Is Swanage, Dorset a nice place to live?

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

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

The English Indices of Deprivation has a crime element for Swanage. 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 Swanage. 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
1Swanage24998
2South East Purbeck24603
3Oakdale23101
4Canford Cliffs22528
5Parkstone22211
6Penn Hill20720
7Hamworthy19605
8Poole Town17056
9Talbot & Branksome Woods15387
10Westbourne & West Cliff15008
crime
PASSED

Reader Opinion:

Bournemouth, quite possibly the biggest lie ever conceived.

Is Swanage a healthy place to live?

If you are thinking of moving to Swanage, 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 Swanage 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%
New Forest4.79
Dorset (Swanage)5.1
Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole5.24
Isle of Wight6.74

The English Indices of Deprivation also has health statistics for Swanage. 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 Swanage. 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
1Canford Cliffs (Best)26051
2Parkstone23682
3Penn Hill22395
4South East Purbeck22376
5Oakdale19618
6Talbot & Branksome Woods17485
7Poole Town15706
8Swanage15461
9Westbourne & West Cliff14220
10Hamworthy (Worst)13435
Health
FAILED
Reader Opinion:

Isle of Portland - Where hope goes to die

Is Swanage rough?

Using the English Indices of Deprivation statistics, we've collated the average rank for 10 wards in and around Swanage. 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
1Canford Cliffs27470
2Parkstone25572
3Penn Hill24732
4Oakdale20962
5Swanage20240
6Talbot & Branksome Woods19239
7Poole Town18082
8South East Purbeck17181
9Westbourne & West Cliff14943
10Hamworthy13690
Deprivation
PASSED



How affordable are the rents in Swanage?

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

BedsDorset
1£600£
2£750£
3£918£
4£1250£
Affordable Rents
FAILED



How much can I earn in Swanage per week?

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

#Local AuthorityMedian Pw
1Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole UA£674.90
2New Forest£674.10
3Dorset UA (Swanage)£668.40
4Isle of Wight UA£639.40
Wages
FAILED



So, is Swanage a nice place to live?

Is Swanage a nice place to live?
NO*
* Probably.