Is Saffron Walden, Essex a nice place to live?

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

How likely are you to a victim of crime in Saffron Walden?

The English Indices of Deprivation has a crime element for Saffron Walden. 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 Saffron Walden. 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	Debden & Wimbish	30826
2	Stort Valley	27735
3	Saffron Walden Shire	27121
4	Saffron Walden Audley	26785
5	Ashdon	24877
6	Elsenham & Henham	23875
7	Littlebury, Chesterford & Wenden Lofts	23822
8	Clavering	22367
9	Saffron Walden Castle	21861
10	Newport	18196

Is Saffron Walden a healthy place to live?

If you are thinking of moving to Saffron Walden, 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 Saffron Walden 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	%
Uttlesford (Saffron Walden)	3.22
Cambridge	3.24
Braintree	4.44
Harlow	5.09

The English Indices of Deprivation also has health statistics for Saffron Walden. 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 Saffron Walden. 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	Debden & Wimbish (Best)	32431
2	Clavering	32259
3	Elsenham & Henham	31693
4	Littlebury, Chesterford & Wenden Lofts	31504
5	Ashdon	31305
6	Stort Valley	31289
7	Saffron Walden Audley	30113
8	Saffron Walden Shire	29935
9	Newport	29585
10	Saffron Walden Castle (Worst)	27523

Is Saffron Walden rough?

Using the English Indices of Deprivation statistics, we've collated the average rank for 10 wards in and around Saffron Walden. 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	Elsenham & Henham	30274
2	Saffron Walden Audley	29480
3	Debden & Wimbish	29390
4	Saffron Walden Shire	28701
5	Newport	27607
6	Stort Valley	25382
7	Littlebury, Chesterford & Wenden Lofts	25094
8	Ashdon	24968
9	Clavering	24538
10	Saffron Walden Castle	24438

How affordable are the rents in Saffron Walden?

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

Beds	Uttlesford	Essex
1	£750	£750
2	£925	£900
3	£1200	£1150
4	£1450	£1500

How much can I earn in Saffron Walden per week?

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

#	Local Authority	Median Pw
1	Uttlesford (Saffron Walden)	£791.50
2	Cambridge	£780.30
3	Braintree	£695.20
4	Harlow	£646.30

So, is Saffron Walden a nice place to live?

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

* Probably.