Is Dartford, Kent a nice place to live?

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

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

The English Indices of Deprivation has a crime element for Dartford. 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 Dartford. 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	Heath	14968
2	Brent	10387
3	West Hill	9902
4	Maypole & Leyton Cross	9623
5	Princes	7684
6	Newtown	7505
7	Stone House	4811
8	Town	4772
9	Temple Hill	2280

Is Dartford a healthy place to live?

If you are thinking of moving to Dartford, 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 Dartford 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	%
Dartford (Dartford)	3.76
Bexley	4.33
Greenwich	4.6
Gravesham	4.84

The English Indices of Deprivation also has health statistics for Dartford. 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 Dartford. 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	Heath (Best)	25669
2	West Hill	22694
3	Brent	20115
4	Maypole & Leyton Cross	19880
5	Newtown	19210
6	Stone House	16667
7	Town	14052
8	Temple Hill	12714
9	Princes	12679

Is Dartford rough?

Using the English Indices of Deprivation statistics, we've collated the average rank for 9 wards in and around Dartford. 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	Heath	27252
2	West Hill	21113
3	Brent	20233
4	Maypole & Leyton Cross	18468
5	Newtown	14028
6	Stone House	13582
7	Town	12898
8	Princes	11486
9	Temple Hill	8219

How affordable are the rents in Dartford?

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

Beds	Dartford	Kent
1	£800	£685
2	£1025	£860
3	£1300	£1050
4	£1650	£1498

How much can I earn in Dartford per week?

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

#	Local Authority	Median Pw
1	Greenwich	£805.20
2	Bexley	£789.80
3	Gravesham	£755.40
4	Dartford (Dartford)	£753.00

So, is Dartford a nice place to live?

* Probably.