Is Southampton, Hampshire a nice place to live?

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

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

The English Indices of Deprivation has a crime element for Southampton. 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 Southampton. 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	Hedge End South	20392
2	West End South	10445
3	Bitterne Park	9034
4	Sholing	8743
5	Bursledon & Hound North	7559
6	Peartree	6303
7	Harefield	4674
8	Bitterne	4166
9	Woolston	3786
10	Bevois	2521

Is Southampton a healthy place to live?

If you are thinking of moving to Southampton, 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 Southampton 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	%
Eastleigh	3.79
Fareham	4.03
Southampton (Southampton)	4.97
Gosport	5.48

The English Indices of Deprivation also has health statistics for Southampton. 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 Southampton. 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	West End South (Best)	24978
2	Hedge End South	24470
3	Bursledon & Hound North	19851
4	Bitterne Park	14436
5	Sholing	11235
6	Harefield	8878
7	Woolston	7869
8	Peartree	7473
9	Bitterne	5888
10	Bevois (Worst)	5496

Is Southampton rough?

Using the English Indices of Deprivation statistics, we've collated the average rank for 10 wards in and around Southampton. 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	Hedge End South	25649
2	West End South	23182
3	Bursledon & Hound North	19104
4	Bitterne Park	17436
5	Sholing	13439
6	Peartree	11069
7	Harefield	10185
8	Bevois	8435
9	Woolston	8372
10	Bitterne	5537

How affordable are the rents in Southampton?

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

Beds	Southampton
1	£650	£
2	£850	£
3	£975	£
4	£1300	£

How much can I earn in Southampton per week?

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

#	Local Authority	Median Pw
1	Fareham	£748.20
2	Eastleigh	£712.70
3	Gosport	£656.80
4	Southampton UA (Southampton)	£651.60

So, is Southampton a nice place to live?

* Probably.