Is Darlaston, West Midlands a nice place to live?

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

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

The English Indices of Deprivation has a crime element for Darlaston. 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 Darlaston. 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	Friar Park	14504
2	Wednesbury North	12292
3	Darlaston South	11605
4	Princes End	10697
5	Bilston North	10480
6	Short Heath	9994
7	Bentley and Darlaston North	9686
8	Willenhall South	8569
9	Pleck	7479
10	Bilston East	5682

Is Darlaston a healthy place to live?

If you are thinking of moving to Darlaston, 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 Darlaston 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 (Darlaston)	6.59
Sandwell	6.64

The English Indices of Deprivation also has health statistics for Darlaston. 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 Darlaston. 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	Short Heath (Best)	9603
2	Bilston North	7464
3	Bilston East	6974
4	Willenhall South	6863
5	Darlaston South	6700
6	Bentley and Darlaston North	6235
7	Wednesbury North	6051
8	Friar Park	6033
9	Pleck	5125
10	Princes End (Worst)	4716

Is Darlaston rough?

Using the English Indices of Deprivation statistics, we've collated the average rank for 10 wards in and around Darlaston. 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	Short Heath	11703
2	Wednesbury North	7152
3	Willenhall South	6372
4	Bilston North	6324
5	Princes End	5733
6	Friar Park	5237
7	Bentley and Darlaston North	5083
8	Bilston East	4899
9	Darlaston South	4360
10	Pleck	3468

How affordable are the rents in Darlaston?

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, Darlaston 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 Darlaston per week?

If you are thinking of moving to Darlaston, 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 Darlaston'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 (Darlaston)	£608.50

So, is Darlaston a nice place to live?

* Probably.