Is Braintree, Essex a nice place to live?

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

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

The English Indices of Deprivation has a crime element for Braintree. 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 Braintree. 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	Great Notley & Black Notley	25559
2	Gosfield & Greenstead Green	24297
3	Coggeshall	22361
4	Bocking Blackwater	21608
5	Braintree South	20749
6	Braintree West	20146
7	Bocking North	15607
8	Silver End & Cressing	13891
9	Braintree Central & Beckers Green	13430
10	Bocking South	13342

Is Braintree a healthy place to live?

If you are thinking of moving to Braintree, 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 Braintree 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	%
Chelmsford	3.59
Epping Forest	4.1
Colchester	4.18
Braintree (Braintree)	4.44

The English Indices of Deprivation also has health statistics for Braintree. 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 Braintree. 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	Great Notley & Black Notley (Best)	27625
2	Gosfield & Greenstead Green	25786
3	Coggeshall	25162
4	Bocking Blackwater	22665
5	Braintree West	21338
6	Silver End & Cressing	21091
7	Braintree South	20165
8	Bocking South	16865
9	Bocking North	16836
10	Braintree Central & Beckers Green (Worst)	15723

Is Braintree rough?

Using the English Indices of Deprivation statistics, we've collated the average rank for 10 wards in and around Braintree. 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	Great Notley & Black Notley	28573
2	Bocking Blackwater	24664
3	Coggeshall	22538
4	Braintree West	22134
5	Gosfield & Greenstead Green	21293
6	Braintree South	19314
7	Silver End & Cressing	17189
8	Bocking South	15078
9	Bocking North	14330
10	Braintree Central & Beckers Green	14034

How affordable are the rents in Braintree?

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

Beds	Braintree	Essex
1	£675	£750
2	£810	£900
3	£1025	£1150
4	£1400	£1500

How much can I earn in Braintree per week?

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

#	Local Authority	Median Pw
1	Epping Forest	£844.30
2	Colchester	£715.90
3	Braintree (Braintree)	£695.20
4	Chelmsford	£682.80

So, is Braintree a nice place to live?

* Probably.