Is Walsall, West Midlands a nice place to live?

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

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

The English Indices of Deprivation has a crime element for Walsall. 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 Walsall. 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	Aldridge Central and South	24409
2	Friar Park	14504
3	Palfrey	13390
4	Birchills Leamore	10103
5	Short Heath	9994
6	Willenhall South	8569
7	Bloxwich East	8330
8	St Matthew's	7656
9	Pleck	7479
10	Blakenall	5560

Is Walsall a healthy place to live?

If you are thinking of moving to Walsall, 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 Walsall 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	%
Lichfield	4.99
Wolverhampton	6.34
Walsall (Walsall)	6.59
Sandwell	6.64

The English Indices of Deprivation also has health statistics for Walsall. 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 Walsall. 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	Aldridge Central and South (Best)	16413
2	Short Heath	9603
3	Palfrey	8369
4	Willenhall South	6863
5	St Matthew's	6060
6	Friar Park	6033
7	Pleck	5125
8	Bloxwich East	4829
9	Birchills Leamore	4399
10	Blakenall (Worst)	2943

Is Walsall rough?

Using the English Indices of Deprivation statistics, we've collated the average rank for 10 wards in and around Walsall. 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	Aldridge Central and South	20747
2	Short Heath	11703
3	St Matthew's	6869
4	Willenhall South	6372
5	Palfrey	6249
6	Friar Park	5237
7	Bloxwich East	4520
8	Pleck	3468
9	Birchills Leamore	3272
10	Blakenall	1887

How affordable are the rents in Walsall?

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

Beds	Walsall	West Midlands
1	£525	£595
2	£575	£675
3	£695	£775
4	£875	£1100

How much can I earn in Walsall per week?

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

#	Local Authority	Median Pw
1	Lichfield	£763.00
2	Sandwell	£613.30
3	Wolverhampton	£613.00
4	Walsall (Walsall)	£608.50

So, is Walsall a nice place to live?

* Probably.