Is Folkestone, Kent a nice place to live?

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

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

The English Indices of Deprivation has a crime element for Folkestone. 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 Folkestone. 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	North Downs West	25861
2	Hythe	24220
3	Sandgate & West Folkestone	23763
4	North Downs East	20823
5	Alkham & Capel-le-Ferne	19273
6	Cheriton	18455
7	Broadmead	9231
8	Folkestone Central	7093
9	East Folkestone	7014
10	Folkestone Harbour	5537

Is Folkestone a healthy place to live?

If you are thinking of moving to Folkestone, 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 Folkestone 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	%
Ashford	4.59
Canterbury	5.1
Dover	6.19
Folkestone and Hythe (Folkestone)	6.49

The English Indices of Deprivation also has health statistics for Folkestone. 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 Folkestone. 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	North Downs West (Best)	24330
2	Alkham & Capel-le-Ferne	21643
3	North Downs East	20248
4	Hythe	19034
5	Cheriton	18256
6	Sandgate & West Folkestone	17386
7	Broadmead	12650
8	East Folkestone	9222
9	Folkestone Central	8342
10	Folkestone Harbour (Worst)	7530

Is Folkestone rough?

Using the English Indices of Deprivation statistics, we've collated the average rank for 10 wards in and around Folkestone. 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	North Downs East	20256
2	Hythe	19818
3	North Downs West	19666
4	Sandgate & West Folkestone	18750
5	Alkham & Capel-le-Ferne	17064
6	Cheriton	15413
7	Broadmead	14824
8	East Folkestone	8229
9	Folkestone Central	7574
10	Folkestone Harbour	5264

How affordable are the rents in Folkestone?

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

Beds	Folkestone and Hythe	Kent
1	£525	£685
2	£720	£860
3	£895	£1050
4	£1100	£1498

How much can I earn in Folkestone per week?

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

#	Local Authority	Median Pw
1	Folkestone and Hythe (Folkestone)	£687.70
2	Dover	£681.80
3	Canterbury	£667.40
4	Ashford	£662.40

So, is Folkestone a nice place to live?

* Probably.