Is Sturminster Newton, Dorset a nice place to live?

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

How likely are you to a victim of crime in Sturminster Newton?

The English Indices of Deprivation has a crime element for Sturminster Newton. 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 Sturminster Newton. 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	Stalbridge & Marnhull	31886
2	Winterborne North	29220
3	Blackmore Vale	29024
4	Sturminster Newton	28783
5	Gillingham	28754
6	Sherborne East	28356
7	Hill Forts & Upper Tarrants	27815
8	Blandford	24565
9	Beacon	24111
10	Shaftesbury Town	23489

Is Sturminster Newton a healthy place to live?

If you are thinking of moving to Sturminster Newton, 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 Sturminster Newton 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	%
Mendip	4.7
New Forest	4.79
South Somerset	4.96
Dorset (Sturminster Newton)	5.1

The English Indices of Deprivation also has health statistics for Sturminster Newton. 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 Sturminster Newton. 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	Sturminster Newton (Best)	25319
2	Blackmore Vale	24714
3	Gillingham	24358
4	Hill Forts & Upper Tarrants	23682
5	Beacon	23040
6	Shaftesbury Town	22852
7	Stalbridge & Marnhull	22656
8	Winterborne North	22493
9	Blandford	21908
10	Sherborne East (Worst)	20805

Is Sturminster Newton rough?

Using the English Indices of Deprivation statistics, we've collated the average rank for 10 wards in and around Sturminster Newton. 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	Gillingham	23121
2	Sturminster Newton	20230
3	Blandford	20146
4	Sherborne East	19685
5	Shaftesbury Town	18930
6	Stalbridge & Marnhull	18841
7	Hill Forts & Upper Tarrants	17888
8	Blackmore Vale	17785
9	Winterborne North	16634
10	Beacon	15258

How affordable are the rents in Sturminster Newton?

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

Beds	Dorset
1	£600	£
2	£750	£
3	£918	£
4	£1250	£

How much can I earn in Sturminster Newton per week?

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

#	Local Authority	Median Pw
1	New Forest	£674.10
2	Dorset UA (Sturminster Newton)	£668.40

So, is Sturminster Newton a nice place to live?

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

* Probably.