Is Berkeley, Gloucestershire a nice place to live?

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

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

The English Indices of Deprivation has a crime element for Berkeley. 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 Berkeley. 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	Lydney North	30578
2	St. Briavels	30126
3	Berkeley Vale	29448
4	Cam West	29175
5	Cam East	28936
6	Dursley	26653
7	Lydney West & Aylburton	26080
8	Lydney East	21602
9	Charfield	21425

Is Berkeley a healthy place to live?

If you are thinking of moving to Berkeley, 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 Berkeley 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	%
Cotswold	3.8
Stroud (Berkeley)	4.15
Forest of Dean	5.46
Monmouthshire	5.65

The English Indices of Deprivation also has health statistics for Berkeley. 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 Berkeley. 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	St. Briavels (Best)	27948
2	Lydney North	26954
3	Charfield	25544
4	Berkeley Vale	25146
5	Lydney West & Aylburton	20247
6	Cam West	19895
7	Cam East	19085
8	Dursley	18065
9	Lydney East	16237

Is Berkeley rough?

Using the English Indices of Deprivation statistics, we've collated the average rank for 9 wards in and around Berkeley. 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	Lydney North	26029
2	Berkeley Vale	23054
3	Charfield	22968
4	Cam West	22853
5	Cam East	22146
6	Dursley	19329
7	St. Briavels	18039
8	Lydney West & Aylburton	17993
9	Lydney East	15430

How affordable are the rents in Berkeley?

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

Beds	Stroud	Gloucestershire
1	£535	£585
2	£695	£725
3	£850	£895
4	£1125	£1300

How much can I earn in Berkeley per week?

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

#	Local Authority	Median Pw
1	Forest of Dean	£724.40
2	Monmouthshire / Sir Fynwy	£695.30
3	Cotswold	£692.50
4	Stroud (Berkeley)	£672.60

So, is Berkeley a nice place to live?

Berkeley has passed our core town assesment with a score of 3/5.  However, the rents in Berkeley are more expensive than other parts of Gloucestershire.

* Probably.