Is Heathfield, East Sussex a nice place to live?

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

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

The English Indices of Deprivation has a crime element for Heathfield. 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 Heathfield. To pass this section, 8 out of 10 of these wards need to be above the English national average rank of 16422.5

#WardCrime Rank
1Mayfield & Five Ashes31318
2Heathfield South28689
3Horam & Punnetts Town28098
4Crowborough South East27894
5Hadlow Down & Rotherfield27595
6Heathfield North26469
7Crowborough Jarvis Brook26207
8Framfield & Cross-in-Hand26197
9Catsfield & Crowhurst26143
10Uckfield North24644
crime
PASSED

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Is Heathfield a healthy place to live?

If you are thinking of moving to Heathfield, 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 Heathfield 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%
Tunbridge Wells3.8
Wealden (Heathfield)4.42
Rother5.99
Eastbourne6.28

The English Indices of Deprivation also has health statistics for Heathfield. 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 Heathfield. To pass this section, 8 out of 10 of these wards need to be above the English national average rank of 16422.5.

#WardHealth Rank
1Hadlow Down & Rotherfield (Best)30905
2Mayfield & Five Ashes30327
3Heathfield South29843
4Crowborough South East28938
5Framfield & Cross-in-Hand28852
6Crowborough Jarvis Brook28510
7Horam & Punnetts Town28224
8Heathfield North27839
9Uckfield North25071
10Catsfield & Crowhurst (Worst)21074
health
PASSED
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Is Heathfield rough?

Using the English Indices of Deprivation statistics, we've collated the average rank for 10 wards in and around Heathfield. 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

#WardDeprivation Rank
1Hadlow Down & Rotherfield26398
2Crowborough Jarvis Brook25801
3Heathfield South25453
4Crowborough South East25323
5Mayfield & Five Ashes24910
6Heathfield North24230
7Uckfield North21920
8Framfield & Cross-in-Hand21381
9Horam & Punnetts Town20055
10Catsfield & Crowhurst13794
Deprivation
PASSED



How affordable are the rents in Heathfield?

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, Heathfield rents for each size property have to be less than 5% more than the median rent for East Sussex.

BedsWealdenEast Sussex
1£725£650
2£900£825
3£1195£1095
4£1800£1460
Affordable Rents
FAILED



How much can I earn in Heathfield per week?

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

#Local AuthorityMedian Pw
1Tunbridge Wells£766.30
2Eastbourne£726.70
3Wealden (Heathfield)£679.90
4Rother£623.90
Wages
FAILED



So, is Heathfield a nice place to live?

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

Is Heathfield a nice place to live?
YES
* Probably.