Is Dewsbury, Yorkshire a nice place to live?

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

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

The English Indices of Deprivation has a crime element for Dewsbury. 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 Dewsbury. 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	Wrenthorpe and Outwood West	16577
2	Mirfield	15294
3	Dewsbury South	11966
4	Ossett	11805
5	Morley South	11338
6	Batley East	7689
7	Heckmondwike	6057
8	Dewsbury East	6034
9	Batley West	3893
10	Dewsbury West	3420

Is Dewsbury a healthy place to live?

If you are thinking of moving to Dewsbury, 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 Dewsbury 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	%
Leeds	5.01
Kirklees (Dewsbury)	5.55
Bradford	5.95
Wakefield	6.55

The English Indices of Deprivation also has health statistics for Dewsbury. 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 Dewsbury. 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	Mirfield (Best)	17742
2	Wrenthorpe and Outwood West	13504
3	Heckmondwike	12846
4	Morley South	12757
5	Dewsbury East	12725
6	Batley East	12706
7	Ossett	11628
8	Dewsbury South	11474
9	Batley West	11410
10	Dewsbury West (Worst)	6796

Is Dewsbury rough?

Using the English Indices of Deprivation statistics, we've collated the average rank for 10 wards in and around Dewsbury. 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	Mirfield	20364
2	Wrenthorpe and Outwood West	19553
3	Ossett	16772
4	Morley South	15308
5	Heckmondwike	10493
6	Dewsbury East	9521
7	Dewsbury South	9214
8	Batley East	9198
9	Batley West	8945
10	Dewsbury West	3820

How affordable are the rents in Dewsbury?

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, Dewsbury rents for each size property have to be less than 5% more than the median rent for West Yorkshire.

Beds	Kirklees	West Yorkshire
1	£425	£500
2	£515	£575
3	£650	£650
4	£850	£1100

How much can I earn in Dewsbury per week?

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

#	Local Authority	Median Pw
1	Leeds	£662.90
2	Wakefield	£613.70
3	Bradford	£612.50
4	Kirklees (Dewsbury)	£612.00

So, is Dewsbury a nice place to live?

* Probably.