Placetrics
City · South West

Living in Forest of Dean

11 neighbourhoods · 51 sub-areas
Crime vs nat. avg
0.52× nat.
48% below nat. avg · 52.0 / 1k / yr · #85 of 318 cities
Good schools
100%
#1 of 296 cities
Commute to hub
168 min
#296 of 318 cities
Jobs density
0.27
#311 of 318 cities
Avg rent
£820/mo
+2.5% YoY · #76 of 314 cities
Council tax
£185/mo
Estimated (Band D)
Section 1 / 8

Neighbourhoods in Forest of Dean

Tap any row or map polygon to drill into that neighbourhood — hovering on desktop will preview the link before you click. Switch the tab strip above the table to focus on Affordability, Schools, Transport, Safety or Wealth — the columns swap and the default sort follows.

11 neighbourhoods · 51 sub-areas

Rent, scores and YoY change at a glance.

Cinderford£689+2.5%6268
Lydney£726+2.5%7760
Mitcheldean, Drybrook & Ruardean£757+2.5%6576
Coleford£770+2.5%3960
Bream, Pillowell & Yorkley£789+2.5%4075
Newent£823+2.5%3251
Tidenham & Woolaston£854+2.5%4089
Lydbrook, Newland & St Briavels£879+2.5%1892
Longhope, Westbury & Blakeney£882+2.5%2284
Dymock, Hartpury & Huntley£1,010+2.5%1684
Cleeve Hill, Gotherington & Apperley£1,113+2.3%2186

Sources: ONS, MHCLG, DfT, DESNZ, Defra, Police.uk, Ofsted, Ofcom, HM Land Registry. Some columns (salary, council tax, HPI) are published at council-area level.

Section 2 / 8

Where to look in Forest of Dean

Three short answers to "where should I focus?" in Forest of Dean. Each list is filtered from the same neighbourhood data above — the basis of each shortlist is stated above the list so you know what's been weighted.

Top 5 cheapest

Lowest estimated monthly rent. Rent is the LAD-published ONS PIPR median, scaled per neighbourhood by local sale prices (Land Registry).

  1. 1.Cinderford£689/mo
  2. 2.Lydney£726/mo
  3. 3.Mitcheldean, Drybrook & Ruardean£757/mo
  4. 4.Coleford£770/mo
  5. 5.Bream, Pillowell & Yorkley£789/mo
Top 5 most desirable

Highest composite liveability — combines safety, schools, transport access and rental affordability into one 0–100 score (higher = more liveable).

  1. 1.Lydney77/100
  2. 2.Mitcheldean, Drybrook & Ruardean65/100
  3. 3.Cinderford62/100
  4. 4.Tidenham & Woolaston40/100
  5. 5.Bream, Pillowell & Yorkley40/100
Section 3 / 8

Cost of living

Median rent and council tax across Forest of Dean.

Avg rent
£820/mo
#76 of 314 cities
Sale price
£289,497
+2.1% YoY
Yrs to deposit
3.9 yr
Rent & price breakdownBy bedroom count · property type · affordability
council-area level rent by bedroom
ONS PIPR median for the council area
1 bed£588/mo
2 bed£792/mo
3 bed£950/mo
4 bed£1,440/mo
Sale price by property type
HMLR HPI average
Detached£383,448
Semi-detached£251,710
Terraced£211,047
Flat£126,310
Affordability
Price-to-earnings7.9×
Rent / take-home27%
Council tax (estimated, full council area)£2,218/yr
Mortgage (25y, 5%)£1,521/mo

Rent: ONS PIPR (council area). Council tax: VOA + MHCLG. Sale prices: HM Land Registry.

Section 4 / 8

Safety in Forest of Dean

Crime in Forest of Dean runs at 48% below the national average. Above median (#85 of 318 cities) The supporting per-1,000-residents-per-year rate is 52.0, averaged across the council area's neighbourhoods.

How crime is measured

What's counted. Incidents recorded by territorial police forces and published to data.police.uk each month. Rates use the latest 12 months of data divided by the area's mid-2024 ONS resident population — so the figure is reported incidents per 1,000 residents per year.

Anti-social behaviour is the largest category in most areas and is worth reading carefully — it's a community-reports bucket (noise, rowdiness, nuisance), not "crime" in the legal sense. ASB and shoplifting are weighted lower than violent offences in the safety score on each page.

Caveats. The denominator is residents, so workday and tourist destinations can look worse than they feel for someone living there. Greater Manchester forces stopped publishing to data.police.uk in 2020, so figures for those areas are intentionally blank rather than misleadingly low.

Total crime / 1k / yr
52.0
#85 of 318 cities
Crime detailTop crime types · safest neighbourhoods in this council area
All crime categories
incidents / 1,000 residents / year — sorted high → low
Violent & sexual offences
20.2
Anti-social behaviour
10.8
Criminal damage & arson
4.6
Other theft
3.3
Public order
3.1
Burglary
1.8
Other crime
1.7
Vehicle crime
1.7
Shoplifting
1.5
Drugs
1.2
Possession of weapons
0.9
Bicycle theft
0.7
Theft from the person
0.7
Robbery
0.6
Safest neighbourhoods in Forest of Dean
by safety score (higher = safer)
Lydbrook, Newland & St Briavels92/100
Tidenham & Woolaston89/100
Cleeve Hill, Gotherington & Apperley86/100

Source: data.police.uk — incident counts adjusted for population, then averaged across the council area's neighbourhoods. National average = England + Wales population-weighted mean.

