Is Ilfracombe, Devon a nice place to live?

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

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

The English Indices of Deprivation has a crime element for Ilfracombe. 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 Ilfracombe. 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	Heanton Punchardon	31705
2	Braunton West & Georgeham	30200
3	Braunton East	30195
4	Mortehoe	28825
5	Marwood	25216
6	Combe Martin	24705
7	Ilfracombe West	23082
8	Lynton & Lynmouth	21962
9	Barnstaple with Pilton	19423
10	Ilfracombe East	11607

Is Ilfracombe a healthy place to live?

If you are thinking of moving to Ilfracombe, 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 Ilfracombe 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	%
North Devon (Ilfracombe)	5.69
Torridge	6.01
Bridgend	7.56
Neath Port Talbot	8.81

The English Indices of Deprivation also has health statistics for Ilfracombe. 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 Ilfracombe. 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	Mortehoe (Best)	24110
2	Heanton Punchardon	20597
3	Marwood	19621
4	Braunton East	19528
5	Braunton West & Georgeham	18029
6	Lynton & Lynmouth	14924
7	Combe Martin	12660
8	Barnstaple with Pilton	12542
9	Ilfracombe West	9981
10	Ilfracombe East (Worst)	6151

Is Ilfracombe rough?

Using the English Indices of Deprivation statistics, we've collated the average rank for 10 wards in and around Ilfracombe. 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	Braunton East	25863
2	Braunton West & Georgeham	23573
3	Heanton Punchardon	23355
4	Mortehoe	21565
5	Marwood	15835
6	Combe Martin	14215
7	Barnstaple with Pilton	13651
8	Ilfracombe West	12242
9	Lynton & Lynmouth	10328
10	Ilfracombe East	6937

How affordable are the rents in Ilfracombe?

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

Beds	North Devon	Devon
1	£483	£550
2	£625	£680
3	£765	£850
4	£973	£1300

How much can I earn in Ilfracombe per week?

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

#	Local Authority	Median Pw
1	Neath Port Talbot / Castell-nedd Port Talbot	£645.20
2	Bridgend / Pen-y-bont ar Ogwr	£628.20
3	Torridge	£619.60
4	North Devon (Ilfracombe)	£590.30

So, is Ilfracombe a nice place to live?

* Probably.