Is Hatfield, Hertfordshire a nice place to live?

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

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

The English Indices of Deprivation has a crime element for Hatfield. 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 Hatfield. 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	Brookmans Park and Little Heath	22641
2	Hatfield Villages	19976
3	Haldens	19635
4	Welham Green and Hatfield South	13897
5	Howlands	13735
6	Hatfield East	13436
7	Hatfield South West	12453
8	Hollybush	12360
9	Peartree	11414
10	Hatfield Central	7950

Is Hatfield a healthy place to live?

If you are thinking of moving to Hatfield, 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 Hatfield 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	%
St Albans	3.02
East Hertfordshire	3.31
Welwyn Hatfield (Hatfield)	3.85
Hertsmere	3.88

The English Indices of Deprivation also has health statistics for Hatfield. 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 Hatfield. 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	Brookmans Park and Little Heath (Best)	28131
2	Hollybush	21187
3	Hatfield Villages	20069
4	Hatfield South West	20009
5	Welham Green and Hatfield South	19601
6	Howlands	19488
7	Hatfield East	18346
8	Haldens	16116
9	Hatfield Central	15161
10	Peartree (Worst)	13621

Is Hatfield rough?

Using the English Indices of Deprivation statistics, we've collated the average rank for 10 wards in and around Hatfield. 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	Brookmans Park and Little Heath	24974
2	Hatfield Villages	21188
3	Haldens	18887
4	Hollybush	18396
5	Welham Green and Hatfield South	17738
6	Hatfield South West	17255
7	Howlands	17189
8	Hatfield East	16634
9	Hatfield Central	12681
10	Peartree	11191

How affordable are the rents in Hatfield?

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

Beds	Welwyn Hatfield	Hertfordshire
1	£800	£850
2	£1000	£1100
3	£1300	£1350
4	£1650	£1850

How much can I earn in Hatfield per week?

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

#	Local Authority	Median Pw
1	St Albans	£873.60
2	East Hertfordshire	£866.10
3	Welwyn Hatfield (Hatfield)	£756.30
4	Hertsmere	£730.00

So, is Hatfield a nice place to live?

* Probably.