Where a pharmacist searches for work matters — not just for the roles available, but for how many different employers are competing to fill them. PharmSee's analysis of vacancy listings across nine English cities using the Herfindahl-Hirschman Index (HHI) reveals substantial variation in employer concentration, from Birmingham's NHS-dominated market to Leeds' broad competitive spread.
How we measured concentration
The HHI is a standard measure used in competition economics to assess market concentration. It is calculated by summing the squares of each employer's percentage share of total vacancies. An HHI below 1,500 indicates a competitive market; 1,500–2,500 is moderately concentrated; above 2,500 is highly concentrated.
PharmSee queried vacancies within 25 miles of each city centre across all 11 tracked employer sources as of 13 April 2026.
The nine-city ranking
| Rank | City | Vacancies | HHI | Top employer (share) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 (most diverse) | Leeds | 91 | 1,796 | NHS Jobs (27%) |
| 2 | Manchester | 104 | 1,827 | NHS Jobs (25%) |
| 3 | Liverpool | 85 | 2,072 | NHS Jobs (35%) |
| 4 | Sheffield | 77 | 2,107 | Well (31%) |
| 5 | Bristol | 63 | 2,280 | Boots (35%) |
| 6 | Nottingham | 55 | 2,721 | NHS Jobs (35%) |
| 7 | Newcastle | 50 | 3,056 | Boots (44%) |
| 8 | Plymouth | 32 | 3,223 | Well (44%) |
| 9 (most concentrated) | Birmingham | 47 | 4,522 | NHS Jobs (64%) |
What the data shows
Leeds emerges as the most diverse pharmacy job market in England. With 91 vacancies spread across NHS Jobs (27%), Boots (21%), and Cohens (19%), no single employer dominates. A pharmacist in Leeds has genuine choice between NHS hospital roles, large chain positions, and regional employers.
Manchester is similarly competitive at 1,827, with NHS Jobs, Well Pharmacy, and Cohens each holding roughly 20–25% of listings.
At the other extreme, Birmingham's HHI of 4,522 indicates an unusually concentrated market. Nearly two-thirds of all listed vacancies come from NHS Jobs, with only 17 non-NHS listings despite the city having 142 registered pharmacies. The community pharmacy sector in Birmingham appears to hire largely outside the channels PharmSee tracks.
Sheffield and Plymouth show chain-dominated patterns rather than NHS-dominated ones. Well Pharmacy holds 31% of Sheffield vacancies and 44% of Plymouth's — reflecting regional staffing drives by the Bestway-owned chain.
Why concentration matters for job seekers
In a diverse market like Leeds, job seekers benefit from employer competition: more roles, potentially better terms, and greater negotiating leverage. In concentrated markets like Birmingham or Plymouth, the job search effectively narrows to one or two channels — NHS Jobs or a single chain's careers portal.
For pharmacy professionals considering relocation, the HHI provides a practical measure of labour market health. A high HHI does not necessarily mean fewer total opportunities — Birmingham's 47 listings are adequate — but it does mean less variety in employer type, career pathway, and working conditions.
Caveats
PharmSee tracks 11 employer sources covering the major chains and NHS Jobs. Independent pharmacies, locum agencies, and smaller employers that advertise through local channels or word-of-mouth are not captured. Birmingham's extreme concentration score partly reflects this gap — its large independent pharmacy sector may have ample vacancies that are invisible to online aggregation.
The 25-mile search radius is deliberately broad to capture commutable roles. Smaller radii produce fewer results and more volatile HHI scores. The 200-listing cap per source means that Boots (529 national total) and NHS Jobs (476 national total) are sampled rather than exhaustively counted at the local level.
Explore pharmacy vacancies by city and employer using PharmSee's job search, or check the salary guide for pay benchmarks by role and region.
Sources: PharmSee vacancy data from 11 tracked sources (snapshot: 13 April 2026). HHI calculated from employer share of vacancies within 25 miles of each city centre postcode.