Is Solihull, West Midlands a nice place to live?

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

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

The English Indices of Deprivation has a crime element for Solihull. 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 Solihull. 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	Knowle	27950
2	Dorridge and Hockley Heath	27123
3	St Alphege	26821
4	Shirley South	25940
5	Shirley East	21286
6	Silhill	20950
7	Elmdon	19550
8	Olton	18103
9	Lyndon	16939
10	Hall Green South	15788

Is Solihull a healthy place to live?

If you are thinking of moving to Solihull, 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 Solihull 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	%
Warwick	3.79
Stratford-on-Avon	4.06
Bromsgrove	4.41
Solihull (Solihull)	4.96

The English Indices of Deprivation also has health statistics for Solihull. 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 Solihull. 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	St Alphege (Best)	29217
2	Dorridge and Hockley Heath	27296
3	Knowle	27214
4	Silhill	24334
5	Shirley East	21655
6	Shirley South	21326
7	Olton	20438
8	Elmdon	18604
9	Lyndon	16267
10	Hall Green South (Worst)	13240

Is Solihull rough?

Using the English Indices of Deprivation statistics, we've collated the average rank for 10 wards in and around Solihull. 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	St Alphege	31069
2	Dorridge and Hockley Heath	30452
3	Knowle	28448
4	Shirley South	25003
5	Silhill	24601
6	Shirley East	24217
7	Olton	23025
8	Elmdon	18535
9	Lyndon	16311
10	Hall Green South	15949

How affordable are the rents in Solihull?

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

Beds	Solihull	West Midlands
1	£625	£595
2	£795	£675
3	£925	£775
4	£1450	£1100

How much can I earn in Solihull per week?

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

#	Local Authority	Median Pw
1	Warwick	£797.30
2	Bromsgrove	£766.50
3	Solihull (Solihull)	£750.60
4	Stratford-on-Avon	£725.40

So, is Solihull a nice place to live?

Solihull has passed our core town assesment with a score of 3/5.  However, the rents in Solihull are more expensive than other parts of West Midlands.

* Probably.