Is Chelmsford, Essex a nice place to live?

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

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

The English Indices of Deprivation has a crime element for Chelmsford. 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 Chelmsford. 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	Moulsham Lodge	25166
2	Chelmer Village and Beaulieu Park	23233
3	The Lawns	20528
4	Great Baddow East	19317
5	Patching Hall	16970
6	Waterhouse Farm	16957
7	Marconi	16128
8	Moulsham and Central	14357
9	St Andrews	14246
10	Trinity	14159

Is Chelmsford a healthy place to live?

If you are thinking of moving to Chelmsford, 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 Chelmsford 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	%
Chelmsford (Chelmsford)	3.59
Brentwood	3.77
Epping Forest	4.1
Basildon	5.03

The English Indices of Deprivation also has health statistics for Chelmsford. 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 Chelmsford. 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	Moulsham Lodge (Best)	30250
2	Chelmer Village and Beaulieu Park	29553
3	The Lawns	28845
4	Great Baddow East	25019
5	Moulsham and Central	24236
6	Trinity	22899
7	Patching Hall	22327
8	St Andrews	19751
9	Waterhouse Farm	18715
10	Marconi (Worst)	18471

Is Chelmsford rough?

Using the English Indices of Deprivation statistics, we've collated the average rank for 10 wards in and around Chelmsford. 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	The Lawns	30916
2	Moulsham Lodge	30269
3	Chelmer Village and Beaulieu Park	25490
4	Moulsham and Central	23694
5	Trinity	23123
6	Great Baddow East	22568
7	Patching Hall	21479
8	Waterhouse Farm	19540
9	St Andrews	17040
10	Marconi	15795

How affordable are the rents in Chelmsford?

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

Beds	Chelmsford	Essex
1	£825	£750
2	£975	£900
3	£1200	£1150
4	£1550	£1500

How much can I earn in Chelmsford per week?

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

#	Local Authority	Median Pw
1	Brentwood	£941.40
2	Epping Forest	£844.30
3	Basildon	£693.90
4	Chelmsford (Chelmsford)	£682.80

So, is Chelmsford a nice place to live?

* Probably.