Is Bilston, West Midlands a nice place to live?

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

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

The English Indices of Deprivation has a crime element for Bilston. 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 Bilston. To pass this section, 8 out of 10 of these wards need to be above the English national average rank of 16422.5

#	Ward	Crime Rank
1	Spring Vale	15729
2	Wednesfield South	15705
3	Blakenhall	12023
4	Ettingshall	11784
5	Darlaston South	11605
6	Heath Town	11327
7	Bilston North	10480
8	Bentley and Darlaston North	9686
9	East Park	8742
10	Bilston East	5682

Is Bilston a healthy place to live?

If you are thinking of moving to Bilston, 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 Bilston 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	%
Wolverhampton (Bilston)	6.34
Cannock Chase	6.41
Walsall	6.59
Sandwell	6.64

The English Indices of Deprivation also has health statistics for Bilston. 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 Bilston. To pass this section, 8 out of 10 of these wards need to be above the English national average rank of 16422.5.

#	Ward	Health Rank
1	Spring Vale (Best)	9583
2	Blakenhall	8964
3	Ettingshall	8086
4	Wednesfield South	8052
5	Bilston North	7464
6	Heath Town	7267
7	Bilston East	6974
8	Darlaston South	6700
9	East Park	6433
10	Bentley and Darlaston North (Worst)	6235

Is Bilston rough?

Using the English Indices of Deprivation statistics, we've collated the average rank for 10 wards in and around Bilston. 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

#	Ward	Deprivation Rank
1	Spring Vale	10443
2	Wednesfield South	9608
3	Blakenhall	8525
4	Bilston North	6324
5	Heath Town	5650
6	Ettingshall	5642
7	Bentley and Darlaston North	5083
8	Bilston East	4899
9	Darlaston South	4360
10	East Park	4090

How affordable are the rents in Bilston?

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

Beds	Wolverhampton	West Midlands
1	£450	£595
2	£625	£675
3	£725	£775
4	£950	£1100

How much can I earn in Bilston per week?

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

#	Local Authority	Median Pw
1	Cannock Chase	£632.10
2	Sandwell	£613.30
3	Wolverhampton (Bilston)	£613.00
4	Walsall	£608.50

So, is Bilston a nice place to live?

* Probably.