Is Kempston, Bedfordshire a nice place to live?

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

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

The English Indices of Deprivation has a crime element for Kempston. 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 Kempston. To pass this section, 8 out of 10 of these wards need to be above the English national average rank of 16422.5

#WardCrime Rank
1Bromham and Biddenham26778
2Kempston Rural22943
3Kempston South19346
4Kempston Central and East15656
5Kempston West14658
6Kempston North13568
7Queens Park12008
8Harpur10825
9Cauldwell9934
10Castle8840
Crime
FAILED

Reader Opinion:

Bedford: Things started to slide back in the 80s

Is Kempston a healthy place to live?

If you are thinking of moving to Kempston, 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 Kempston 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%
Milton Keynes4.15
Bedford (Kempston)4.37
Luton4.74

The English Indices of Deprivation also has health statistics for Kempston. 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 Kempston. To pass this section, 8 out of 10 of these wards need to be above the English national average rank of 16422.5.

#WardHealth Rank
1Bromham and Biddenham (Best)25874
2Kempston Rural25373
3Kempston South18482
4Kempston West17207
5Castle14780
6Kempston North14073
7Kempston Central and East13719
8Queens Park13132
9Cauldwell11231
10Harpur (Worst)8397
Health
FAILED
Reader Opinion:

Bedford - billed to be the Garden of Eden, but ended up like Stalinist Russia!

Is Kempston rough?

Using the English Indices of Deprivation statistics, we've collated the average rank for 10 wards in and around Kempston. 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

#WardDeprivation Rank
1Bromham and Biddenham28733
2Kempston Rural22649
3Kempston South17832
4Kempston West14696
5Castle13294
6Kempston Central and East13121
7Kempston North12967
8Harpur9936
9Queens Park9106
10Cauldwell8462
Deprivation
FAILED



How affordable are the rents in Kempston?

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

BedsBedford
1£625£
2£795£
3£950£
4£1320£
Affordable Rents
FAILED



How much can I earn in Kempston per week?

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

#Local AuthorityMedian Pw
1Bedford UA (Kempston)£707.70
2Milton Keynes UA£700.80
3Luton UA£618.10
Wages
PASSED



So, is Kempston a nice place to live?

Is Kempston a nice place to live?
NO*
* Probably.