Is Market Harborough, Leicestershire a nice place to live?

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

How likely are you to a victim of crime in Market Harborough?

The English Indices of Deprivation has a crime element for Market Harborough. 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 Market Harborough. 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	Market Harborough-Great Bowden & Arden	25152
2	Desborough St Giles	24866
3	Market Harborough-Welland	24260
4	Kibworths	23179
5	Market Harborough-Logan	22614
6	Desborough Loatland	20406
7	Market Harborough-Little Bowden	20223
8	Welford	20075
9	Welland	19199
10	Lubenham	19168

Is Market Harborough a healthy place to live?

If you are thinking of moving to Market Harborough, 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 Market Harborough 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	%
Harborough (Market Harborough)	3.7
Oadby and Wigston	4.81

The English Indices of Deprivation also has health statistics for Market Harborough. 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 Market Harborough. 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	Welford (Best)	30191
2	Kibworths	29460
3	Market Harborough-Great Bowden & Arden	29077
4	Market Harborough-Little Bowden	25906
5	Market Harborough-Logan	25776
6	Market Harborough-Welland	24933
7	Welland	24313
8	Desborough St Giles	16465
9	Desborough Loatland	15421
10	Lubenham (Worst)	15036

Is Market Harborough rough?

Using the English Indices of Deprivation statistics, we've collated the average rank for 10 wards in and around Market Harborough. 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	Market Harborough-Great Bowden & Arden	28364
2	Kibworths	28334
3	Market Harborough-Little Bowden	25918
4	Market Harborough-Logan	25703
5	Market Harborough-Welland	24306
6	Welford	22048
7	Desborough St Giles	21862
8	Desborough Loatland	20003
9	Welland	19791
10	Lubenham	15146

How affordable are the rents in Market Harborough?

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

Beds	Harborough	Leicestershire
1	£525	£495
2	£650	£625
3	£825	£750
4	£1200	£1100

How much can I earn in Market Harborough per week?

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

#	Local Authority	Median Pw
1	Harborough (Market Harborough)	£701.20
2	Oadby and Wigston	£574.90

So, is Market Harborough a nice place to live?

Market Harborough has passed our core town assesment with a score of 4/5.  However, the rents in Market Harborough are more expensive than other parts of Leicestershire.

* Probably.