Is Ilkley, Yorkshire a nice place to live?

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

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

The English Indices of Deprivation has a crime element for Ilkley. 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 Ilkley. 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	Washburn	27489
2	Wharfedale	22679
3	Craven	22379
4	Ilkley	19248
5	Baildon	12515
6	Bingley	12513
7	Keighley East	9670
8	Keighley Central	7012
9	Keighley West	6104
10	Idle and Thackley	4596

Is Ilkley a healthy place to live?

If you are thinking of moving to Ilkley, 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 Ilkley 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	%
Harrogate	3.87
Craven	4.24
Calderdale	5.68
Bradford (Ilkley)	5.95

The English Indices of Deprivation also has health statistics for Ilkley. 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 Ilkley. 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	Washburn (Best)	30711
2	Wharfedale	22211
3	Ilkley	21310
4	Baildon	14903
5	Bingley	14221
6	Idle and Thackley	13174
7	Craven	13103
8	Keighley East	9179
9	Keighley West	6700
10	Keighley Central (Worst)	3991

Is Ilkley rough?

Using the English Indices of Deprivation statistics, we've collated the average rank for 10 wards in and around Ilkley. 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	Wharfedale	29394
2	Ilkley	27664
3	Craven	22691
4	Baildon	20671
5	Bingley	19126
6	Washburn	18786
7	Idle and Thackley	16393
8	Keighley East	10980
9	Keighley West	8222
10	Keighley Central	3928

How affordable are the rents in Ilkley?

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

Beds	Bradford	West Yorkshire
1	£425	£500
2	£510	£575
3	£625	£650
4	£725	£1100

How much can I earn in Ilkley per week?

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

#	Local Authority	Median Pw
1	Calderdale	£621.50
2	Bradford (Ilkley)	£612.50

So, is Ilkley a nice place to live?

* Probably.