Is Southport, Merseyside a nice place to live?

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

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

The English Indices of Deprivation has a crime element for Southport. 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 Southport. To pass this section, 8 out of 10 of these wards need to be above the English national average rank of 16422.5

#WardCrime Rank
1Scarisbrick28781
2Meols26529
3Harington25506
4North Meols23018
5Birkdale22134
6Cambridge21502
7Ainsdale20649
8Norwood20457
9Kew18840
10Duke's14451
crime
PASSED

Reader Opinion:

Skelmersdale: like a ripped bin bag dumped on a pristine bowling green

Is Southport a healthy place to live?

If you are thinking of moving to Southport, 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 Southport 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%
West Lancashire5.66
Fylde5.78
Sefton (Southport)7.01
Blackpool9.13

The English Indices of Deprivation also has health statistics for Southport. 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 Southport. To pass this section, 8 out of 10 of these wards need to be above the English national average rank of 16422.5.

#WardHealth Rank
1Scarisbrick (Best)20482
2Harington16639
3North Meols14963
4Ainsdale12861
5Birkdale11420
6Meols10941
7Norwood8774
8Kew7420
9Duke's5958
10Cambridge (Worst)5173
Health
FAILED
Reader Opinion:

Sunny 'Sh*thole' Southport, the ugly face of this seaside town

Is Southport rough?

Using the English Indices of Deprivation statistics, we've collated the average rank for 10 wards in and around Southport. 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

#WardDeprivation Rank
1Harington27475
2Meols20645
3Ainsdale18557
4Birkdale18097
5Scarisbrick17213
6North Meols17107
7Norwood13813
8Kew12724
9Cambridge10850
10Duke's10505
Deprivation
FAILED



How affordable are the rents in Southport?

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

BedsSeftonMerseyside
1£450£450
2£575£550
3£700£660
4£925£908
Affordable Rents
FAILED



How much can I earn in Southport per week?

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

#Local AuthorityMedian Pw
1Fylde£725.50
2West Lancashire£689.90
3Sefton (Southport)£646.00
4Blackpool UA£532.90
Wages
FAILED



So, is Southport a nice place to live?

Is Southport a nice place to live?
NO*
* Probably.