Is Barnet, Hertfordshire a nice place to live?

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

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

The English Indices of Deprivation has a crime element for Barnet. 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 Barnet. 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	Potters Bar Furzefield	21944
2	Potters Bar Parkfield	17478
3	Bentley Heath & The Royds	17283
4	Borehamwood Kenilworth	17113
5	High Barnet	14954
6	Welham Green and Hatfield South	13897
7	Shenley	13389
8	Borehamwood Hillside	12280
9	Potters Bar Oakmere	10688
10	Borehamwood Cowley Hill	8330

Is Barnet a healthy place to live?

If you are thinking of moving to Barnet, 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 Barnet 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	%
St Albans	3.02
Welwyn Hatfield	3.85
Hertsmere (Barnet)	3.88
Barnet	4.02

The English Indices of Deprivation also has health statistics for Barnet. 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 Barnet. 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	High Barnet (Best)	29986
2	Potters Bar Furzefield	27492
3	Potters Bar Parkfield	25649
4	Shenley	25385
5	Bentley Heath & The Royds	25216
6	Potters Bar Oakmere	21846
7	Borehamwood Kenilworth	21400
8	Welham Green and Hatfield South	19601
9	Borehamwood Hillside	19576
10	Borehamwood Cowley Hill (Worst)	13106

Is Barnet rough?

Using the English Indices of Deprivation statistics, we've collated the average rank for 10 wards in and around Barnet. 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	Potters Bar Furzefield	25033
2	High Barnet	23913
3	Potters Bar Parkfield	23720
4	Bentley Heath & The Royds	21175
5	Shenley	19718
6	Welham Green and Hatfield South	17738
7	Borehamwood Kenilworth	17526
8	Borehamwood Hillside	17497
9	Potters Bar Oakmere	15862
10	Borehamwood Cowley Hill	10331

How affordable are the rents in Barnet?

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

Beds	Hertsmere	Hertfordshire
1	£925	£850
2	£1250	£1100
3	£1600	£1350
4	£2200	£1850

How much can I earn in Barnet per week?

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

#	Local Authority	Median Pw
1	St Albans	£873.60
2	Barnet	£766.60
3	Welwyn Hatfield	£756.30
4	Hertsmere (Barnet)	£730.00

So, is Barnet a nice place to live?

* Probably.