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Newcastle has been named the fourth best city in England and Wales for families to live.

The city has been given the ranking in a study which looked at crime rate, wages, property prices, standard of childcare and performance of schools.

Sunderland came ninth in the same list, while Wooler in Northumberland was even more highly praised, finishing eleventh in a search for the best place for families to make their home overall.

The research was carried out by family finance company Family Investments and sought to find the top ten most affordable and desirable cities for families to live in England and Wales.

In the the Family Hotspots Report 2014, schoolchildren in Newcastle were found to have an average point score of 28.3 in key stage two English and maths while 48.4% of key stage four age children achieved grades A* to C in English and maths. 17% of childcare was deemed outstanding by Ofsted while the city was said to have a crime rate of 0.3 crimes per resident and an average price for a two bedroom property of £107,321.

The average annual salary of residents was £20,426 while the percentage of that average salary spent on childcare was 25.8%.

Coun Nick Forbes, leader of Newcastle City Council, said: “I am not surprised Newcastle is high in the ranks because we have not only excellent schools and facilities but a fantastic quality of life which is the envy of people around the world.

“This survey tells the rest of the country what we already know, that Newcastle is a great place to live and bring up a family.

“The only thing we are not good at is blowing our own trumpet and surveys like this help spread the news about our fantastic city and it is not surprising that people who move here are blown away and become passionate advocates for everything that Newcastle has to offer.”

Sunderland came ninth with an average English and maths key stage two point score of 28.1, 53.3% of key stage four age children achieving grades A* to C in English and maths, 13.8% of childcare ranked outstanding, 0.53 crimes per resident, average two bedroom house price of £86,579, average salary of £19,193 and 26.6% of that average spent on childcare.

Meanwhile Wooler came eleventh in the overall top twenty places in England and Wales - the only community from the North East in that list.

Schoolchildren were found to have an average point score of 29.70 in key stage two English and maths while 25 per cent of childcare was deemed outstanding by Ofsted.

Wooler was said to have a crime rate of 0.25 per resident and an average price for a two bedroom property of £110,052.

The average annual salary of residents was £19,640 while the percentage of that average salary spent on childcare was 20.6%. Overall Wooler scored 21.27 out of 30.