Is Topsham, Devon a nice place to live?

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

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

The English Indices of Deprivation has a crime element for Topsham. 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 Topsham. 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	Woodbury & Lympstone	31530
2	Clyst Valley	30602
3	Kenton & Starcross	30531
4	St Loyes	26521
5	Kenn Valley	25636
6	Heavitree	23146
7	Topsham	23077
8	Alphington	22634
9	Priory	21735
10	Mincinglake and Whipton	16511

Is Topsham a healthy place to live?

If you are thinking of moving to Topsham, 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 Topsham 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 (Topsham)	4.6
West Devon	5.35
Teignbridge	5.42
Torbay	7.33

The English Indices of Deprivation also has health statistics for Topsham. 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 Topsham. 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	Clyst Valley (Best)	29634
2	Woodbury & Lympstone	28668
3	Kenn Valley	23706
4	Topsham	22129
5	St Loyes	21112
6	Kenton & Starcross	20823
7	Heavitree	17798
8	Alphington	17736
9	Mincinglake and Whipton	15389
10	Priory (Worst)	15204

Is Topsham rough?

Using the English Indices of Deprivation statistics, we've collated the average rank for 10 wards in and around Topsham. 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	Woodbury & Lympstone	25795
2	Clyst Valley	24254
3	Topsham	22820
4	St Loyes	22172
5	Kenn Valley	21020
6	Heavitree	20861
7	Kenton & Starcross	20838
8	Alphington	20737
9	Priory	15714
10	Mincinglake and Whipton	14373

How affordable are the rents in Topsham?

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

Beds	Exeter	Devon
1	£650	£550
2	£800	£680
3	£975	£850
4	£2168	£1300

How much can I earn in Topsham per week?

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

#	Local Authority	Median Pw
1	Exeter (Topsham)	£657.20
2	West Devon	£599.00
3	Teignbridge	£597.50
4	Torbay UA	£574.90

So, is Topsham a nice place to live?

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

* Probably.