Is Smethwick, West Midlands a nice place to live?

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

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

The English Indices of Deprivation has a crime element for Smethwick. 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 Smethwick. 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	Smethwick	15486
2	St Pauls	15057
3	Oldbury	14911
4	Bristnall	14813
5	Abbey	14729
6	Soho and Victoria	11885
7	West Bromwich Central	8309
8	North Edgbaston	7956
9	Holyhead	7548
10	Handsworth	5527

Is Smethwick a healthy place to live?

If you are thinking of moving to Smethwick, 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 Smethwick 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	%
Birmingham	5.99
Dudley	6.07
Walsall	6.59
Sandwell (Smethwick)	6.64

The English Indices of Deprivation also has health statistics for Smethwick. 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 Smethwick. 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	Abbey (Best)	11665
2	Holyhead	8993
3	North Edgbaston	8553
4	Handsworth	7726
5	West Bromwich Central	7171
6	Bristnall	7156
7	St Pauls	6975
8	Smethwick	6848
9	Oldbury	6620
10	Soho and Victoria (Worst)	5936

Is Smethwick rough?

Using the English Indices of Deprivation statistics, we've collated the average rank for 10 wards in and around Smethwick. 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	Abbey	12977
2	Bristnall	7658
3	Oldbury	6899
4	North Edgbaston	6167
5	West Bromwich Central	5619
6	Smethwick	5317
7	St Pauls	5189
8	Soho and Victoria	3870
9	Holyhead	3650
10	Handsworth	2927

How affordable are the rents in Smethwick?

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

Beds	Sandwell	West Midlands
1	£480	£595
2	£625	£675
3	£725	£775
4	£900	£1100

How much can I earn in Smethwick per week?

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

#	Local Authority	Median Pw
1	Birmingham	£624.40
2	Dudley	£622.90
3	Sandwell (Smethwick)	£613.30
4	Walsall	£608.50

So, is Smethwick a nice place to live?

* Probably.