Is Letchworth, Hertfordshire a nice place to live?

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

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

The English Indices of Deprivation has a crime element for Letchworth. 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 Letchworth. 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	Hitchin Walsworth	26023
2	Baldock East	24559
3	Hitchin Bearton	19689
4	Cadwell	19623
5	Letchworth Grange	19615
6	Letchworth South East	19051
7	Letchworth South West	18428
8	Letchworth East	17802
9	Letchworth Wilbury	17756
10	Baldock Town	17549

Is Letchworth a healthy place to live?

If you are thinking of moving to Letchworth, 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 Letchworth 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	%
East Hertfordshire	3.31
North Hertfordshire (Letchworth)	3.86
Stevenage	4.68
Luton	4.74

The English Indices of Deprivation also has health statistics for Letchworth. 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 Letchworth. 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	Cadwell (Best)	29246
2	Hitchin Bearton	27801
3	Baldock East	26919
4	Letchworth South West	25288
5	Hitchin Walsworth	25021
6	Baldock Town	21780
7	Letchworth Wilbury	21225
8	Letchworth East	20325
9	Letchworth South East	20093
10	Letchworth Grange (Worst)	20041

Is Letchworth rough?

Using the English Indices of Deprivation statistics, we've collated the average rank for 10 wards in and around Letchworth. 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	Baldock East	29169
2	Hitchin Bearton	26882
3	Hitchin Walsworth	25102
4	Letchworth South West	24500
5	Baldock Town	21968
6	Cadwell	20128
7	Letchworth South East	18977
8	Letchworth East	18675
9	Letchworth Grange	18494
10	Letchworth Wilbury	17913

How affordable are the rents in Letchworth?

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

Beds	North Hertfordshire	Hertfordshire
1	£750	£850
2	£950	£1100
3	£1200	£1350
4	£1550	£1850

How much can I earn in Letchworth per week?

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

#	Local Authority	Median Pw
1	East Hertfordshire	£866.10
2	North Hertfordshire (Letchworth)	£824.70
3	Stevenage	£665.40
4	Luton UA	£618.10

So, is Letchworth a nice place to live?

Letchworth has passed our core town assesment with flying colours with a score of 5/5. It doesn't get any better than that!

* Probably.