Is South Molton, Devon a nice place to live?

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

How likely are you to a victim of crime in South Molton?

The English Indices of Deprivation has a crime element for South Molton. 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 9 wards nearest to the centre of South Molton. To pass this section, 7 out of 9 of these wards need to be above the English national average rank of 16422.5

#	Ward	Crime Rank
1	North Molton	32035
2	Witheridge	31198
3	Chittlehampton	30161
4	Winkleigh	30158
5	Bishop's Nympton	30051
6	South Molton	29024
7	Bratton Fleming	28234
8	Taw Vale	28177
9	Exmoor	22383

Is South Molton a healthy place to live?

If you are thinking of moving to South Molton, 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 South Molton 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
West Devon	5.35
North Devon (South Molton)	5.69
Torridge	6.01

The English Indices of Deprivation also has health statistics for South Molton. 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 9 wards nearest to the centre of South Molton. To pass this section, 7 out of 9 of these wards need to be above the English national average rank of 16422.5.

#	Ward	Health Rank
1	North Molton (Best)	25650
2	Bratton Fleming	24456
3	Chittlehampton	23173
4	Bishop's Nympton	22968
5	Witheridge	22837
6	Taw Vale	22770
7	Winkleigh	17576
8	South Molton	16990
9	Exmoor	15748

Is South Molton rough?

Using the English Indices of Deprivation statistics, we've collated the average rank for 9 wards in and around South Molton. 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, 7 out of 9 wards must have a ranking higher than the English average of 16422.5

#	Ward	Deprivation Rank
1	Chittlehampton	16039
2	South Molton	14559
3	Bratton Fleming	13758
4	Winkleigh	12216
5	Witheridge	11425
6	Bishop's Nympton	11322
7	Taw Vale	10237
8	North Molton	9842
9	Exmoor	9504

How affordable are the rents in South Molton?

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

Beds	North Devon	Devon
1	£483	£550
2	£625	£680
3	£765	£850
4	£973	£1300

How much can I earn in South Molton per week?

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

#	Local Authority	Median Pw
1	Exeter	£657.20
2	Torridge	£619.60
3	West Devon	£599.00
4	North Devon (South Molton)	£590.30

So, is South Molton a nice place to live?

South Molton has passed our core town assesment with a score of 3/5.  However, South Molton does more pockets of deprivation than the average town.

* Probably.