Is Meltham, Yorkshire a nice place to live?

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

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

The English Indices of Deprivation has a crime element for Meltham. 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 Meltham. 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	Kirkburton	22746
2	Holme Valley South	18756
3	Ryburn	14779
4	Colne Valley	14628
5	Greetland and Stainland	14561
6	Holme Valley North	13885
7	Lindley	12115
8	Golcar	11971
9	Crosland Moor and Netherton	7943
10	Newsome	3958

Is Meltham a healthy place to live?

If you are thinking of moving to Meltham, 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 Meltham 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	%
High Peak	5
Leeds	5.01
Kirklees (Meltham)	5.55
Calderdale	5.68

The English Indices of Deprivation also has health statistics for Meltham. 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 Meltham. 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	Holme Valley South (Best)	23581
2	Kirkburton	23138
3	Holme Valley North	20657
4	Colne Valley	19995
5	Ryburn	19429
6	Lindley	16419
7	Greetland and Stainland	14581
8	Golcar	14472
9	Crosland Moor and Netherton	10711
10	Newsome (Worst)	9225

Is Meltham rough?

Using the English Indices of Deprivation statistics, we've collated the average rank for 10 wards in and around Meltham. 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	Kirkburton	24989
2	Holme Valley South	23440
3	Holme Valley North	21876
4	Lindley	18234
5	Colne Valley	17842
6	Ryburn	17430
7	Greetland and Stainland	17218
8	Golcar	14763
9	Crosland Moor and Netherton	9868
10	Newsome	6813

How affordable are the rents in Meltham?

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

Beds	Kirklees	West Yorkshire
1	£425	£500
2	£515	£575
3	£650	£650
4	£850	£1100

How much can I earn in Meltham per week?

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

#	Local Authority	Median Pw
1	Leeds	£662.90
2	High Peak	£645.80
3	Calderdale	£621.50
4	Kirklees (Meltham)	£612.00

So, is Meltham a nice place to live?

* Probably.