Is Watford, Hertfordshire a nice place to live?

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

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

The English Indices of Deprivation has a crime element for Watford. 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 Watford. 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	Oxhey	17738
2	Nascot	17104
3	Tudor	16871
4	Park	16655
5	Bushey St James	15169
6	Holywell	14587
7	Callowland	14428
8	Vicarage	13124
9	Bushey North	13021
10	Central	6620

Is Watford a healthy place to live?

If you are thinking of moving to Watford, 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 Watford 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	%
Three Rivers	3.52
Watford (Watford)	3.73
Harrow	3.88
Hillingdon	3.96

The English Indices of Deprivation also has health statistics for Watford. 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 Watford. 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	Oxhey (Best)	25202
2	Bushey St James	24403
3	Bushey North	23656
4	Park	23114
5	Tudor	22812
6	Nascot	22804
7	Callowland	21383
8	Vicarage	20721
9	Central	14808
10	Holywell (Worst)	13362

Is Watford rough?

Using the English Indices of Deprivation statistics, we've collated the average rank for 10 wards in and around Watford. 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	Nascot	24195
2	Tudor	23158
3	Oxhey	23074
4	Bushey St James	22737
5	Park	22043
6	Bushey North	21275
7	Vicarage	17879
8	Callowland	17380
9	Holywell	12776
10	Central	11801

How affordable are the rents in Watford?

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

Beds	Watford	Hertfordshire
1	£925	£850
2	£1200	£1100
3	£1400	£1350
4	£1855	£1850

How much can I earn in Watford per week?

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

#	Local Authority	Median Pw
1	Three Rivers	£826.70
2	Harrow	£777.20
3	Hillingdon	£776.40
4	Watford (Watford)	£737.00

So, is Watford a nice place to live?

* Probably.