Is Diss, Norfolk a nice place to live?

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

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

The English Indices of Deprivation has a crime element for Diss. 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 Diss. 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	Bunwell	30687
2	Guiltcross	28502
3	Eye	27603
4	Beck Vale, Dickleburgh & Scole	27534
5	Bressingham & Burston	26550
6	Rickinghall	26400
7	The Buckenhams & Banham	26225
8	Barningham	23428
9	Diss & Roydon	22641
10	Gislingham	22079

Is Diss a healthy place to live?

If you are thinking of moving to Diss, 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 Diss 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	%
Mid Suffolk	4.21
South Norfolk (Diss)	4.35
Breckland	5.46
Norwich	5.64

The English Indices of Deprivation also has health statistics for Diss. 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 Diss. 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	Gislingham (Best)	29764
2	Eye	28421
3	Rickinghall	27025
4	The Buckenhams & Banham	25793
5	Bunwell	25359
6	Beck Vale, Dickleburgh & Scole	23397
7	Barningham	22679
8	Bressingham & Burston	22321
9	Diss & Roydon	22308
10	Guiltcross (Worst)	18063

Is Diss rough?

Using the English Indices of Deprivation statistics, we've collated the average rank for 10 wards in and around Diss. 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	Rickinghall	20295
2	Barningham	19656
3	Beck Vale, Dickleburgh & Scole	19335
4	Diss & Roydon	18984
5	Eye	18688
6	Gislingham	18655
7	The Buckenhams & Banham	17357
8	Guiltcross	16873
9	Bunwell	16376
10	Bressingham & Burston	13579

How affordable are the rents in Diss?

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

Beds	South Norfolk	Norfolk
1	£595	£535
2	£695	£650
3	£825	£775
4	£1200	£1195

How much can I earn in Diss per week?

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

#	Local Authority	Median Pw
1	Mid Suffolk	£657.50
2	South Norfolk (Diss)	£656.90
3	Norwich	£648.50
4	Breckland	£629.30

So, is Diss a nice place to live?

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

* Probably.