Is Tunbridge Wells, Kent a nice place to live?

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

How likely are you to a victim of crime in Tunbridge Wells?

The English Indices of Deprivation has a crime element for Tunbridge Wells. 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 Tunbridge Wells. 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	Pantiles and St Mark's	28435
2	Frant & Wadhurst	27649
3	Park	23941
4	Culverden	22638
5	St John's	22278
6	St James'	20381
7	Southborough and High Brooms	17928
8	Rusthall	16367
9	Sherwood	14630
10	Broadwater	11758

Is Tunbridge Wells a healthy place to live?

If you are thinking of moving to Tunbridge Wells, 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 Tunbridge Wells 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	%
Dartford	3.76
Tunbridge Wells (Tunbridge Wells)	3.8
Sevenoaks	3.96
Tonbridge and Malling	4

The English Indices of Deprivation also has health statistics for Tunbridge Wells. 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 Tunbridge Wells. 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	Pantiles and St Mark's (Best)	31576
2	Frant & Wadhurst	31402
3	Culverden	30013
4	Park	28551
5	St John's	27615
6	St James'	26065
7	Broadwater	24422
8	Rusthall	22076
9	Southborough and High Brooms	21448
10	Sherwood (Worst)	19370

Is Tunbridge Wells rough?

Using the English Indices of Deprivation statistics, we've collated the average rank for 10 wards in and around Tunbridge Wells. 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	Pantiles and St Mark's	31179
2	Park	28724
3	Culverden	28573
4	St John's	27843
5	St James'	26504
6	Frant & Wadhurst	26201
7	Southborough and High Brooms	19670
8	Rusthall	19435
9	Broadwater	17913
10	Sherwood	13206

How affordable are the rents in Tunbridge Wells?

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, Tunbridge Wells rents for each size property have to be less than 5% more than the median rent for Kent.

Beds	Tunbridge Wells	Kent
1	£775	£685
2	£1025	£860
3	£1295	£1050
4	£2000	£1498

How much can I earn in Tunbridge Wells per week?

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

#	Local Authority	Median Pw
1	Sevenoaks	£774.50
2	Tonbridge and Malling	£766.60
3	Tunbridge Wells (Tunbridge Wells)	£766.30
4	Dartford	£753.00

So, is Tunbridge Wells a nice place to live?

* Probably.