This is a slight tangent but there's been something in the news recently about some politicians, I think it may have been some Tories, who said that people in the North should moved down South to London because work is just not available up North and moving South would mean they'd be much better off economically. The implication is that these Northern towns were becoming job wastelands and that if they moved to London they'd have much better jobs (or have a job at all!) and a much better lifestyle - I assume wouldn't be claiming benefits.
I can't recall who exactly said it and they were completely rubbished when this got out in the media.
In reality it's not as black and white as this, of course. Many say that living in towns and cities in the North can be much cheaper for cost of living. But that implies that a good job in your field can be found there. On the other hand, London is the economic powerhouse of the UK so in many different industries there are more likely to be many more available jobs. But the cost of living will be considerably higher and buying or renting can be astronomically more. I suppose you're paying for job stability and the access that London provides to transport, culture, etc.
So a job, say, in Newcastle might pay £25K but could literally be £45 - 50K in London in certain instances. On the other hand, government jobs often have a London weighting so in Newcastle you might get, for example, a nursing job for £22K, but in London the rate for that same job would be the same but you might get, I don't know, £3K extra London Weighting, not a huge difference!
Like anything, how well you survive depends on what debts you have, what your lifestyle is, transportation, how nice or dodgy the area is, so many factors.
You might want to start somewhere like
www.rightmove.com to look at properties for rent or for sale in the area you're interested in, that most likely will be your biggest monthly expense.
