Is Stevenage, Hertfordshire a nice place to live?

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

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

The English Indices of Deprivation has a crime element for Stevenage. 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 Stevenage. 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	Chesfield	26432
2	Symonds Green	22928
3	Chells	17808
4	Woodfield	15663
5	Roebuck	14946
6	St Nicholas	12052
7	Pin Green	9609
8	Old Town	8332
9	Shephall	7500
10	Bedwell	3976

Is Stevenage a healthy place to live?

If you are thinking of moving to Stevenage, 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 Stevenage 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	%
East Hertfordshire	3.31
Welwyn Hatfield	3.85
North Hertfordshire	3.86
Stevenage (Stevenage)	4.68

The English Indices of Deprivation also has health statistics for Stevenage. 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 Stevenage. 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	Chesfield (Best)	25262
2	Woodfield	20216
3	Chells	19301
4	Old Town	18247
5	Symonds Green	16699
6	Roebuck	16159
7	St Nicholas	16068
8	Shephall	15377
9	Pin Green	13769
10	Bedwell (Worst)	12759

Is Stevenage rough?

Using the English Indices of Deprivation statistics, we've collated the average rank for 10 wards in and around Stevenage. 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	Chesfield	25620
2	Woodfield	17845
3	Chells	17509
4	Old Town	16607
5	Symonds Green	15631
6	St Nicholas	14198
7	Roebuck	13259
8	Pin Green	12951
9	Shephall	12201
10	Bedwell	8731

How affordable are the rents in Stevenage?

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

Beds	Stevenage	Hertfordshire
1	£750	£850
2	£975	£1100
3	£1150	£1350
4	£1400	£1850

How much can I earn in Stevenage per week?

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

#	Local Authority	Median Pw
1	East Hertfordshire	£866.10
2	North Hertfordshire	£824.70
3	Welwyn Hatfield	£756.30
4	Stevenage (Stevenage)	£665.40

So, is Stevenage a nice place to live?

* Probably.