Is Stroud, Gloucestershire a nice place to live?

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

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

The English Indices of Deprivation has a crime element for Stroud. 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 Stroud. 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	Randwick, Whiteshill and Ruscombe	32300
2	Rodborough	30907
3	Cainscross	29531
4	Thrupp	28937
5	Stroud Uplands	20763
6	Stroud Trinity	20280
7	Stroud Valley	15083
8	Stroud Slade	12958
9	Stroud Farmhill and Paganhill	12666
10	Stroud Central	11387

Is Stroud a healthy place to live?

If you are thinking of moving to Stroud, 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 Stroud 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	%
Cotswold	3.8
Stroud (Stroud)	4.15
Gloucester	4.94
Forest of Dean	5.46

The English Indices of Deprivation also has health statistics for Stroud. 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 Stroud. 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	Rodborough (Best)	27536
2	Randwick, Whiteshill and Ruscombe	27317
3	Thrupp	25702
4	Stroud Valley	25269
5	Stroud Uplands	24896
6	Cainscross	22241
7	Stroud Central	22077
8	Stroud Trinity	21981
9	Stroud Slade	21464
10	Stroud Farmhill and Paganhill (Worst)	17181

Is Stroud rough?

Using the English Indices of Deprivation statistics, we've collated the average rank for 10 wards in and around Stroud. 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	Rodborough	29718
2	Randwick, Whiteshill and Ruscombe	28312
3	Thrupp	23879
4	Cainscross	23005
5	Stroud Uplands	21950
6	Stroud Valley	20336
7	Stroud Central	17913
8	Stroud Trinity	17775
9	Stroud Slade	16182
10	Stroud Farmhill and Paganhill	15899

How affordable are the rents in Stroud?

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

Beds	Stroud	Gloucestershire
1	£535	£585
2	£695	£725
3	£850	£895
4	£1125	£1300

How much can I earn in Stroud per week?

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

#	Local Authority	Median Pw
1	Forest of Dean	£724.40
2	Cotswold	£692.50
3	Stroud (Stroud)	£672.60
4	Gloucester	£613.60

So, is Stroud a nice place to live?

* Probably.