Is Banbury, Oxfordshire a nice place to live?

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

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

The English Indices of Deprivation has a crime element for Banbury. 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 Banbury. 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	Steane	31087
2	Kings Sutton	30329
3	Deddington	29246
4	Middleton Cheney	28801
5	Adderbury, Bloxham and Bodicote	27312
6	Banbury Calthorpe and Easington	23350
7	Banbury Hardwick	19097
8	Banbury Grimsbury and Hightown	16404
9	Banbury Cross and Neithrop	14326
10	Banbury Ruscote	9542

Is Banbury a healthy place to live?

If you are thinking of moving to Banbury, 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 Banbury 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	%
Oxford	3.34
West Oxfordshire	3.57
Cherwell (Banbury)	3.72

The English Indices of Deprivation also has health statistics for Banbury. 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 Banbury. 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	Kings Sutton (Best)	30072
2	Steane	29812
3	Deddington	26397
4	Middleton Cheney	26050
5	Adderbury, Bloxham and Bodicote	25897
6	Banbury Calthorpe and Easington	23405
7	Banbury Hardwick	20050
8	Banbury Cross and Neithrop	13585
9	Banbury Grimsbury and Hightown	13350
10	Banbury Ruscote (Worst)	10940

Is Banbury rough?

Using the English Indices of Deprivation statistics, we've collated the average rank for 10 wards in and around Banbury. 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	Kings Sutton	27936
2	Middleton Cheney	27369
3	Adderbury, Bloxham and Bodicote	26582
4	Banbury Calthorpe and Easington	25962
5	Steane	23957
6	Deddington	23676
7	Banbury Hardwick	18885
8	Banbury Grimsbury and Hightown	15262
9	Banbury Cross and Neithrop	13956
10	Banbury Ruscote	9105

How affordable are the rents in Banbury?

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

Beds	Cherwell	Oxfordshire
1	£725	£850
2	£875	£1000
3	£1138	£1250
4	£1595	£1850

How much can I earn in Banbury per week?

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

#	Local Authority	Median Pw
1	Oxford	£719.10
2	Cherwell (Banbury)	£690.90
3	West Oxfordshire	£688.40

So, is Banbury a nice place to live?

* Probably.