Is Wem, Shropshire a nice place to live?

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

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

The English Indices of Deprivation has a crime element for Wem. 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 Wem. 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	Shawbury	28514
2	Ellesmere Urban	27216
3	Hodnet	27024
4	Edgmond & Ercall Magna	26971
5	Prees	22700
6	Wem	21003
7	Whitchurch South	19728
8	Whitchurch North	17633
9	Battlefield	14509
10	Harlescott	13185

Is Wem a healthy place to live?

If you are thinking of moving to Wem, 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 Wem 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	%
Cheshire East	4.7
Shropshire (Wem)	5.08
Telford and Wrekin	6.12
Wrexham	6.22

The English Indices of Deprivation also has health statistics for Wem. 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 Wem. 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	Ellesmere Urban (Best)	24034
2	Prees	22771
3	Shawbury	22160
4	Hodnet	20744
5	Wem	19218
6	Edgmond & Ercall Magna	19110
7	Battlefield	19020
8	Whitchurch North	17872
9	Whitchurch South	17254
10	Harlescott (Worst)	14678

Is Wem rough?

Using the English Indices of Deprivation statistics, we've collated the average rank for 10 wards in and around Wem. 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	Shawbury	22534
2	Edgmond & Ercall Magna	22212
3	Battlefield	18794
4	Ellesmere Urban	17821
5	Wem	16947
6	Whitchurch North	15381
7	Hodnet	14802
8	Whitchurch South	13928
9	Harlescott	13543
10	Prees	12550

How affordable are the rents in Wem?

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

Beds	Shropshire
1	£475	£
2	£595	£
3	£725	£
4	£1075	£

How much can I earn in Wem per week?

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

#	Local Authority	Median Pw
1	Cheshire East UA	£670.50
2	Shropshire UA (Wem)	£660.20
3	Telford and Wrekin UA	£658.70
4	Wrexham / Wrecsam	£634.90

So, is Wem a nice place to live?

Wem has passed our core town assesment with a score of 3/5.  However, Wem does more pockets of deprivation than the average town.  However, the rents in Wem are more expensive than other parts of .

* Probably.