Is Margate, Kent a nice place to live?

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

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

The English Indices of Deprivation has a crime element for Margate. 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 Margate. 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	Beacon Road	12442
2	Thanet Villages	11680
3	Cliftonville East	11328
4	Salmestone	10293
5	Westbrook	9041
6	Garlinge	6283
7	Northwood	2461
8	Dane Valley	2300
9	Cliftonville West	1581
10	Margate Central	1077

Is Margate a healthy place to live?

If you are thinking of moving to Margate, 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 Margate 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	%
Canterbury	5.1
Swale	5.69
Dover	6.19
Thanet (Margate)	7.23

The English Indices of Deprivation also has health statistics for Margate. 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 Margate. 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	Cliftonville East (Best)	16363
2	Thanet Villages	15908
3	Garlinge	13746
4	Beacon Road	12923
5	Westbrook	11818
6	Salmestone	8838
7	Dane Valley	6803
8	Northwood	4998
9	Cliftonville West	3819
10	Margate Central (Worst)	1844

Is Margate rough?

Using the English Indices of Deprivation statistics, we've collated the average rank for 10 wards in and around Margate. 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	Cliftonville East	17326
2	Thanet Villages	13478
3	Westbrook	13119
4	Beacon Road	11637
5	Garlinge	10416
6	Salmestone	8120
7	Northwood	4596
8	Dane Valley	4019
9	Cliftonville West	1780
10	Margate Central	1312

How affordable are the rents in Margate?

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

Beds	Thanet	Kent
1	£550	£685
2	£735	£860
3	£925	£1050
4	£1200	£1498

How much can I earn in Margate per week?

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

#	Local Authority	Median Pw
1	Swale	£702.80
2	Dover	£681.80
3	Canterbury	£667.40
4	Thanet (Margate)	£613.70

So, is Margate a nice place to live?

* Probably.