Is Lichfield, Staffordshire a nice place to live?

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

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

The English Indices of Deprivation has a crime element for Lichfield. 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 Lichfield. 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	Boley Park	30084
2	Highfield	28650
3	St John's	27869
4	Leomansley	24390
5	Stowe	24048
6	Shenstone	22230
7	Longdon	21413
8	Hammerwich with Wall	20337
9	Chadsmead	20209
10	Curborough	17842

Is Lichfield a healthy place to live?

If you are thinking of moving to Lichfield, 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 Lichfield 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	%
Lichfield (Lichfield)	4.99
Tamworth	5.72
Cannock Chase	6.41
Walsall	6.59

The English Indices of Deprivation also has health statistics for Lichfield. 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 Lichfield. 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	St John's (Best)	29032
2	Longdon	28691
3	Boley Park	28662
4	Highfield	25267
5	Hammerwich with Wall	24828
6	Shenstone	23511
7	Leomansley	23456
8	Stowe	22678
9	Chadsmead	18161
10	Curborough (Worst)	16603

Is Lichfield rough?

Using the English Indices of Deprivation statistics, we've collated the average rank for 10 wards in and around Lichfield. 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	Boley Park	30404
2	Highfield	29084
3	St John's	28214
4	Leomansley	25829
5	Longdon	24980
6	Hammerwich with Wall	24322
7	Shenstone	23384
8	Stowe	22597
9	Chadsmead	18353
10	Curborough	16868

How affordable are the rents in Lichfield?

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

Beds	Lichfield	Staffordshire
1	£575	£495
2	£725	£614
3	£850	£750
4	£1200	£1040

How much can I earn in Lichfield per week?

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

#	Local Authority	Median Pw
1	Lichfield (Lichfield)	£763.00
2	Tamworth	£650.10
3	Cannock Chase	£632.10
4	Walsall	£608.50

So, is Lichfield a nice place to live?

Lichfield has passed our core town assesment with a score of 4/5.  However, the rents in Lichfield are more expensive than other parts of Staffordshire.

* Probably.