Is Brighton, East Sussex a nice place to live?

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

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

The English Indices of Deprivation has a crime element for Brighton. 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 Brighton. 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	Seaford West	31563
2	Seaford East	28051
3	South Downs	27603
4	Seaford North	27333
5	Ouse Valley & Ringmer	25099
6	Seaford South	22541
7	Seaford Central	20845
8	Peacehaven East	18835
9	Newhaven North	16411
10	Newhaven South	12806

Is Brighton a healthy place to live?

If you are thinking of moving to Brighton, 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 Brighton 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	%
Wealden	4.42
Brighton and Hove	5.06
Lewes (Brighton)	5.49
Eastbourne	6.28

The English Indices of Deprivation also has health statistics for Brighton. 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 Brighton. 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	South Downs (Best)	28608
2	Seaford West	26458
3	Ouse Valley & Ringmer	23164
4	Seaford East	22058
5	Seaford South	21885
6	Seaford North	20678
7	Seaford Central	17403
8	Peacehaven East	16170
9	Newhaven North	12790
10	Newhaven South (Worst)	11675

Is Brighton rough?

Using the English Indices of Deprivation statistics, we've collated the average rank for 10 wards in and around Brighton. 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	Seaford West	25460
2	Seaford East	23233
3	Seaford South	21822
4	South Downs	20663
5	Ouse Valley & Ringmer	19602
6	Seaford North	19270
7	Seaford Central	18648
8	Peacehaven East	13459
9	Newhaven North	11511
10	Newhaven South	9153

How affordable are the rents in Brighton?

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, Brighton rents for each size property have to be less than 5% more than the median rent for East Sussex.

Beds	Lewes	East Sussex
1	£750	£650
2	£950	£825
3	£1200	£1095
4	£1500	£1460

How much can I earn in Brighton per week?

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

#	Local Authority	Median Pw
1	Eastbourne	£726.70
2	Lewes (Brighton)	£690.50
3	Brighton and Hove UA	£688.00
4	Wealden	£679.90

So, is Brighton a nice place to live?

* Probably.