Is Sawbridgeworth, Hertfordshire a nice place to live?

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

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

The English Indices of Deprivation has a crime element for Sawbridgeworth. 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 Sawbridgeworth. 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	Lower Sheering	29959
2	Bishop's Stortford South	27589
3	Much Hadham	25167
4	Bishop's Stortford All Saints	23568
5	Sawbridgeworth	21351
6	Hunsdon	15055
7	Hastingwood, Matching and Sheering Village	14428
8	Old Harlow	13467
9	Mark Hall	9808
10	Netteswell	6837

Is Sawbridgeworth a healthy place to live?

If you are thinking of moving to Sawbridgeworth, 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 Sawbridgeworth 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	%
East Hertfordshire (Sawbridgeworth)	3.31
Epping Forest	4.1
Broxbourne	4.38
Harlow	5.09

The English Indices of Deprivation also has health statistics for Sawbridgeworth. 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 Sawbridgeworth. 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	Lower Sheering (Best)	32029
2	Bishop's Stortford South	31742
3	Bishop's Stortford All Saints	31347
4	Hunsdon	30097
5	Hastingwood, Matching and Sheering Village	27827
6	Sawbridgeworth	27413
7	Much Hadham	26789
8	Old Harlow	17626
9	Mark Hall	11101
10	Netteswell (Worst)	10354

Is Sawbridgeworth rough?

Using the English Indices of Deprivation statistics, we've collated the average rank for 10 wards in and around Sawbridgeworth. 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	Bishop's Stortford South	31074
2	Bishop's Stortford All Saints	30192
3	Sawbridgeworth	28252
4	Lower Sheering	27817
5	Much Hadham	20051
6	Hunsdon	20049
7	Old Harlow	19602
8	Hastingwood, Matching and Sheering Village	15633
9	Mark Hall	11178
10	Netteswell	10360

How affordable are the rents in Sawbridgeworth?

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

Beds	East Hertfordshire	Hertfordshire
1	£825	£850
2	£1095	£1100
3	£1400	£1350
4	£1900	£1850

How much can I earn in Sawbridgeworth per week?

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

#	Local Authority	Median Pw
1	East Hertfordshire (Sawbridgeworth)	£866.10
2	Epping Forest	£844.30
3	Broxbourne	£763.20
4	Harlow	£646.30

So, is Sawbridgeworth a nice place to live?

* Probably.