Is Hednesford, Staffordshire a nice place to live?

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

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

The English Indices of Deprivation has a crime element for Hednesford. 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 Hednesford. 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	Hawks Green	26240
2	Rawnsley	25339
3	Hednesford Green Heath	24281
4	Hednesford South	22842
5	Heath Hayes East and Wimblebury	22492
6	Cannock West	17481
7	Cannock North	16070
8	Cannock East	14669
9	Cannock South	14375
10	Hednesford North	13388

Is Hednesford a healthy place to live?

If you are thinking of moving to Hednesford, 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 Hednesford 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	%
Lichfield	4.99
Wolverhampton	6.34
Cannock Chase (Hednesford)	6.41
Walsall	6.59

The English Indices of Deprivation also has health statistics for Hednesford. 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 Hednesford. 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	Hednesford Green Heath (Best)	21321
2	Hawks Green	20860
3	Hednesford South	20584
4	Cannock West	18784
5	Heath Hayes East and Wimblebury	16142
6	Rawnsley	13551
7	Cannock South	10351
8	Hednesford North	9422
9	Cannock East	9339
10	Cannock North (Worst)	8656

Is Hednesford rough?

Using the English Indices of Deprivation statistics, we've collated the average rank for 10 wards in and around Hednesford. 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	Hawks Green	25313
2	Hednesford Green Heath	23518
3	Hednesford South	23289
4	Cannock West	22169
5	Heath Hayes East and Wimblebury	19121
6	Rawnsley	16809
7	Hednesford North	9498
8	Cannock East	9162
9	Cannock South	9005
10	Cannock North	6465

How affordable are the rents in Hednesford?

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

Beds	Cannock Chase	Staffordshire
1	£433	£495
2	£595	£614
3	£700	£750
4	£950	£1040

How much can I earn in Hednesford per week?

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

#	Local Authority	Median Pw
1	Lichfield	£763.00
2	Cannock Chase (Hednesford)	£632.10
3	Wolverhampton	£613.00
4	Walsall	£608.50

So, is Hednesford a nice place to live?

* Probably.