Is Bolton, Greater Manchester a nice place to live?

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

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

The English Indices of Deprivation has a crime element for Bolton. 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 Bolton. 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	Heaton and Lostock	13540
2	Astley Bridge	10092
3	Little Lever and Darcy Lever	10091
4	Breightmet	6888
5	Harper Green	5240
6	Crompton	4436
7	Great Lever	4321
8	Rumworth	4068
9	Tonge with the Haulgh	4036
10	Halliwell	1697

Is Bolton a healthy place to live?

If you are thinking of moving to Bolton, 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 Bolton 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	%
Salford	5.96
Bolton (Bolton)	6.15
Wigan	6.24
Rochdale	6.41

The English Indices of Deprivation also has health statistics for Bolton. 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 Bolton. 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	Heaton and Lostock (Best)	17416
2	Astley Bridge	13100
3	Little Lever and Darcy Lever	9142
4	Rumworth	6730
5	Breightmet	6524
6	Great Lever	6138
7	Harper Green	6018
8	Crompton	5955
9	Tonge with the Haulgh	4513
10	Halliwell (Worst)	2415

Is Bolton rough?

Using the English Indices of Deprivation statistics, we've collated the average rank for 10 wards in and around Bolton. 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	Heaton and Lostock	21872
2	Astley Bridge	15871
3	Little Lever and Darcy Lever	12104
4	Breightmet	8512
5	Crompton	6897
6	Harper Green	5926
7	Tonge with the Haulgh	4942
8	Rumworth	4007
9	Great Lever	3912
10	Halliwell	1664

How affordable are the rents in Bolton?

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, Bolton rents for each size property have to be less than 5% more than the median rent for Greater Manchester.

Beds	Bolton	Greater Manchester
1	£450	£625
2	£550	£650
3	£665	£750
4	£950	£1150

How much can I earn in Bolton per week?

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

#	Local Authority	Median Pw
1	Rochdale	£645.30
2	Bolton (Bolton)	£619.00
3	Wigan	£613.10
4	Salford	£605.20

So, is Bolton a nice place to live?

* Probably.