. Frey & Osborne estimated occupation-level susceptibility, not probabilities for whole sectors; this index is therefore a comparative heuristic, not a direct replication, current official statistic, or forecast of job losses. The bundled records do not include record-level dates or source ledgers.

More from the Oracle

• Top 10 Lowest-Scoring Cities →