Is Haverhill, Suffolk a nice place to live?

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

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

The English Indices of Deprivation has a crime element for Haverhill. 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 Haverhill. 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	Balsham	27907
2	Bumpstead	25344
3	Yeldham	22928
4	Withersfield	19359
5	Haverhill South East	19261
6	Haverhill North	17540
7	Haverhill West	15436
8	Haverhill East	14022
9	Haverhill Central	9621
10	Haverhill South	8682

Is Haverhill a healthy place to live?

If you are thinking of moving to Haverhill, 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 Haverhill 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 (Haverhill)	4.36
Babergh	4.41
Braintree	4.44

The English Indices of Deprivation also has health statistics for Haverhill. 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 Haverhill. 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	Balsham (Best)	30859
2	Withersfield	28521
3	Bumpstead	25651
4	Yeldham	25175
5	Haverhill West	21791
6	Haverhill North	21045
7	Haverhill South East	19639
8	Haverhill East	19279
9	Haverhill Central	15732
10	Haverhill South (Worst)	14971

Is Haverhill rough?

Using the English Indices of Deprivation statistics, we've collated the average rank for 10 wards in and around Haverhill. 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	Bumpstead	23569
2	Balsham	23489
3	Haverhill South East	19575
4	Haverhill North	19215
5	Haverhill West	18988
6	Yeldham	18465
7	Withersfield	17943
8	Haverhill East	16189
9	Haverhill Central	13319
10	Haverhill South	10174

How affordable are the rents in Haverhill?

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, Haverhill 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 Haverhill per week?

If you are thinking of moving to Haverhill, 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 Haverhill'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 (Haverhill)	£637.80
4	Babergh	£635.20

So, is Haverhill a nice place to live?

* Probably.