Is Dursley, Gloucestershire a nice place to live?

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

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

The English Indices of Deprivation has a crime element for Dursley. 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 Dursley. 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	Amberley and Woodchester	31953
2	Coaley and Uley	30935
3	Grumbolds Ash with Avening	30909
4	Wotton-under-Edge	30857
5	Berkeley Vale	29448
6	Cam West	29175
7	Cam East	28936
8	The Stanleys	28428
9	Severn	27503
10	Dursley	26653

Is Dursley a healthy place to live?

If you are thinking of moving to Dursley, 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 Dursley 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	%
Cotswold	3.8
Stroud (Dursley)	4.15
Gloucester	4.94
Forest of Dean	5.46

The English Indices of Deprivation also has health statistics for Dursley. 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 Dursley. 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	Amberley and Woodchester (Best)	31582
2	Grumbolds Ash with Avening	28865
3	Wotton-under-Edge	27973
4	Severn	26894
5	Coaley and Uley	26290
6	Berkeley Vale	25146
7	The Stanleys	20665
8	Cam West	19895
9	Cam East	19085
10	Dursley (Worst)	18065

Is Dursley rough?

Using the English Indices of Deprivation statistics, we've collated the average rank for 10 wards in and around Dursley. 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	Amberley and Woodchester	31500
2	Coaley and Uley	28873
3	Wotton-under-Edge	27474
4	The Stanleys	24419
5	Severn	24245
6	Berkeley Vale	23054
7	Cam West	22853
8	Cam East	22146
9	Grumbolds Ash with Avening	20818
10	Dursley	19329

How affordable are the rents in Dursley?

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

Beds	Stroud	Gloucestershire
1	£535	£585
2	£695	£725
3	£850	£895
4	£1125	£1300

How much can I earn in Dursley per week?

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

#	Local Authority	Median Pw
1	Forest of Dean	£724.40
2	Cotswold	£692.50
3	Stroud (Dursley)	£672.60
4	Gloucester	£613.60

So, is Dursley a nice place to live?

Dursley has passed our core town assesment with a score of 3/5.  However, the rents in Dursley are more expensive than other parts of Gloucestershire.

* Probably.