Photo: Gillie Rhodes · CC BY-SA 2.0How the West Midlands stacks up
Only two areas record more violent crime per resident: in the West Midlands, police recorded 51.5 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents over the past year. The good news is few homes in harm’s way from flooding and fast growth (+11% since 2011); the bad news, high costs against local pay. Across every subject, the West Midlands lands 53rd (C−).
Each subject puts the official figure for the whole county beside a measure built from our town grades. How this works
Safety
62nd of 65D5/100 Crime is a real weak spot. Police recorded 51.5 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents over the past year, 36% above the England and Wales figure (3rd highest of 65 areas with police.uk figures). Its biggest places pull the town measure down: Birmingham and Coventry sit in the bottom quarter for the UK. Staffordshire, Warwickshire and Worcestershire all do better on safety.
All recorded crime (anti-social behaviour left out): 107 per 1,000 residents a year, 4th highest.
Source: police.uk street-level crime, September 2025 to August 2026 (each crime placed by its LSOA); Census 2021 residents. Greater Manchester Police publishes none.
Measure: recorded crime against residents (violence, burglary, vehicle crime, criminal damage), as in our Safety grades. The top quarter is the best-placed towns holding a quarter of the people in the UK’s 2,138 graded towns. 35 West Midlands towns.
Crime gathers in the bigger places
Streetly leads its towns at #147 of 2,138, with Balsall Common and Cheswick Green close behind. Wolverhampton, West Bromwich and Walsall sit at the high-crime end of the ranking. Of residents of its towns, 10% live in the safest quarter and 81% in the quarter with the most recorded crime.
| County | Safest quarter | Most-crime quarter | Split |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ards and North Down | 100% | 0% | |
| Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon | 100% | 0% | |
| Lisburn and Castlereagh | 100% | 0% | |
| Mid Ulster | 100% | 0% | |
| Antrim and Newtownabbey | 78% | 0% | |
| West Midlands | 10% | 81% |
What the two figures count
police.uk places every crime at a street or public place near where it happened, never an address, and we count it where that point falls. The county figure counts violent and sexual offences everywhere in the West Midlands, including town centres, stations and shopping streets. Town grades count the crimes that touch residents where they live (violence, burglary, vehicle crime and criminal damage), so a town with a busy centre is not marked down for its shoplifting.
Schools
40th of 90B56/100 Schools a notch above average. Royal Sutton Coldfield leads its towns at #67 of 2,331; 8% of town residents live in top-quarter towns. 64% of pupils leave primary school at the expected standard (12th highest), and GCSE pupils average an Attainment 8 score of 45.6 (23rd lowest).
At GCSE, pupils average 45.6 on Attainment 8 (23rd lowest); the grade counts it as much as the primary results.
Source: DfE key stage 2 results 2024/25 and key stage 4 (Attainment 8), every state school in the county, pupil-weighted. England only.
Measure: our Schools grade: primary and secondary results of the schools in and around each town. The top quarter is the best-placed towns holding a quarter of the people in the UK’s 2,331 graded towns. 35 West Midlands towns.
Cost of living
69th of 98C30/100 Pricier than the typical area. At £240,000 for a typical home and £47,600 of household income, prices run 5.0 times income, the 41st highest ratio of 98 areas. Typical prices are up 17% on five years ago. 4% of town residents live in a top-quarter town, 27% in a bottom-quarter one; Dudley ranks highest.
The middle home sold for £240,000 over the past year, 41st highest of the areas.
Private rent £1,028 a month (29th highest); Band D council tax £2,372 (42nd highest). Shown for context.
Source: HM Land Registry Price Paid, standard sales September 2025 to August 2026; ONS small-area income estimates (financial year ending 2023); ONS Price Index of Private Rents (August 2026); council Band D 2026/27.
Measure: our Cost of living grade: prices and rents against local income, plus council tax. The top quarter is the best-placed towns holding a quarter of the people in the UK’s 2,515 graded towns. 35 West Midlands towns.
Health
85th of 98D13/100 Less healthy than most areas. Its biggest places pull the town measure down: Birmingham and Wolverhampton sit in the bottom quarter for the UK. People here can expect 61.6 years in good health, against 65.2 across England and Wales (3rd shortest of 55 areas with figures). It trails all of its neighbours on health.
Life expectancy at birth: 79.3 years, 9th shortest.
Source: ONS life expectancy and healthy life expectancy by small area (MSOA), 2019 to 2023, men and women averaged.
Measure: our Health grade: ONS life and healthy life expectancy, Census health, and OHID indicators in England. The top quarter is the best-placed towns holding a quarter of the people in the UK’s 2,515 graded towns. 35 West Midlands towns.
Jobs & income
72nd of 98C27/100 Money is tighter here. Its claimant rate, 7.4%, ranks highest, while household income ranks 44th lowest. The average household income is £47,600 a year, 14% below the England and Wales figure. Birmingham and Wolverhampton weigh on the town measure; 65% of town residents live in bottom-quarter places.
Out-of-work claimants in August 2026: 7.4% of working-age adults (the highest), weighed with income in the grade.
Source: ONS small-area income estimates (financial year ending 2023), household-weighted; DWP claimant count (August 2026) by council.
Measure: our Jobs & income grade: household income. The top quarter is the best-placed towns holding a quarter of the people in the UK’s 2,156 graded towns. 35 West Midlands towns.
Getting about
40th of 98B60/100 Slightly easier on foot than average. At the 2021 Census, 23% of people travelling to work went on foot, by bike or by public transport, 3 points below the England and Wales figure. One town stands apart: Smethwick, #118 in the UK, while nearly every other town sits lower. Among its neighbours it does best on walkability, with Warwickshire second.
