Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Council tax at Band D comes to £2,146. A large town of 60,103 in West Midlands.
Nothing here grades far from typical. Its best grade is for cost of living — the median home sold for £249,000, 5.2 years of area income. Overall, Halesowen earns a B−: better than just over half of UK towns, and #9 of 35 in West Midlands. Police record more crime here than in most towns: 27.2 violent or sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year, plus 14.9 home and vehicle crimes. Set beside UK towns and cities of 50,000 or more, its crime per resident is higher than in 10%. The rest of its grades are middling: B for schools, B for walkability and B− for hazard risk.
Figures: prices, HM Land Registry, the last three years · crime, police.uk, averaged Sep 2023 to Aug 2026 · commuting, Census 2021 · flood risk, Environment Agency.
The 3 things Halesowen does most differently from other towns.
Each subject compared with the 2,160 UK towns with an overall grade (schools within England), ordered by how far Halesowen is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Historic England lists 32 buildings inside Halesowen’s built-up area, 2 of them Grade I, and 1 scheduled monument.
9% of its homes were built before 1919, against 15% in the typical UK town.
Explore the history →Museums, castles, gardens and days out in and near Halesowen. Best known first.
Abbey or priory · English HeritageHalesowen Abbey300 m outside town, to the southeast
CastleWeoley Castle2.8 km outside town, to the east
Historic houseHagley Hall2.4 km outside town, to the southwest
GardenWarley Woods2.2 km outside town, to the east
MuseumThe Oak House Museum4.3 km outside town, to the northeast
MuseumRed House Glass Cone3.8 km outside town, to the westPhotos: each place’s Wikidata image, from Wikimedia Commons under the licence below (our copy, resized).
Data highlights are ordered by what stands out in Halesowen.
The heritage lists give each building’s grade but not its age, so we don’t say which is oldest.
Halesowen’s listed buildings include the Church of St John the Baptist, Grade I. Homes from before 1919 make up 9% of the total. One scheduled monument lies here.
Historic England list, October 2026 · Valuation Office Agency, homes by build period · OGL
Below are three of its 19 schools, each with why it was picked. Between them, 15 primaries and three secondaries teach 9,142 pupils in Halesowen. Secondary results at the town’s 3 secondary schools: an Attainment 8 score of 44, with 42% at grade 5 or above in English and maths.
| School | Level | Pupils | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lutley Primary SchoolLargest primary schoolPrimary | Primary | 546 | A− |
| Windsor High School and Sixth FormLargest secondary schoolSecondary | Secondary | 1,710 | C+ |
| Our Lady and St Kenelm RC SchoolTop results in townPrimary | Primary | 203 | A |
Town centres with shops, stations and nightlife record more crime per resident: police.uk counts crimes where they happen, not where victims live.
Among the 207 UK towns and cities of 50,000 or more, Halesowen has less crime per resident than 90% of them. Police figures for the town’s built-up area: 3,439 crimes and 157 anti-social behaviour reports in the 12 months to August 2026. Violence and sexual offences accounted for 45% of recorded crime.
Not gradedAnti-social behaviour, shoplifting and other theft are shown but left out of the Safety Grade, which counts violence and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident.
data.police.uk street-level crime · points inside the ONS built-up-area boundary · OGL · The police category of violence and sexual offences includes harassment and stalking.
14% live in social housing, below West Midlands’ towns (22%) and England’s towns (18%) alike. Renting privately is how 13% of households live. Private rents average £859 a month across the Dudley council area.
| By type | Median | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Detached | £360,000 | 366 |
| Semi-detached | £260,750 | 948 |
| Terraced | £211,000 | 592 |
| Flat or maisonette | £130,000 | 215 |
HM Land Registry Price Paid · ONS private rents · MHCLG / Welsh Government council tax · ONS Census 2021 tenure · OGL
7 GP practices serve the town; just over three quarters of patients rate theirs good in the GP Patient Survey. The nearest A&E to Halesowen is Russells Hall Hospital, 4.1 miles away. At the census, 18% of people here had a disability, near West Midlands’ towns (18%) and higher than England’s towns (17%).
| Census 2021 | Halesowen | West Midlands | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 80% | 80% | 82% |
| Bad or very bad health | 5.6% | 6% | 5.2% |
| Disabled (Equality Act) | 18% | 18% | 17% |
ONS Census 2021, general health and disability · OHID Fingertips, life expectancy 2019–23 · OGL · These answers aren’t adjusted for age, so young towns look healthier; the Health Grade uses age-adjusted measures, including life expectancy and early deaths.
The Census was taken on 21 March 2021, in lockdown, so 26% of workers were mainly at home; shares here are of those who travelled.
