Is Rugeley, Staffordshire a nice place to live?

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

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

The English Indices of Deprivation has a crime element for Rugeley. 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 Rugeley. 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	Haywood & Hixon	27286
2	Colton & the Ridwares	25685
3	Rawnsley	25339
4	Hednesford Green Heath	24281
5	Heath Hayes East and Wimblebury	22492
6	Etching Hill and The Heath	20306
7	Brereton and Ravenhill	19533
8	Hagley	14746
9	Western Springs	13952
10	Hednesford North	13388

Is Rugeley a healthy place to live?

If you are thinking of moving to Rugeley, 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 Rugeley 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	%
East Staffordshire	4.83
Stafford	4.9
Lichfield	4.99
Cannock Chase (Rugeley)	6.41

The English Indices of Deprivation also has health statistics for Rugeley. 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 Rugeley. 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	Colton & the Ridwares (Best)	26844
2	Haywood & Hixon	24611
3	Hednesford Green Heath	21321
4	Heath Hayes East and Wimblebury	16142
5	Etching Hill and The Heath	15706
6	Rawnsley	13551
7	Western Springs	13535
8	Brereton and Ravenhill	13170
9	Hagley	12602
10	Hednesford North (Worst)	9422

Is Rugeley rough?

Using the English Indices of Deprivation statistics, we've collated the average rank for 10 wards in and around Rugeley. 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	Haywood & Hixon	28422
2	Colton & the Ridwares	24192
3	Hednesford Green Heath	23518
4	Etching Hill and The Heath	19669
5	Heath Hayes East and Wimblebury	19121
6	Rawnsley	16809
7	Western Springs	15480
8	Brereton and Ravenhill	15374
9	Hagley	12630
10	Hednesford North	9498

How affordable are the rents in Rugeley?

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

Beds	Cannock Chase	Staffordshire
1	£433	£495
2	£595	£614
3	£700	£750
4	£950	£1040

How much can I earn in Rugeley per week?

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

#	Local Authority	Median Pw
1	Lichfield	£763.00
2	Stafford	£728.30
3	East Staffordshire	£669.60
4	Cannock Chase (Rugeley)	£632.10

So, is Rugeley a nice place to live?

* Probably.