Is Totnes, Devon a nice place to live?

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

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

The English Indices of Deprivation has a crime element for Totnes. 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 9 wards nearest to the centre of Totnes. To pass this section, 7 out of 9 of these wards need to be above the English national average rank of 16422.5

#	Ward	Crime Rank
1	Ipplepen	31625
2	Dartington & Staverton	29550
3	Marldon & Littlehempston	28410
4	Ambrook	27869
5	Preston	24029
6	Goodrington with Roselands	22238
7	Totnes	21208
8	King's Ash	16510
9	Clifton with Maidenway	16463

Is Totnes a healthy place to live?

If you are thinking of moving to Totnes, 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 Totnes 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	%
South Hams (Totnes)	5
Teignbridge	5.42
Plymouth	6.42
Torbay	7.33

The English Indices of Deprivation also has health statistics for Totnes. 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 9 wards nearest to the centre of Totnes. To pass this section, 7 out of 9 of these wards need to be above the English national average rank of 16422.5.

#	Ward	Health Rank
1	Marldon & Littlehempston (Best)	27005
2	Dartington & Staverton	24735
3	Ipplepen	21491
4	Ambrook	20946
5	Totnes	18104
6	Preston	13202
7	Goodrington with Roselands	12047
8	King's Ash	10006
9	Clifton with Maidenway	9196

Is Totnes rough?

Using the English Indices of Deprivation statistics, we've collated the average rank for 9 wards in and around Totnes. 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, 7 out of 9 wards must have a ranking higher than the English average of 16422.5

#	Ward	Deprivation Rank
1	Ipplepen	28016
2	Marldon & Littlehempston	23956
3	Ambrook	23352
4	Preston	17197
5	Goodrington with Roselands	16109
6	Dartington & Staverton	15757
7	Totnes	15184
8	King's Ash	10712
9	Clifton with Maidenway	10417

How affordable are the rents in Totnes?

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

Beds	South Hams	Devon
1	£575	£550
2	£700	£680
3	£850	£850
4	£1200	£1300

How much can I earn in Totnes per week?

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

#	Local Authority	Median Pw
1	South Hams (Totnes)	£669.00
2	Plymouth UA	£620.50
3	Teignbridge	£597.50
4	Torbay UA	£574.90

So, is Totnes a nice place to live?

* Probably.