Is Woodstock, Oxfordshire a nice place to live?

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

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

The English Indices of Deprivation has a crime element for Woodstock. 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 Woodstock. 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	Freeland and Hanborough	32316
2	Stonesfield and Tackley	31888
3	North Leigh	30897
4	Woodstock and Bladon	30711
5	Eynsham and Cassington	29888
6	Charlbury and Finstock	27931
7	Kidlington East	25989
8	Kidlington West	25044
9	Summertown	23843
10	Wolvercote	18236

Is Woodstock a healthy place to live?

If you are thinking of moving to Woodstock, 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 Woodstock 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	%
Vale of White Horse	3.24
Oxford	3.34
West Oxfordshire (Woodstock)	3.57
Cherwell	3.72

The English Indices of Deprivation also has health statistics for Woodstock. 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 Woodstock. 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	Stonesfield and Tackley (Best)	30527
2	Freeland and Hanborough	29425
3	Woodstock and Bladon	29233
4	Charlbury and Finstock	28612
5	North Leigh	28278
6	Summertown	27108
7	Wolvercote	26479
8	Eynsham and Cassington	25306
9	Kidlington West	23788
10	Kidlington East (Worst)	20765

Is Woodstock rough?

Using the English Indices of Deprivation statistics, we've collated the average rank for 10 wards in and around Woodstock. 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	Freeland and Hanborough	31114
2	Woodstock and Bladon	31057
3	North Leigh	29206
4	Stonesfield and Tackley	29192
5	Charlbury and Finstock	29094
6	Wolvercote	26791
7	Eynsham and Cassington	25700
8	Summertown	25200
9	Kidlington West	25154
10	Kidlington East	23511

How affordable are the rents in Woodstock?

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

Beds	West Oxfordshire	Oxfordshire
1	£775	£850
2	£900	£1000
3	£1200	£1250
4	£1595	£1850

How much can I earn in Woodstock per week?

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

#	Local Authority	Median Pw
1	Vale of White Horse	£730.80
2	Oxford	£719.10
3	Cherwell	£690.90
4	West Oxfordshire (Woodstock)	£688.40

So, is Woodstock a nice place to live?

Woodstock has passed our core town assesment with a score of 3/5.  However, the rents in Woodstock are more expensive than other parts of Oxfordshire.

* Probably.