Is Wickham, Hampshire a nice place to live?

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

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

The English Indices of Deprivation has a crime element for Wickham. 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 Wickham. 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	Fareham West	27968
2	Whiteley and Shedfield	27494
3	Portchester West	26645
4	Fareham North	25362
5	Sarisbury	23826
6	Central Meon Valley	23586
7	Fareham North-West	21578
8	Southwick and Wickham	17503
9	Fareham East	15985
10	Fareham South	14349

Is Wickham a healthy place to live?

If you are thinking of moving to Wickham, 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 Wickham 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	%
Winchester (Wickham)	3.43
Fareham	4.03
Portsmouth	4.96
Gosport	5.48

The English Indices of Deprivation also has health statistics for Wickham. 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 Wickham. 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	Sarisbury (Best)	30927
2	Central Meon Valley	30694
3	Whiteley and Shedfield	29960
4	Portchester West	28451
5	Fareham West	27791
6	Fareham East	25833
7	Southwick and Wickham	25789
8	Fareham North	25300
9	Fareham North-West	19841
10	Fareham South (Worst)	17082

Is Wickham rough?

Using the English Indices of Deprivation statistics, we've collated the average rank for 10 wards in and around Wickham. 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	Fareham West	29979
2	Sarisbury	29793
3	Central Meon Valley	27568
4	Portchester West	27014
5	Fareham North	27003
6	Whiteley and Shedfield	26553
7	Fareham East	22853
8	Fareham North-West	21301
9	Southwick and Wickham	15675
10	Fareham South	14406

How affordable are the rents in Wickham?

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

Beds	Winchester	Hampshire
1	£795	£700
2	£925	£850
3	£1200	£1100
4	£1800	£1550

How much can I earn in Wickham per week?

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

#	Local Authority	Median Pw
1	Winchester (Wickham)	£789.40
2	Fareham	£748.20
3	Gosport	£656.80
4	Portsmouth UA	£653.60

So, is Wickham a nice place to live?

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

* Probably.