Is Barnstaple, Devon a nice place to live?

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

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

The English Indices of Deprivation has a crime element for Barnstaple. 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 Barnstaple. 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	Heanton Punchardon	31705
2	Fremington	31241
3	Roundswell	28143
4	Bickington	27558
5	Landkey	27430
6	Marwood	25216
7	Newport	20747
8	Barnstaple with Pilton	19423
9	Barnstaple with Westacott	15943
10	Barnstaple Central	11220

Is Barnstaple a healthy place to live?

If you are thinking of moving to Barnstaple, 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 Barnstaple 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 Devon	5.35
North Devon (Barnstaple)	5.69
Torridge	6.01
Cornwall	6.19

The English Indices of Deprivation also has health statistics for Barnstaple. 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 Barnstaple. 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	Heanton Punchardon (Best)	20597
2	Marwood	19621
3	Landkey	19112
4	Bickington	16697
5	Roundswell	16525
6	Fremington	14334
7	Barnstaple with Pilton	12542
8	Newport	10703
9	Barnstaple with Westacott	7858
10	Barnstaple Central (Worst)	4466

Is Barnstaple rough?

Using the English Indices of Deprivation statistics, we've collated the average rank for 10 wards in and around Barnstaple. 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	Heanton Punchardon	23355
2	Fremington	22653
3	Bickington	21051
4	Landkey	19236
5	Roundswell	18916
6	Newport	16387
7	Marwood	15835
8	Barnstaple with Pilton	13651
9	Barnstaple with Westacott	10841
10	Barnstaple Central	6428

How affordable are the rents in Barnstaple?

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

Beds	North Devon	Devon
1	£483	£550
2	£625	£680
3	£765	£850
4	£973	£1300

How much can I earn in Barnstaple per week?

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

#	Local Authority	Median Pw
1	Cornwall UA	£631.10
2	Torridge	£619.60
3	West Devon	£599.00
4	North Devon (Barnstaple)	£590.30

So, is Barnstaple a nice place to live?

* Probably.