Is Harlow, Essex a nice place to live?

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

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

The English Indices of Deprivation has a crime element for Harlow. 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 Harlow. 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	Great Parndon	17680
2	Sumners and Kingsmoor	16069
3	Hunsdon	15055
4	Little Parndon and Hare Street	14821
5	Harlow Common	11727
6	Bush Fair	11385
7	Mark Hall	9808
8	Staple Tye	7744
9	Toddbrook	7708
10	Netteswell	6837

Is Harlow a healthy place to live?

If you are thinking of moving to Harlow, 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 Harlow 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	%
Epping Forest	4.1
Broxbourne	4.38
Enfield	4.88
Harlow (Harlow)	5.09

The English Indices of Deprivation also has health statistics for Harlow. 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 Harlow. 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	Hunsdon (Best)	30097
2	Sumners and Kingsmoor	14835
3	Great Parndon	13779
4	Harlow Common	12091
5	Little Parndon and Hare Street	11303
6	Mark Hall	11101
7	Netteswell	10354
8	Toddbrook	10320
9	Bush Fair	9796
10	Staple Tye (Worst)	9506

Is Harlow rough?

Using the English Indices of Deprivation statistics, we've collated the average rank for 10 wards in and around Harlow. 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	Hunsdon	20049
2	Great Parndon	16316
3	Sumners and Kingsmoor	15269
4	Little Parndon and Hare Street	12741
5	Harlow Common	12581
6	Mark Hall	11178
7	Bush Fair	11036
8	Toddbrook	11010
9	Netteswell	10360
10	Staple Tye	8446

How affordable are the rents in Harlow?

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

Beds	Harlow	Essex
1	£775	£750
2	£1050	£900
3	£1300	£1150
4	£1671	£1500

How much can I earn in Harlow per week?

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

#	Local Authority	Median Pw
1	Epping Forest	£844.30
2	Broxbourne	£763.20
3	Enfield	£759.00
4	Harlow (Harlow)	£646.30

So, is Harlow a nice place to live?

* Probably.