Is Barnsley, Yorkshire a nice place to live?

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

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

The English Indices of Deprivation has a crime element for Barnsley. 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 Barnsley. 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	Darton West	18626
2	Dodworth	17776
3	Darton East	14739
4	Old Town	10733
5	Cudworth	8566
6	Stairfoot	6840
7	Monk Bretton	6463
8	Central	4971
9	St Helens	4352
10	Kingstone	4350

Is Barnsley a healthy place to live?

If you are thinking of moving to Barnsley, 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 Barnsley 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	%
Sheffield	6.03
Wakefield	6.55
Doncaster	6.86
Barnsley (Barnsley)	7.51

The English Indices of Deprivation also has health statistics for Barnsley. 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 Barnsley. 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	Dodworth (Best)	10704
2	Darton West	10408
3	Darton East	9438
4	Old Town	8834
5	Cudworth	7444
6	Monk Bretton	5863
7	Kingstone	5525
8	Central	5157
9	Stairfoot	3857
10	St Helens (Worst)	2959

Is Barnsley rough?

Using the English Indices of Deprivation statistics, we've collated the average rank for 10 wards in and around Barnsley. 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	Dodworth	19523
2	Darton West	19162
3	Darton East	17846
4	Old Town	14292
5	Cudworth	9566
6	Central	8190
7	Monk Bretton	7979
8	Stairfoot	6995
9	Kingstone	6894
10	St Helens	3611

How affordable are the rents in Barnsley?

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

Beds	Barnsley	South Yorkshire
1	£395	£520
2	£450	£550
3	£550	£595
4	£750	£895

How much can I earn in Barnsley per week?

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

#	Local Authority	Median Pw
1	Sheffield	£646.30
2	Barnsley (Barnsley)	£639.70
3	Doncaster	£629.30
4	Wakefield	£613.70

So, is Barnsley a nice place to live?

* Probably.