Is Andover, Hampshire a nice place to live?

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

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

The English Indices of Deprivation has a crime element for Andover. 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 9 wards nearest to the centre of Andover. To pass this section, 7 out of 9 of these wards need to be above the English national average rank of 16422.5

#	Ward	Crime Rank
1	Bellinger	30289
2	Anna	28420
3	Charlton & the Pentons	27624
4	Andover Millway	23716
5	Bourne Valley	20855
6	Andover Winton	19290
7	Andover Harroway	16305
8	Andover St Mary's	11080
9	Andover Romans	7081

Is Andover a healthy place to live?

If you are thinking of moving to Andover, 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 Andover 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	%
West Berkshire	3.35
Basingstoke and Deane	3.69
Eastleigh	3.79
Test Valley (Andover)	3.85

The English Indices of Deprivation also has health statistics for Andover. 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 9 wards nearest to the centre of Andover. To pass this section, 7 out of 9 of these wards need to be above the English national average rank of 16422.5.

#	Ward	Health Rank
1	Anna (Best)	28226
2	Charlton & the Pentons	28151
3	Bourne Valley	27040
4	Bellinger	25168
5	Andover Millway	24997
6	Andover Winton	23680
7	Andover Harroway	20825
8	Andover St Mary's	19780
9	Andover Romans	14577

Is Andover rough?

Using the English Indices of Deprivation statistics, we've collated the average rank for 9 wards in and around Andover. 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, 7 out of 9 wards must have a ranking higher than the English average of 16422.5

#	Ward	Deprivation Rank
1	Andover Millway	26528
2	Anna	26196
3	Charlton & the Pentons	25347
4	Andover Winton	24641
5	Bellinger	22631
6	Andover Harroway	19416
7	Bourne Valley	18793
8	Andover St Mary's	15476
9	Andover Romans	11086

How affordable are the rents in Andover?

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

Beds	Test Valley	Hampshire
1	£718	£700
2	£895	£850
3	£1098	£1100
4	£1538	£1550

How much can I earn in Andover per week?

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

#	Local Authority	Median Pw
1	West Berkshire UA	£775.50
2	Basingstoke and Deane	£761.00
3	Test Valley (Andover)	£721.20
4	Eastleigh	£712.70

So, is Andover a nice place to live?

* Probably.