Is Wirksworth, Derbyshire a nice place to live?

Is Wirksworth a nice place to live or is Wirksworth 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 Wirksworth meets our criteria.

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

The English Indices of Deprivation has a crime element for Wirksworth. 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 Wirksworth. 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	Hulland	32591
2	Belper North	32038
3	Alport	31697
4	Crich	31253
5	Wirksworth	30623
6	Ashover	30229
7	Matlock All Saints	29850
8	Masson	26741
9	Matlock St Giles	25195
10	Carsington Water	24179

Is Wirksworth a healthy place to live?

If you are thinking of moving to Wirksworth, 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 Wirksworth 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	%
Derbyshire Dales (Wirksworth)	4.57
Amber Valley	5.63
North East Derbyshire	6.48
Ashfield	7.09

The English Indices of Deprivation also has health statistics for Wirksworth. 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 Wirksworth. 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	Carsington Water (Best)	28659
2	Hulland	28437
3	Alport	24659
4	Ashover	24072
5	Wirksworth	21819
6	Masson	19894
7	Belper North	19825
8	Matlock All Saints	17419
9	Crich	17120
10	Matlock St Giles (Worst)	16716

Is Wirksworth rough?

Using the English Indices of Deprivation statistics, we've collated the average rank for 10 wards in and around Wirksworth. 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	Belper North	25335
2	Hulland	25143
3	Matlock All Saints	24261
4	Alport	23802
5	Crich	22636
6	Wirksworth	22314
7	Ashover	21554
8	Matlock St Giles	18876
9	Masson	18618
10	Carsington Water	15024

How affordable are the rents in Wirksworth?

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, Wirksworth rents for each size property have to be less than 5% more than the median rent for Derbyshire.

Beds	Derbyshire Dales	Derbyshire
1	£450	£450
2	£640	£575
3	£735	£650
4	£1100	£950

How much can I earn in Wirksworth per week?

If you are thinking of moving to Wirksworth, 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 Wirksworth's local authority needs to be in first or second place compared to the three nearest local authorities.

#	Local Authority	Median Pw
1	Derbyshire Dales (Wirksworth)	£736.70
2	Amber Valley	£662.90
3	North East Derbyshire	£653.20
4	Ashfield	£605.80

So, is Wirksworth a nice place to live?

Wirksworth has passed our core town assesment with a score of 4/5.  However, the rents in Wirksworth are more expensive than other parts of Derbyshire.

* Probably.