Photo: Chris Whippet · CC BY-SA 2.0Smethwick ranks among the UK towns with the most benefit claimants
8.5% of people of working age are on jobless benefits; the typical UK town’s rate is 2.7%. Smethwick grades C− for jobs and income against UK towns, #25 of 35 in West Midlands. For 48% of residents who travel to work, the journey is under 3 miles.
Where Smethwick stands out on work
More jobs than the typical town
18,562 jobs are based in Smethwick for 21,469 working residents; the typical UK town has 0.7 jobs per resident in work. Wholesale, education and shops make up 30% of them. Jobs based here ↓
More benefit claims than most towns
The typical UK town: 2.7%; England and Wales: 4% so far in 2026. Benefits over time ↓
Written from the data on this page: ONS Census 2021 and BRES, DWP claimant counts via Nomis, and ONS household income.
Smethwick grades C− for jobs and income
Better than 20% of UK towns once its four measures are combined: #25 of 35 in West Midlands.
Its strongest measure is getting to jobs without a car; its weakest, the claimant rate.
How the grade works
Each input is ranked against every UK town of 1,000 or more (higher income and job access are better; fewer claimants and less employment deprivation are better), the four ranks are averaged, and the average is ranked again. A town needs three of the four.
18,562 jobs, one in eight in wholesale
0.9 for every working resident; the typical UK town has 0.7.
BRES counts jobs, not people (a part-time job and a second job count once each), so it runs above the Census count of people working here (20,507). Small areas are shared out to the town by where their Census 2021 workers were based; kinds of work are BRES industry divisions (SIC 2007), rounded. England’s towns: all jobs in its built-up areas.
Jobs at workplaces in Smethwick (employees and working owners, ONS Business Register and Employment Survey 2024).
Jobless claims in the Sandwell council area have run above England and Wales every month since 2015
Sandwell’s rate was about 4.1% in 2019, peaked at 9.2% in February 2021 and has averaged 6.6% in 2026, against 4% across England and Wales. Claims everywhere stay higher than before the pandemic, partly because Universal Credit counts more people on low pay as looking for work.
The chart is the whole council area of Sandwell, which Nomis publishes monthly; the figures above the line are for Smethwick’s built-up area. Claimant count: people claiming Jobseeker’s Allowance, or Universal Credit while required to look for work. Employment deprivation counts people out of work on Jobseeker’s Allowance, Employment and Support Allowance, Incapacity Benefit, Severe Disablement Allowance, Carer’s Allowance or the Universal Credit equivalents (English Indices of Deprivation 2025). The “most deprived tenth” compares areas within England only.
Claimant rate since 2015: people claiming Jobseeker’s Allowance or Universal Credit while looking for work, as a share of residents aged 16 to 64 (DWP, via Nomis).
As many come into Smethwick to work as leave
21,469 residents were in work at the 2021 Census; 20,507 people worked in Smethwick.
15% of residents who travel to a workplace stay in the town; in the typical UK town of 2,500+ it’s 14%.
The middle of each bar is the same people: residents who work in the town or from home.
Smethwick’s commuters work from Birmingham to West Bromwich
- Birmingham3,056
- West Bromwich1,383
- Oldbury1,199
- Rowley Regis585
- Tipton435
- Wolverhampton396
- Halesowen368
- Walsall233
- Dudley231
- Countryside163
- Birmingham5,617
- West Bromwich1,271
- Oldbury793
- Countryside322
- Dudley238
- Walsall231
- Rowley Regis220
- Wolverhampton212
- Tipton187
- Solihull176
85% of residents who travel to a workplace work outside Smethwick; Birmingham takes the most (5,617). Coming the other way, Birmingham sends the most (3,056).
The ten places that send the most workers into Smethwick, and the ten where its residents most often work (Census 2021, by home and workplace). Line width is the number of people.
What households earn in Smethwick: £42,387 a year on average
Higher than 14% of UK towns of 2,500+; the typical town is £52,385. The whole council area of Sandwell averages £42,851.
The town figure is ONS’s neighbourhood (MSOA) estimates shared out by where the town’s residents live.
Total household income before tax, mean, year to March 2023 (ONS small-area estimates).
Where in Smethwick incomes are highest and lowest: £37K to £54K
Mean household income before tax in each of the 6 neighbourhoods (MSOAs) mostly inside the town: the highest is 1.5 times the lowest.
Each dot is a neighbourhood (MSOA, about 8,000 people) mostly inside Smethwick; names from the House of Commons Library. ONS gives each a 95% range of roughly ±£7K to ±£10K, so neighbourhoods close together on the strip may not really differ.
One way or another, 31% of Smethwick’s commuters skip the car
Median journey 5.4 km; typical UK town 8.4 km.
Smethwick grades A+ for walkability, the best in West Midlands: the share of commuters who walk, cycle or take public transport, against UK towns.
ONS Census 2021, TS061 (method of travel) and TS058 (distance, straight line from home to workplace), output areas summed. Census day fell in the third lockdown, so fewer people travelled than usual.
How residents who travel to work get there, and how far they go (Census 2021, not counting those working mainly at home).
How Smethwick spends its days: 51% of adults in work
ONS Census 2021, tables TS066 (economic activity) and TS063 (occupation), output areas summed to the built-up area. England’s towns: everyone living in its built-up areas.
Everyone 16 and over, by what they were doing the week before the 2021 Census, and the jobs of those in work.
