Is Rainham, Kent a nice place to live?

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

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

The English Indices of Deprivation has a crime element for Rainham. 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 Rainham. 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	Hempstead and Wigmore	23656
2	Rainham Central	18739
3	Rainham South	17702
4	Lordswood and Capstone	12597
5	Bobbing, Iwade and Lower Halstow	12246
6	Hartlip, Newington and Upchurch	12198
7	Rainham North	11674
8	Watling	10519
9	Twydall	10263
10	Gillingham South	3174

Is Rainham a healthy place to live?

If you are thinking of moving to Rainham, 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 Rainham 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	%
Tonbridge and Malling	4
Maidstone	4.26
Gravesham	4.84
Medway (Rainham)	5.1

The English Indices of Deprivation also has health statistics for Rainham. 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 Rainham. 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	Hempstead and Wigmore (Best)	27373
2	Rainham Central	23760
3	Bobbing, Iwade and Lower Halstow	19673
4	Rainham South	18375
5	Rainham North	18105
6	Watling	17824
7	Lordswood and Capstone	17180
8	Hartlip, Newington and Upchurch	15925
9	Twydall	12062
10	Gillingham South (Worst)	9723

Is Rainham rough?

Using the English Indices of Deprivation statistics, we've collated the average rank for 10 wards in and around Rainham. 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	Hempstead and Wigmore	29973
2	Rainham Central	25138
3	Bobbing, Iwade and Lower Halstow	21426
4	Rainham South	21148
5	Watling	18718
6	Rainham North	18687
7	Hartlip, Newington and Upchurch	16296
8	Lordswood and Capstone	16163
9	Twydall	11421
10	Gillingham South	7013

How affordable are the rents in Rainham?

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

Beds	Medway
1	£690	£
2	£850	£
3	£950	£
4	£1350	£

How much can I earn in Rainham per week?

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

#	Local Authority	Median Pw
1	Tonbridge and Malling	£766.60
2	Gravesham	£755.40
3	Medway UA (Rainham)	£683.40
4	Maidstone	£668.70

So, is Rainham a nice place to live?

* Probably.