Section 5 / 8

Schools in Forest of Dean

100% of schools serving Forest of Dean are rated Good or Outstanding by Ofsted. Best 5% nationally (#1 of 296 cities)

Good or Outstanding
100%
#1 of 296 cities
Good w/in 2 km
50%
#7 of 318 cities
School breakdownOfsted distribution · best neighbourhoods for schools
Ofsted rating distribution
Good100%
Outstanding (count)0
Good (count)1
Requires improvement0
Inadequate0
Best neighbourhoods for schools in Forest of Dean
by school score
Dymock, Hartpury & Huntley75/100
Lydney63/100
Coleford47/100

Ofsted school inspection ratings, latest inspection per school.

Section 6 / 8

Transport in Forest of Dean

Modelled door-to-door commute from this council area to nearby employment hubs. Closest first.

Best hub
168 min
#296 of 318 cities
To Cardiff
172 min
Median across local areas
To Bristol
173 min
Median across local areas
To Birmingham
192 min
Median across local areas
Transport detailAll city commute times · mode share · best-connected neighbourhoods
Commute to major UK cities
public transport, off-peak typical
Cardiff
172 min
Bristol
173 min
Birmingham
192 min
London
235 min
Sheffield
286 min
Manchester
301 min
Leeds
332 min
Liverpool
336 min
Glasgow
478 min
Edinburgh
495 min
How residents travel to work
Census 2021, mode share
Car64%Public1%Active5%WFH26%
Best-connected neighbourhoods in Forest of Dean
by transport score
Lydney47/100
Cleeve Hill, Gotherington & Apperley19/100
Newent18/100

DfT Journey Time Statistics + ONS Travel-to-Work.

Section 7 / 8

Job access from Forest of Dean

Forest of Dean has 0.27 jobs per resident locally. Bottom 10%

Jobs per resident
0.27
#311 of 318 cities
5y jobs growth
0.0%
Job access detailReachability tiers · sector mix in this council area
Reachable jobs by mode
Drive — 100 jobs7 min
PT — 100 jobs12 min
Drive — 500 jobs9 min
PT — 500 jobs17 min
Drive — 5,000 jobs38 min
PT — 5,000 jobs68 min
Local job mix by sector
ONS BRES, % of local jobs
Retail & hospitality
23.6%
Manufacturing
13.8%
Education
12.8%
Health & social care
12.7%
Construction
6.5%
Professional & business svcs
5.7%
Tech & ICT
2.2%
Finance & insurance
1.1%

ONS BRES (jobs density) + DfT job-accessibility minutes.

FAQ

Frequently asked about Forest of Dean

Short answers to the questions we get most often. Each answer is anchored in the data above and links onward where you can dig deeper.

What is the average rent in Forest of Dean?
The median monthly rent across Forest of Dean is £820, based on ONS Private Rental Prices data. Individual neighbourhoods vary — see the shortlist above for the cheapest and most desirable areas.
Where is the cheapest place to rent in Forest of Dean?
The cheapest neighbourhood in Forest of Dean by estimated median rent is Cinderford at approximately £689/month. The full top-five cheapest list and our methodology are above.
What's the best neighbourhood to live in Forest of Dean?
By our composite liveability score (which blends safety, transport, schools, rent affordability and EPC), the top-ranked neighbourhood in Forest of Dean is Lydney at 77/100. The score is editorial; see /methodology/scoring/liveability for the formula.
Is Forest of Dean a safe area?
Forest of Dean has an average safety score of 72/100 across its constituent neighbourhoods (higher is safer). The score is the national percentile rank of police-recorded crimes per 1,000 residents per year, inverted so 100 means the safest 1% of England + Wales.
What is council tax in Forest of Dean?
The most common council tax band in Forest of Dean is not yet published, with the Band D annual charge currently around £339. Council tax is set at the local authority level so the same banding applies to every postcode within Forest of Dean.
What is the average salary in Forest of Dean?
The median annual resident salary in Forest of Dean is £36,589, per ONS ASHE 2025. This is salary for people who live in Forest of Dean, not for people who commute in to work there. Workplace median salary is published separately.
What is the average house price in Forest of Dean?
The average property price in Forest of Dean is approximately £282,777 according to HM Land Registry's House Price Index. Individual neighbourhoods vary — typically ±20% around this council area median.
What's the rental yield in Forest of Dean?
Gross rental yield in Forest of Dean is approximately 3.3% — the council-area level median rent annualised over the council-area level median sale price. Net yield (after agency, void, maintenance and tax) typically runs 30–40% lower.
How long does it take to save a deposit in Forest of Dean?
Saving a 10% deposit at the council area median sale price on the council area median salary, while putting away 10% of takehome pay each month, takes approximately 3.9 years in Forest of Dean. Faster if you save more, slower if rents are eating into savings.
Is gigabit broadband available in Forest of Dean?
100% of premises in Forest of Dean are gigabit-capable per Ofcom Connected Nations 2025. Coverage is patchier in older terraces and rural fringes — check your specific postcode for service availability.
What's the unemployment rate in Forest of Dean?
2.7% of 16-64 residents in Forest of Dean are on the DWP Claimant Count — Universal Credit while seeking work, or Jobseeker's Allowance. That's the live monthly local indicator. It's narrower than the ONS Labour Force Survey "ILO unemployment rate" (which counts anyone actively job-seeking on a separate denominator) and narrower again than Census 2021's "% unemployed" (which is calculated against all 16+ residents and so isn't directly comparable).
How many neighbourhoods are in Forest of Dean?
Forest of Dean contains 11 neighbourhood neighbourhoods covering 51 sub-areas (local areas). Browse the full list at the bottom of this page or use the neighbourhood map above to drill into a specific area.
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Section 8 / 8

All sub-areas in Forest of Dean

Every local area, ordered by crawl priority. Most readers want the neighbourhood-level view — these are for deep-link cases or external search-engine arrivals.