Is Clare, Suffolk a nice place to live?

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

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

The English Indices of Deprivation has a crime element for Clare. 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 Clare. 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	Stour Valley South	28195
2	Whepstead & Wickhambrook	27196
3	Chadacre	24603
4	Clare, Hundon & Kedington	24384
5	Stour Valley North	24272
6	Haverhill South East	19261
7	Haverhill North	17540
8	Haverhill East	14022
9	Haverhill Central	9621
10	Haverhill South	8682

Is Clare a healthy place to live?

If you are thinking of moving to Clare, 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 Clare 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	%
Uttlesford	3.22
West Suffolk (Clare)	4.36
Babergh	4.41
Braintree	4.44

The English Indices of Deprivation also has health statistics for Clare. 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 Clare. 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	Whepstead & Wickhambrook (Best)	28955
2	Stour Valley South	28867
3	Chadacre	26836
4	Stour Valley North	26435
5	Clare, Hundon & Kedington	24689
6	Haverhill North	21045
7	Haverhill South East	19639
8	Haverhill East	19279
9	Haverhill Central	15732
10	Haverhill South (Worst)	14971

Is Clare rough?

Using the English Indices of Deprivation statistics, we've collated the average rank for 10 wards in and around Clare. 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	Clare, Hundon & Kedington	21367
2	Chadacre	19905
3	Stour Valley South	19590
4	Haverhill South East	19575
5	Haverhill North	19215
6	Whepstead & Wickhambrook	18398
7	Stour Valley North	18375
8	Haverhill East	16189
9	Haverhill Central	13319
10	Haverhill South	10174

How affordable are the rents in Clare?

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

Beds	West Suffolk	Suffolk
1	£650	£520
2	£800	£695
3	£1012	£795
4	£1450	£1250

How much can I earn in Clare per week?

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

#	Local Authority	Median Pw
1	Uttlesford	£791.50
2	Braintree	£695.20
3	West Suffolk (Clare)	£637.80
4	Babergh	£635.20

So, is Clare a nice place to live?

* Probably.