Is Boston, Lincolnshire a nice place to live?

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

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

The English Indices of Deprivation has a crime element for Boston. 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 Boston. 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	West	30824
2	Fishtoft	28383
3	Coastal	28107
4	Staniland	24539
5	Trinity	20724
6	St Thomas'	18928
7	Skirbeck	16640
8	Witham	13338
9	Fenside	12303
10	Station	10946

Is Boston a healthy place to live?

If you are thinking of moving to Boston, 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 Boston 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	%
North Kesteven	4.85
Peterborough	5.11
South Holland	5.68
Boston (Boston)	5.8

The English Indices of Deprivation also has health statistics for Boston. 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 Boston. 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	West (Best)	24572
2	Fishtoft	17979
3	Witham	17265
4	Staniland	16324
5	Trinity	16002
6	St Thomas'	13582
7	Station	13481
8	Coastal	12613
9	Fenside	12469
10	Skirbeck (Worst)	10911

Is Boston rough?

Using the English Indices of Deprivation statistics, we've collated the average rank for 10 wards in and around Boston. 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	West	26246
2	Fishtoft	19936
3	Staniland	16981
4	Trinity	16733
5	St Thomas'	14158
6	Coastal	13918
7	Witham	13299
8	Station	10077
9	Skirbeck	9325
10	Fenside	7504

How affordable are the rents in Boston?

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

Beds	Boston	Lincolnshire
1	£470	£465
2	£600	£575
3	£715	£675
4	£915	£920

How much can I earn in Boston per week?

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

#	Local Authority	Median Pw
1	Peterborough UA	£667.70
2	North Kesteven	£655.80
3	South Holland	£635.90
4	Boston (Boston)	£582.40

So, is Boston a nice place to live?

* Probably.