Is Atherton, Greater Manchester a nice place to live?

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

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

The English Indices of Deprivation has a crime element for Atherton. 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 Atherton. 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	Astley Mosley Common	16854
2	Westhoughton North and Chew Moor	16286
3	Westhoughton South	14708
4	Tyldesley	12903
5	Leigh South	10874
6	Leigh East	6716
7	Hulton	6250
8	Atherton	6197
9	Atherleigh	5843
10	Leigh West	3527

Is Atherton a healthy place to live?

If you are thinking of moving to Atherton, 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 Atherton 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	%
Salford	5.96
Bolton	6.15
Wigan (Atherton)	6.24
Rochdale	6.41

The English Indices of Deprivation also has health statistics for Atherton. 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 Atherton. 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	Westhoughton North and Chew Moor (Best)	15306
2	Astley Mosley Common	14637
3	Tyldesley	11996
4	Hulton	11863
5	Leigh South	10043
6	Westhoughton South	9964
7	Atherleigh	7689
8	Leigh East	7420
9	Atherton	6583
10	Leigh West (Worst)	5010

Is Atherton rough?

Using the English Indices of Deprivation statistics, we've collated the average rank for 10 wards in and around Atherton. 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	Westhoughton North and Chew Moor	20778
2	Astley Mosley Common	20381
3	Tyldesley	16896
4	Westhoughton South	15673
5	Leigh South	14188
6	Hulton	13675
7	Leigh East	10965
8	Atherleigh	10309
9	Atherton	9359
10	Leigh West	5474

How affordable are the rents in Atherton?

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, Atherton rents for each size property have to be less than 5% more than the median rent for Greater Manchester.

Beds	Wigan	Greater Manchester
1	£395	£625
2	£495	£650
3	£600	£750
4	£885	£1150

How much can I earn in Atherton per week?

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

#	Local Authority	Median Pw
1	Rochdale	£645.30
2	Bolton	£619.00
3	Wigan (Atherton)	£613.10
4	Salford	£605.20

So, is Atherton a nice place to live?

* Probably.