Eastbourne and Brighton among most expensive places to live for commuters

According to a study carried out by room share platform ideal flatmate, Brighton is ranked as the third most expensive commuter hub, based on travel to work in London.

The research takes into account the average price of an annual travel ticket and the average annual rent, to give a total cost of living outside of, but working in, a large city.

Eastbourne was ranked as the 20th most expensive, with its annual £4,900 annual ticket price being offset by slightly lower rents, at an average of £9.264 a year, to give a total commuter cost of £14,164. This reflected an increase of £268 from last year.

Brighton's season travel ticket was similar but its average rent dwarfed its Sussex neighbour, with average tenants paying £15,624 a year to live in the city. It gave a total commuting cost of £20,468 - a decrease of £611 from last year.

Oxford took the top spot with a total of £21,648 per year.

Nine out of the top ten most expensive places were based on expected commutes to London, with the commute from Bath to Bristol the only exception.

Co-founder of ideal flatmate, Tom Gatzen, said: “For many, the financial burden of renting is made all the worse by the additional costs of travelling to and from their place of work and with travel fares continuing to climb, this squeeze on affordability is only getting worse.

"To think that in the space of a year, the combined cost of renting and travelling has increased by as much as a thousand pounds in some places is quite crazy and highlights the tough task facing many of us when it comes to getting by.

"The only silver lining is that rent and travel within these major cities would set you back even further.”