Households had £51K a year before tax, between West Midlands’ towns (£47K) and England’s towns (£55K). Just over four in five commuters drove to work at the census. About 20% of its commuters stay in Halesowen for work. For 39% of commuters, work was under 5 km away.
ONS Census 2021, method of travel and distance to work · ONS small-area income · DWP claimant count · OGL
Children under 15 make up 17%, about level with England’s towns (18%) and below West Midlands’ towns (20%). The share aged 15 to 24 is 10%. Half the people of Halesowen are older than 42.9. Graduates make up 27% of adults.
51% women, 49% men
About 96 men for every 100 women. Across England, 51% of residents are women.
| Halesowen | West Midlands | England | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 17% | 20% | 18% |
| 15–24 | 10% | 14% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 25% | 27% | 27% |
| 45–64 | 26% | 24% | 25% |
| 65+ | 22% | 16% | 18% |
| No qualifications | 21% | 24% | 18% |
| Apprenticeship | 5.9% | 4.6% | 5.3% |
| A levels or similar | 18% | 17% | 17% |
| Degree level | 27% | 28% | 34% |
ONS Census 2021 · West Midlands and England: all residents of their built-up areas · OGL
32 listed buildings in Halesowen, 2 of them Grade I.
Church of St John the Baptist: Photo: Tony Hisgett from Birmingham, UK · CC BY 2.0 · The Grange: Photo: John M · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Geograph · George Inn Public House: Photo: Chris Whippet · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Winding Engine House at the Former New Hawne Colliery: Photo: Chris Allen · CC BY-SA 2.0
27 notable people were born in Halesowen.
Morgan Rogers: Bryan Berlin, CC BY-SA 4.0 · William Shenstone: Edward Alcock, Public domain · William Caslon: Original painting: Francis Kyte, reproduction: H. W. Caslon & Co., 1915, Public domain · Thomas Attwood: Charles Turner, Public domain · Eddie Lowe: Eskil Malmberg, Public domain
The nearest built-up areas, from ONS’s 2022 boundaries. See them on the map →
| Town | People | Miles | Overall | Cost | Safety | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Halesowen | 60,103 | — | B− | B+ | C | C |
| Cradley Heath | 18,819 | 1.3 | D− | C− | D | D |
| Blackheath | 6,950 | 1.7 | D− | C− | D− | D |
| Oldbury | 45,188 | 2.7 | D− | D | D | D |
| Romsley | 1,153 | 2.8 | — | A− | C+ | B+ |
| Rowley Regis | 39,052 | 3.1 | D | C− | C− | D |
| Brierley Hill | 32,311 | 3.2 | C | A | D | C− |
| Stourbridge | 56,961 | 3.6 | C+ | B | C− | C |
Romsley has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade. People: Census 2021. Miles: centre to centre.
Against all UK towns, most of them far smaller, it grades C.
Band D council tax in Halesowen is £2,146 for 2026–27, less than in 84% of UK towns (council, county, police and fire). Your own bill depends on your home’s band; check it on GOV.UK.
GCSE results trail 62% of towns in England, and primary results beat 73% (Department for Education, Attainment 8 and Key Stage 2).
Large town in West Midlands, England
Halesowen is a built-up area of 60,103 people, in the Dudley council area. TownRatings uses ONS’s 2022 built-up areas as towns: the physical town, as people mean the word, rather than a council district, so its figures cover the town itself.
Built from ONS geography and Census 2021
Sources: ONS Census 2021, output areas summed to the ONS 2022 built-up area · HM Land Registry Price Paid (standard sales, September 2023 to August 2026) · ONS Price Index of Private Rents (August 2026, by council) · MHCLG and Welsh Government council tax, Band D 2026–27 (with parish precepts in England) · data.police.uk street-level crime, 36 months to August 2026, points inside the built-up-area boundary · ONS small-area life expectancy and healthy life expectancy, 2019 to 2023 (England and Wales), OHID Fingertips small-area indicators (England) and Census 2021 health, adjusted for age · ONS small-area income estimates (financial year ending 2023) · DWP claimant count via Nomis (January to August 2026) · Historic England, National Heritage List for England (listed buildings, scheduled monuments, registered parks and gardens, battlefields, World Heritage Sites), October 2026, inside the ONS 2022 built-up-area boundary · Valuation Office Agency, Council Tax: stock of properties by build period (31 March 2025) · TownRatings grades: our own summary of the data, ranked against UK towns only. All under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Contains HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright and database right 2026. Contains OS data © Crown copyright and database right 2026 (ONS boundaries). Northern Ireland: Source: NISRA; contains Land & Property Services data and Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland information, © Crown copyright, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Scotland: contains National Records of Scotland data, Registers of Scotland data and SEPA data, © Crown copyright / © SEPA 2025, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.