Is Romsey, Hampshire a nice place to live?

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

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

The English Indices of Deprivation has a crime element for Romsey. 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 Romsey. 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	Valley Park	31141
2	Romsey Tadburn	25166
3	North Baddesley	24788
4	Romsey Cupernham	22942
5	Blackwater	22824
6	Ampfield & Braishfield	22219
7	Romsey Abbey	20968
8	Chilworth, Nursling & Rownhams	19553
9	Bramshaw, Copythorne North and Minstead	11859
10	Coxford	7310

Is Romsey a healthy place to live?

If you are thinking of moving to Romsey, 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 Romsey 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	%
Winchester	3.43
Eastleigh	3.79
Test Valley (Romsey)	3.85
Southampton	4.97

The English Indices of Deprivation also has health statistics for Romsey. 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 Romsey. 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	Valley Park (Best)	31377
2	Ampfield & Braishfield	30017
3	Chilworth, Nursling & Rownhams	28496
4	Romsey Cupernham	26757
5	Blackwater	26480
6	North Baddesley	25925
7	Bramshaw, Copythorne North and Minstead	25786
8	Romsey Abbey	23068
9	Romsey Tadburn	22383
10	Coxford (Worst)	8911

Is Romsey rough?

Using the English Indices of Deprivation statistics, we've collated the average rank for 10 wards in and around Romsey. 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	Valley Park	31759
2	North Baddesley	26894
3	Chilworth, Nursling & Rownhams	26004
4	Romsey Cupernham	25653
5	Ampfield & Braishfield	24474
6	Romsey Tadburn	23894
7	Romsey Abbey	22962
8	Blackwater	20759
9	Bramshaw, Copythorne North and Minstead	15955
10	Coxford	10706

How affordable are the rents in Romsey?

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

Beds	Test Valley	Hampshire
1	£718	£700
2	£895	£850
3	£1098	£1100
4	£1538	£1550

How much can I earn in Romsey per week?

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

#	Local Authority	Median Pw
1	Winchester	£789.40
2	Test Valley (Romsey)	£721.20
3	Eastleigh	£712.70
4	Southampton UA	£651.60

So, is Romsey a nice place to live?

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

* Probably.