Worked mainly from home at the 2021 Census: 24% of workers (context; they are left out of the commuting share).
Source: ONS Census 2021, method of travel to work (TS061) by council; people working mainly from home left out.
Measure: our Walkability grade: how many everyday places are within reach on foot. The top quarter is the best-placed towns holding a quarter of the people in the UK’s 2,515 graded towns. 35 West Midlands towns.
Flood risk
22nd of 87A−76/100 Low flood risk with few exceptions. The Environment Agency and Natural Resources Wales put 6,018 homes in its towns at high or medium flood risk, 0.5% of them. Brownhills leads its towns at #228 of 2,452; 25% of town residents live in top-quarter towns.
Source: Environment Agency and Natural Resources Wales flood-risk maps (rivers and the sea), homes in every town of the county.
Measure: our Hazard risk grade: the share of homes at high or medium flood risk. The top quarter is the best-placed towns holding a quarter of the people in the UK’s 2,452 graded towns. 35 West Midlands towns.
Growth
30th of 98B+70/100 Healthy growth. The population grew 10.8% between 2011 and 2024, to 3.04 million, against 10.0% across England and Wales (23rd fastest). Town by town it lands near the middle, with Dickens Heath its best at #68 of 1,579.
From 2021 to 2024 alone, +4.1% (16th fastest).
Source: ONS mid-year population estimates, 2011 and 2024.
Measure: population change from 2011 to 2024 (ONS estimates for built-up areas). The top quarter is the best-placed towns holding a quarter of the people in the UK’s 1,579 graded towns. 32 West Midlands towns.
How West Midlands compares to its neighbours
Next to Staffordshire, Warwickshire and Worcestershire, it comes out ahead on getting about and behind on safety, health and jobs and income.
| West Midlands | Staffordshire | Warwickshire | Worcestershire | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | C− 1953rd of 65 | C 2847th of 65 | A− 8014th of 65 | C+ 3841st of 65 |
| Safety | D 563rd official · 10% in top towns | C− 1653rd official · 22% in top towns | A− 7520th official · 43% in top towns | B+ 6727th official · 39% in top towns |
| Schools | B 5612th official · 8% in top towns | C+ 4212th official · 7% in top towns | B+ 6625th official · 15% in top towns | C− 1834th official · 2% in top towns |
| Cost of living | C 3058th official · 4% in top towns | B− 4652nd official · 45% in top towns | C 2972nd official · 18% in top towns | C 2775th official · 25% in top towns |
| Health | D 1353rd official · 9% in top towns | C+ 4236th official · 14% in top towns | A− 8013th official · 37% in top towns | B+ 7417th official · 28% in top towns |
| Jobs & income | C 2755th official · 9% in top towns | C 3050th official · 5% in top towns | A− 7619th official · 31% in top towns | B− 4528th official · 6% in top towns |
| Getting about | B 6021st official · 0% in top towns | C− 1580th official · 0% in top towns | C− 2373rd official · 0% in top towns | C− 1679th official · 0% in top towns |
| Flood risk | A− 768th official · 25% in top towns | A 934th official · 55% in top towns | B− 4522nd official · 14% in top towns | C 2625th official · 3% in top towns |
| Growth | B+ 7023rd official · 21% in top towns | B 5645th official · 12% in top towns | A 927th official · 57% in top towns | B 6432nd official · 17% in top towns |
Each cell: the subject’s grade and score, the county’s rank on the official figure (1st = the better end), and the share of its town residents living in a top-quarter town for the UK. Neighbour names open their report cards.
How this report card works
Two measures, side by side. The left card is an official figure for the whole county, its towns, villages and countryside together, built from the small areas and councils that make it up and ranked against the other counties. The right card is built from our town grades: of everyone living in the county’s graded towns of 2,500 or more, the share whose town is in the top quarter for the UK. Quarters are of people, not towns: the top quarter is the best-placed towns that together hold a quarter of everyone living in graded towns, so a county of big cities is not marked down just for being urban. A county can do well on one measure and not the other; that difference is often the story.
Scores and grades. Each subject’s score (0–100) is the area’s standing in one UK league of 98: the ceremonial counties of England (London counts as one), Wales’s eight preserved counties, and Scotland’s 32 and Northern Ireland’s 11 council areas, each called by its own name. The two measures’ percentiles are averaged, then ranked again, the same method as our town grades. Where a nation publishes its own kind of figure, the official figure is ranked within that nation: school results everywhere, health in Scotland and Northern Ireland, and flood risk in Scotland. Each area’s figures are set beside its own nation’s. 100 is the best county, 0 the last. Letters use the town-grade scale (A+ from 95, A from 85, A− from 75 … D below 15). The overall score weighs safety 18, cost of living 18, schools 16, health 14, jobs & income 12, getting about 8, growth 8, flood risk 6 (out of 100), over the subjects a county has. Counties with fewer than 5 graded towns (Rutland, Bristol) are graded on the official figures alone.
What it is not. A county figure averages everyone, so it cannot show whether a county is evenly good or a mix of very good and struggling places. The town measure shows the mix but leaves out villages and towns under 2,500. Neither says anything about any one street.
Gaps. Wales publishes no school results that compare with England’s, so Welsh counties have no Schools grade. Greater Manchester Police publishes no street-level crime, so Greater Manchester has no Safety grade and, as for its towns, no overall grade. Nor does Police Scotland, so Scotland’s council areas have no Safety grade or overall grade yet. Scotland and Northern Ireland have no small-area income figures, so their household income is estimated from ONS household income per head. Flood risk has no county-wide official figure; it is the share of homes in the county’s towns at high or medium risk. Sources are named under each figure. How grades work
Sources: 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.