Smethwick is 94th of 126 UK towns of 39,000 to 76,000 for jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Jobs per worker | Work in own town | Claimants | Income | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Wokingham Berkshire | 50,320 | 0.9 | 29% | 2.1% | £83K | A+ |
| 2 | West Molesey Surrey | 47,144 | 0.6 | 18% | 2.1% | £87K | A+ |
| 3 | Haywards Heath West Sussex | 40,186 | 0.7 | 36% | 1.9% | £74K | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 48 | Kingswinford West Midlands | 51,900 | 0.6 | 18% | 3.1% | £50K | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 54 | Halesowen West Midlands | 60,103 | 0.7 | 20% | 3.8% | £51K | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 64 | Stourbridge West Midlands | 56,961 | 0.6 | 22% | 4.5% | £51K | C |
| … | |||||||
| 92 | Wallsend Tyne and Wear | 45,351 | 0.4 | 14% | 4.4% | £42K | C− |
| 93 | Worksop Nottinghamshire | 43,435 | 1.3 | 54% | 3.7% | £45K | C− |
| 94 | Smethwick West Midlands | 56,343 | 0.9 | 15% | 8.5% | £42K | C− |
| 95 | Mansfield Nottinghamshire | 63,448 | 1.1 | 31% | 4.5% | £43K | C− |
| 96 | Willenhall West Midlands | 49,582 | 0.6 | 18% | 5.6% | £43K | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 126 | Clacton-on-Sea Essex | 53,190 | 0.8 | 52% | 5.6% | £40K | D |
Jobs & income letters rank against every UK town of 1,000 or more; the order here is context only.
Ordered by Jobs & income Grade: the top three, the towns either side of Smethwick, and others in West Midlands.
How Smethwick compares with the places nearby
| Town | People | Jobs | Work in own town | Claimants | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Smethwick | 56,343 | 18,562 | 15% | 8.5% | C− |
| Oldbury | 45,188 | 23,298 | 16% | 6.5% | C− |
| Blackheath | 6,950 | 2,532 | 7% | 6.4% | C− |
| Rowley Regis | 39,052 | 10,335 | 8% | 5.5% | C− |
| West Bromwich | 103,099 | 42,701 | 24% | 7% | C− |
| Birmingham | 1,121,367 | 563,927 | 66% | 11% | C− |
| Halesowen | 60,103 | 19,465 | 20% | 3.8% | C+ |
| Cradley Heath | 18,819 | 5,900 | 11% | 5.5% | C− |
Jobs based in each place, commuters who stay in their own town, and the claimant rate.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- The Census was taken in lockdown. Census day was 21 March 2021, during the third national lockdown: many people were furloughed or working from home, so fewer travelled to work, and journeys were shorter, than before the pandemic or since. The flows on this page show where people worked that spring.
- At home and no fixed place are one figure. In the workplace flows, ONS puts people who mainly worked at home and people with no fixed workplace (drivers, builders, care workers on rounds) at their home address, so the two can’t be told apart there.
- Towns are built-up areas. Smethwick here is ONS’s built-up area: the town as built, not its council district. A workplace on an estate or farm outside every built-up area counts as “outside any built-up area”.
- Jobs are counted where they are. BRES counts jobs at each workplace (employees and working owners, rounded by ONS), so a town with a hospital, university or big employer can have more jobs than working residents. Small areas are shared out to towns by where their Census workers were based.
- The benefits chart is the council area. Nomis publishes the claimant count monthly for councils back to 2013, so the line is Sandwell as a whole; the claimant rate elsewhere on this page is Smethwick’s built-up area, from small areas.
Questions about work in Smethwick
Where do people in Smethwick work?
At the 2021 Census, 15% of Smethwick’s residents who travelled to work worked in the town itself; the most common other places were Birmingham (5,617), West Bromwich (1,271) and Oldbury (793). 35% of working residents worked mainly at home or had no fixed workplace; the Census was taken in lockdown, so home working was unusually high.
How many people commute into Smethwick?
10,900 people who lived elsewhere worked in Smethwick at the 2021 Census, 53% of its 20,507 workers. The most came from Birmingham (3,056), West Bromwich (1,383) and Oldbury (1,199). 11,805 residents travelled out the other way.
How many jobs are there in Smethwick?
About 18,550 jobs (employees and working owners) were based in Smethwick in 2024, on ONS’s Business Register and Employment Survey: 0.9 for every resident in work, against 0.7 in the typical UK town. The biggest kinds of work are wholesale (about 2,190), education (about 1,840) and shops (about 1,540).
Is Smethwick a good place to find work?
Smethwick earns a C− for jobs and income, better than 20% of UK towns on household income, the claimant rate, employment deprivation and access to jobs together. Mean household income £42,387; 8.5% of 16 to 64s claim unemployment benefits.
How do people in Smethwick get to work?
64% of commuters go by car or van, 9% walk, 2% cycle and 20% take the bus or train; 48% travel under 5 km. Census 2021, taken during lockdown.
What is the average household income in Smethwick?
Mean household income before tax was £42,387 in the year to March 2023 (ONS), against £52,385 in the typical UK town. By neighbourhood it runs from £36,739 in Smethwick South to £54,473 in Bearwood & Warley Woods.
How does Smethwick compare with Birmingham for jobs?
Smethwick has 0.9 jobs per working resident against Birmingham’s 1.3, a 8.5% claimant rate against 11%, and mean household income of £42,387 against £45,929.
Sources: ONS Census 2021 origin-destination data, place of work (ODWP01EW), output areas summed to the ONS 2022 built-up area · ONS Census 2021 tables TS058 (distance), TS061 (method of travel), TS063 (occupation) and TS066 (economic activity) · ONS Business Register and Employment Survey via Nomis (open access), by industry division · ONS small-area income estimates (financial year ending 2023); House of Commons Library MSOA names · DWP claimant count via Nomis (towns January to August 2026; councils, regions and England and Wales monthly since January 2015) · MHCLG English Indices of Deprivation 2025 · DfT Transport Connectivity Metric (employment) · 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.