Is Formby, Merseyside a nice place to live?

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

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

The English Indices of Deprivation has a crime element for Formby. 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 Formby. 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	Harington	25506
2	Ravenmeols	25217
3	Aughton and Downholland	25059
4	Blundellsands	22418
5	Birkdale	22134
6	Ainsdale	20649
7	Halsall	19127
8	Victoria	18298
9	Manor	17509
10	St Oswald	7713

Is Formby a healthy place to live?

If you are thinking of moving to Formby, 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 Formby 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	%
West Lancashire	5.66
Sefton (Formby)	7.01
Wirral	7.26
Liverpool	7.98

The English Indices of Deprivation also has health statistics for Formby. 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 Formby. 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	Halsall (Best)	23556
2	Aughton and Downholland	19743
3	Harington	16639
4	Blundellsands	15647
5	Ravenmeols	15016
6	Victoria	13286
7	Ainsdale	12861
8	Birkdale	11420
9	Manor	10031
10	St Oswald (Worst)	2544

Is Formby rough?

Using the English Indices of Deprivation statistics, we've collated the average rank for 10 wards in and around Formby. 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	Harington	27475
2	Aughton and Downholland	23811
3	Ravenmeols	23576
4	Blundellsands	22893
5	Victoria	19558
6	Halsall	19343
7	Ainsdale	18557
8	Birkdale	18097
9	Manor	15913
10	St Oswald	4700

How affordable are the rents in Formby?

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

Beds	Sefton	Merseyside
1	£450	£450
2	£575	£550
3	£700	£660
4	£925	£908

How much can I earn in Formby per week?

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

#	Local Authority	Median Pw
1	West Lancashire	£689.90
2	Wirral	£680.50
3	Liverpool	£646.40
4	Sefton (Formby)	£646.00

So, is Formby a nice place to live?

* Probably.