Is Stowmarket, Suffolk a nice place to live?

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

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

The English Indices of Deprivation has a crime element for Stowmarket. 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 Stowmarket. 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	Rattlesden	29058
2	Needham Market	26498
3	Battisford & Ringshall	26318
4	Stonham	26273
5	Onehouse	24481
6	Haughley, Stowupland & Wetherden	23219
7	Chilton	19211
8	Stow Thorney	17408
9	Combs Ford	15851
10	St Peter's	11369

Is Stowmarket a healthy place to live?

If you are thinking of moving to Stowmarket, 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 Stowmarket 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	%
Mid Suffolk (Stowmarket)	4.21
Babergh	4.41
Ipswich	5.05
Breckland	5.46

The English Indices of Deprivation also has health statistics for Stowmarket. 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 Stowmarket. 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	Rattlesden (Best)	29455
2	Stonham	29369
3	Battisford & Ringshall	28889
4	Onehouse	28886
5	Needham Market	26015
6	Stow Thorney	25751
7	Haughley, Stowupland & Wetherden	24530
8	Chilton	23279
9	Combs Ford	22271
10	St Peter's (Worst)	21799

Is Stowmarket rough?

Using the English Indices of Deprivation statistics, we've collated the average rank for 10 wards in and around Stowmarket. 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	Battisford & Ringshall	23144
2	Rattlesden	21778
3	Stow Thorney	21671
4	Needham Market	21208
5	Onehouse	19744
6	Chilton	19260
7	Haughley, Stowupland & Wetherden	19121
8	Combs Ford	18561
9	Stonham	18398
10	St Peter's	16848

How affordable are the rents in Stowmarket?

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

Beds	Mid Suffolk	Suffolk
1	£575	£520
2	£700	£695
3	£825	£795
4	£1200	£1250

How much can I earn in Stowmarket per week?

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

#	Local Authority	Median Pw
1	Mid Suffolk (Stowmarket)	£657.50
2	Ipswich	£642.00
3	Babergh	£635.20
4	Breckland	£629.30

So, is Stowmarket a nice place to live?

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

* Probably.