Is Dorchester, Oxfordshire a nice place to live?

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

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

The English Indices of Deprivation has a crime element for Dorchester. 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 Dorchester. 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	Benson & Crowmarsh	30643
3	Chalgrove	30527
4	Abingdon Peachcroft	30261
5	Didcot North East	28395
6	Cholsey	26683
7	Wallingford	25634
8	Berinsfield	25596
9	Sandford & the Wittenhams	20558
10	Didcot South	19322

Is Dorchester a healthy place to live?

If you are thinking of moving to Dorchester, 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 Dorchester 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 (Dorchester)	3.25
Oxford	3.34
West Berkshire	3.35
Cherwell	3.72

The English Indices of Deprivation also has health statistics for Dorchester. 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 Dorchester. 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	Benson & Crowmarsh (Best)	31797
2	Chalgrove	30682
3	Cholsey	30154
4	Abingdon Peachcroft	29990
5	Didcot North East	29392
6	Sutton Courtenay	28385
7	Wallingford	27529
8	Sandford & the Wittenhams	25936
9	Berinsfield	25431
10	Didcot South (Worst)	23913

Is Dorchester rough?

Using the English Indices of Deprivation statistics, we've collated the average rank for 10 wards in and around Dorchester. 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	Benson & Crowmarsh	29439
2	Abingdon Peachcroft	28992
3	Didcot North East	28347
4	Chalgrove	28268
5	Cholsey	28124
6	Wallingford	26996
7	Sutton Courtenay	25443
8	Sandford & the Wittenhams	22218
9	Didcot South	21983
10	Berinsfield	20463

How affordable are the rents in Dorchester?

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, Dorchester 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 Dorchester per week?

If you are thinking of moving to Dorchester, 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 Dorchester'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 (Dorchester)	£817.70
2	West Berkshire UA	£775.50
3	Oxford	£719.10
4	Cherwell	£690.90

So, is Dorchester a nice place to live?

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

* Probably.