Is Birkenhead, Merseyside a nice place to live?

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

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

The English Indices of Deprivation has a crime element for Birkenhead. 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 Birkenhead. 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	Bebington	21453
2	Oxton	13363
3	Claughton	12281
4	Rock Ferry	9181
5	Central	9174
6	Princes Park	6883
7	Bidston and St James	6459
8	Riverside	6404
9	Seacombe	6353
10	Birkenhead and Tranmere	4830

Is Birkenhead a healthy place to live?

If you are thinking of moving to Birkenhead, 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 Birkenhead 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	%
Sefton	7.01
Wirral (Birkenhead)	7.26
Liverpool	7.98
Knowsley	8.62

The English Indices of Deprivation also has health statistics for Birkenhead. 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 Birkenhead. 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	Bebington (Best)	8816
2	Oxton	5224
3	Riverside	4230
4	Claughton	4135
5	Central	3832
6	Rock Ferry	3161
7	Seacombe	1770
8	Princes Park	1169
9	Bidston and St James	1035
10	Birkenhead and Tranmere (Worst)	804

Is Birkenhead rough?

Using the English Indices of Deprivation statistics, we've collated the average rank for 10 wards in and around Birkenhead. 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	Bebington	16933
2	Oxton	12023
3	Central	9989
4	Claughton	9313
5	Riverside	6839
6	Rock Ferry	5878
7	Princes Park	3023
8	Seacombe	2802
9	Bidston and St James	2492
10	Birkenhead and Tranmere	1808

How affordable are the rents in Birkenhead?

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

Beds	Wirral	Merseyside
1	£400	£450
2	£550	£550
3	£650	£660
4	£875	£908

How much can I earn in Birkenhead per week?

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

#	Local Authority	Median Pw
1	Wirral (Birkenhead)	£680.50
2	Knowsley	£670.10
3	Liverpool	£646.40
4	Sefton	£646.00

So, is Birkenhead a nice place to live?

* Probably.