Is Dunstable, Bedfordshire a nice place to live?

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

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

The English Indices of Deprivation has a crime element for Dunstable. 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 Dunstable. 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	Dunstable-Watling	17051
2	Dunstable-Icknield	12142
3	Lewsey	9466
4	Challney	8411
5	Tithe Farm	8048
6	Dunstable-Northfields	7957
7	Houghton Hall	7850
8	Dunstable-Central	6116
9	Parkside	4604
10	Dunstable-Manshead	4428

Is Dunstable a healthy place to live?

If you are thinking of moving to Dunstable, 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 Dunstable 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	%
Central Bedfordshire (Dunstable)	3.82
North Hertfordshire	3.86
Dacorum	3.89
Luton	4.74

The English Indices of Deprivation also has health statistics for Dunstable. 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 Dunstable. 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	Dunstable-Watling (Best)	27684
2	Dunstable-Icknield	24746
3	Dunstable-Central	22210
4	Dunstable-Manshead	18253
5	Dunstable-Northfields	18051
6	Houghton Hall	16069
7	Tithe Farm	15619
8	Challney	13672
9	Parkside	13560
10	Lewsey (Worst)	8427

Is Dunstable rough?

Using the English Indices of Deprivation statistics, we've collated the average rank for 10 wards in and around Dunstable. 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	Dunstable-Watling	26038
2	Dunstable-Icknield	20666
3	Dunstable-Central	17322
4	Dunstable-Manshead	13077
5	Dunstable-Northfields	12897
6	Houghton Hall	12479
7	Tithe Farm	11905
8	Challney	11749
9	Parkside	9398
10	Lewsey	8674

How affordable are the rents in Dunstable?

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

Beds	Central Bedfordshire
1	£675	£
2	£850	£
3	£1100	£
4	£1425	£

How much can I earn in Dunstable per week?

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

#	Local Authority	Median Pw
1	North Hertfordshire	£824.70
2	Central Bedfordshire UA (Dunstable)	£782.10
3	Dacorum	£759.10
4	Luton UA	£618.10

So, is Dunstable a nice place to live?

* Probably.