Is Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire a nice place to live?

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

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

The English Indices of Deprivation has a crime element for Berkhamsted. 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 Berkhamsted. 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	Ashridge	30981
2	Berkhamsted Castle	25950
3	Ashley Green, Latimer and Chenies	25103
4	Berkhamsted West	24154
5	Berkhamsted East	22037
6	Bovingdon, Flaunden and Chipperfield	21232
7	Northchurch	20013
8	Chaulden and Warners End	18617
9	Gadebridge	18517
10	Boxmoor	12426

Is Berkhamsted a healthy place to live?

If you are thinking of moving to Berkhamsted, 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 Berkhamsted 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	%
St Albans	3.02
Central Bedfordshire	3.82
Dacorum (Berkhamsted)	3.89

The English Indices of Deprivation also has health statistics for Berkhamsted. 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 Berkhamsted. 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	Ashley Green, Latimer and Chenies (Best)	32723
2	Berkhamsted Castle	31866
3	Ashridge	30452
4	Berkhamsted East	29273
5	Northchurch	28068
6	Berkhamsted West	27996
7	Bovingdon, Flaunden and Chipperfield	27531
8	Boxmoor	25456
9	Gadebridge	25098
10	Chaulden and Warners End (Worst)	23957

Is Berkhamsted rough?

Using the English Indices of Deprivation statistics, we've collated the average rank for 10 wards in and around Berkhamsted. 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	Berkhamsted Castle	32204
2	Northchurch	29951
3	Berkhamsted East	29034
4	Bovingdon, Flaunden and Chipperfield	28598
5	Berkhamsted West	27430
6	Ashridge	25677
7	Ashley Green, Latimer and Chenies	23928
8	Boxmoor	22134
9	Gadebridge	21546
10	Chaulden and Warners End	20657

How affordable are the rents in Berkhamsted?

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

Beds	Dacorum	Hertfordshire
1	£850	£850
2	£1100	£1100
3	£1350	£1350
4	£1875	£1850

How much can I earn in Berkhamsted per week?

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

#	Local Authority	Median Pw
1	St Albans	£873.60
2	Central Bedfordshire UA	£782.10
3	Dacorum (Berkhamsted)	£759.10

So, is Berkhamsted a nice place to live?

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

* Probably.