Is Didcot, Oxfordshire a nice place to live?

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

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

The English Indices of Deprivation has a crime element for Didcot. 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 Didcot. 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	Sutton Courtenay	31033
2	Blewbury & Harwell	29231
3	Didcot North East	28395
4	Hendreds	28254
5	Cholsey	26683
6	Abingdon Caldecott	24702
7	Abingdon Abbey Northcourt	23463
8	Didcot West	21447
9	Sandford & the Wittenhams	20558
10	Didcot South	19322

Is Didcot a healthy place to live?

If you are thinking of moving to Didcot, 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 Didcot 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	%
South Oxfordshire (Didcot)	3.25
Oxford	3.34
West Berkshire	3.35
Reading	3.66

The English Indices of Deprivation also has health statistics for Didcot. 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 Didcot. 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	Cholsey (Best)	30154
2	Didcot North East	29392
3	Blewbury & Harwell	28731
4	Sutton Courtenay	28385
5	Didcot West	28170
6	Hendreds	28108
7	Abingdon Abbey Northcourt	26803
8	Sandford & the Wittenhams	25936
9	Didcot South	23913
10	Abingdon Caldecott (Worst)	20402

Is Didcot rough?

Using the English Indices of Deprivation statistics, we've collated the average rank for 10 wards in and around Didcot. 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	Didcot North East	28347
2	Cholsey	28124
3	Blewbury & Harwell	26322
4	Sutton Courtenay	25443
5	Abingdon Abbey Northcourt	24856
6	Didcot West	24565
7	Hendreds	23995
8	Sandford & the Wittenhams	22218
9	Didcot South	21983
10	Abingdon Caldecott	17965

How affordable are the rents in Didcot?

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

Beds	South Oxfordshire	Oxfordshire
1	£818	£850
2	£995	£1000
3	£1300	£1250
4	£1850	£1850

How much can I earn in Didcot per week?

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

#	Local Authority	Median Pw
1	South Oxfordshire (Didcot)	£817.70
2	West Berkshire UA	£775.50
3	Reading UA	£728.30
4	Oxford	£719.10

So, is Didcot a nice place to live?

Didcot has passed our core town assesment with a score of 4/5.  However, the rents in Didcot are more expensive than other parts of Oxfordshire.

* Probably.