Is Sidmouth, Devon a nice place to live?

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

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

The English Indices of Deprivation has a crime element for Sidmouth. 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 Sidmouth. 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	Newton Poppleford & Harpford	31563
2	West Hill & Aylesbeare	31364
3	Budleigh & Raleigh	30871
4	Whimple & Rockbeare	30042
5	Coly Valley	29639
6	Sidmouth Town	28318
7	Sidmouth Sidford	28013
8	Ottery St Mary	27724
9	Sidmouth Rural	26597
10	Beer & Branscombe	26102

Is Sidmouth a healthy place to live?

If you are thinking of moving to Sidmouth, 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 Sidmouth 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	%
Exeter	4.6
Mid Devon	4.77
East Devon (Sidmouth)	4.85
Teignbridge	5.42

The English Indices of Deprivation also has health statistics for Sidmouth. 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 Sidmouth. 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	Newton Poppleford & Harpford (Best)	30943
2	West Hill & Aylesbeare	29882
3	Whimple & Rockbeare	29102
4	Sidmouth Rural	28720
5	Ottery St Mary	28535
6	Sidmouth Town	27453
7	Coly Valley	26564
8	Budleigh & Raleigh	25203
9	Sidmouth Sidford	23476
10	Beer & Branscombe (Worst)	20615

Is Sidmouth rough?

Using the English Indices of Deprivation statistics, we've collated the average rank for 10 wards in and around Sidmouth. 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	Sidmouth Town	28373
2	Newton Poppleford & Harpford	27685
3	Sidmouth Rural	26767
4	Ottery St Mary	25501
5	West Hill & Aylesbeare	25480
6	Budleigh & Raleigh	24413
7	Sidmouth Sidford	23859
8	Whimple & Rockbeare	22736
9	Beer & Branscombe	22264
10	Coly Valley	20558

How affordable are the rents in Sidmouth?

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

Beds	East Devon	Devon
1	£560	£550
2	£725	£680
3	£875	£850
4	£1195	£1300

How much can I earn in Sidmouth per week?

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

#	Local Authority	Median Pw
1	East Devon (Sidmouth)	£682.40
2	Exeter	£657.20
3	Mid Devon	£636.90
4	Teignbridge	£597.50

So, is Sidmouth a nice place to live?

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

* Probably.