Is Stocksbridge, Yorkshire a nice place to live?

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

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

The English Indices of Deprivation has a crime element for Stocksbridge. 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 Stocksbridge. 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	Dodworth	17776
2	Stannington	16034
3	Penistone East	15842
4	Stocksbridge and Upper Don	15698
5	West Ecclesfield	13643
6	East Ecclesfield	12280
7	Hoober	11575
8	Rockingham	10939
9	Kingstone	4350
10	Southey	2808

Is Stocksbridge a healthy place to live?

If you are thinking of moving to Stocksbridge, 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 Stocksbridge 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	%
High Peak	5
Sheffield (Stocksbridge)	6.03
Chesterfield	7.24
Barnsley	7.51

The English Indices of Deprivation also has health statistics for Stocksbridge. 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 Stocksbridge. 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	Stannington (Best)	15611
2	Penistone East	15236
3	Stocksbridge and Upper Don	14162
4	West Ecclesfield	14038
5	East Ecclesfield	11991
6	Dodworth	10704
7	Rockingham	7297
8	Hoober	7012
9	Kingstone	5525
10	Southey (Worst)	4128

Is Stocksbridge rough?

Using the English Indices of Deprivation statistics, we've collated the average rank for 10 wards in and around Stocksbridge. 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	Penistone East	22465
2	Stannington	20687
3	Dodworth	19523
4	West Ecclesfield	19260
5	Stocksbridge and Upper Don	18001
6	East Ecclesfield	17306
7	Rockingham	12828
8	Hoober	11840
9	Kingstone	6894
10	Southey	3994

How affordable are the rents in Stocksbridge?

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

Beds	Sheffield	South Yorkshire
1	£555	£520
2	£625	£550
3	£675	£595
4	£950	£895

How much can I earn in Stocksbridge per week?

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

#	Local Authority	Median Pw
1	Sheffield (Stocksbridge)	£646.30
2	High Peak	£645.80
3	Barnsley	£639.70
4	Chesterfield	£605.00

So, is Stocksbridge a nice place to live?

* Probably.