Is Bedford, Bedfordshire a nice place to live?

Is Bedford a nice place to live or is Bedford a bit rough? For us there are a number of factors that make any town a nice place to live, like a low crime rate, low levels of deprivation, the good health of the residents, rent affordability and excellent wages. In this article we will see if Bedford meets our criteria.

How likely are you to a victim of crime in Bedford?

The English Indices of Deprivation has a crime element for Bedford. They are a measure of how likely you are to be a victim of personal or material crime in an area, such as muggings or burglary. Naturally rural areas have less crime than urban areas, but for this part of our town assessment we've looked at the 10 wards nearest to the centre of Bedford. To pass this section, 8 out of 10 of these wards need to be above the English national average rank of 16422.5

#	Ward	Crime Rank
1	Bromham and Biddenham	26778
2	Brickhill	21944
3	De Parys	17629
4	Kempston Central and East	15656
5	Newnham	15530
6	Kempston North	13568
7	Queens Park	12008
8	Harpur	10825
9	Cauldwell	9934
10	Castle	8840

Is Bedford a healthy place to live?

If you are thinking of moving to Bedford, you want to know if the place is likely to put you on a downward spiral of ill health. For this section of the town assessment, we've examined government health statistics from the 2021 Census General Health question and the Indices of Multiple Deprivation's health element.The table below shows what percentage of Bedford residents answered saying their health was either bad or very bad. To pass this section, the local authority has to have a percentage score less than or equal to 7%.

Local Authority	%
Milton Keynes	4.15
Huntingdonshire	4.23
Bedford (Bedford)	4.37

The English Indices of Deprivation also has health statistics for Bedford. They measures the risk of premature death and the impairment of quality of life through poor physical or mental health, lovely! We've collated an average LSOA rank for 10 wards nearest to the centre of Bedford. To pass this section, 8 out of 10 of these wards need to be above the English national average rank of 16422.5.

#	Ward	Health Rank
1	Bromham and Biddenham (Best)	25874
2	Newnham	20047
3	De Parys	18083
4	Brickhill	18055
5	Castle	14780
6	Kempston North	14073
7	Kempston Central and East	13719
8	Queens Park	13132
9	Cauldwell	11231
10	Harpur (Worst)	8397

Is Bedford rough?

Using the English Indices of Deprivation statistics, we've collated the average rank for 10 wards in and around Bedford. In layman's terms, this is how rough the ward is based on mutiple measures of deprivation including; employment, income, health, crime, housing and outside space. To pass this section as the town assessment, 8 out of 10 wards must have a ranking higher than the English average of 16422.5

#	Ward	Deprivation Rank
1	Bromham and Biddenham	28733
2	Brickhill	21487
3	De Parys	20916
4	Newnham	20718
5	Castle	13294
6	Kempston Central and East	13121
7	Kempston North	12967
8	Harpur	9936
9	Queens Park	9106
10	Cauldwell	8462

How affordable are the rents in Bedford?

Every six months the Office for National statitics publishes a snapshot of rental costs. These market rental statistics are dated September 2023. We have used the median rental figure for this assessment as we believe this is a more realistic figure than the average (mean) that can be skewed by artificially low and high rents. To pass this section, Bedford rents for each size property have to be less than 5% more than the median rent for .

Beds	Bedford
1	£625	£
2	£795	£
3	£950	£
4	£1320	£

How much can I earn in Bedford per week?

If you are thinking of moving to Bedford, you'll want to know how much you can earn in a job in the town. Every year the government publishes statistics on gross weekly pay, these figures are for September 2023. To pass this section Bedford's local authority needs to be in first or second place compared to the three nearest local authorities.

#	Local Authority	Median Pw
1	Bedford UA (Bedford)	£707.70
2	Huntingdonshire	£705.60
3	Milton Keynes UA	£700.80

So, is Bedford a nice place to live?

* Probably.