County ranking
Best places to live in West Midlands
30 towns ranked by overall liveability score, from official UK data.
34 towns in West Midlands clear our data thresholds: a population over 3,000 and real scores in 8 or more of 9 categories. The top 30 are ranked below. Pheasey takes first place with 80/100, putting six points between it and Smethwick on 74. 26 towns clear 65/100, a mark roughly one in eight UK towns this size reaches: Pheasey (80), Smethwick (74) and Oldbury (Sandwell) (72), among others.
Median score across the 34 towns we rank here is 68/100, 14 points above the 54/100 that UK towns this size typically manage. The top five span £215,000 in Smethwick to £375,000 in Streetly on median house price. Lifestyle is what puts Streetly fifth: 92/100 against a 21/100 national town median, well beyond the gap any of its other categories manage. Full breakdowns for the leaders: Pheasey, Smethwick and Oldbury (Sandwell).
| # | Town | Score | Strongest categories | Population | Median price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Pheasey | 80 | Lifestyle 99 Healthcare 78 | 9,027 | £250,000 |
| 2 | Smethwick | 74 | Healthcare 93 Transport 95 | 50,002 | £215,000 |
| 3 | Oldbury (Sandwell) | 72 | Transport 93 Lifestyle 89 | 45,893 | £232,500 |
| 4 | Rowley Regis | 72 | Transport 87 Lifestyle 86 | 37,501 | £220,500 |
| 5 | Streetly | 72 | Lifestyle 92 Transport 65 | 16,315 | £375,000 |
| 6 | Tipton | 72 | Transport 90 Healthcare 85 | 44,330 | £200,000 |
| 7 | Kingswinford | 71 | Healthcare 75 Transport 71 | 52,491 | £250,000 |
| 8 | Royal Sutton Coldfield | 71 | Lifestyle 96 Transport 76 | 93,559 | £373,000 |
| 9 | Birmingham | 70 | Healthcare 91 Lifestyle 92 | 1,055,129 | £230,000 |
| 10 | Coseley | 70 | Transport 89 Healthcare 77 | 25,155 | £229,950 |
| 11 | Coventry | 70 | Healthcare 86 Transport 83 | 319,868 | £230,000 |
| 12 | Halesowen | 70 | Transport 82 Healthcare 78 | 59,969 | £253,000 |
| 13 | Sedgley | 70 | Transport 79 Healthcare 70 | 31,835 | £242,000 |
| 14 | Wednesbury | 69 | Healthcare 87 Transport 90 | 20,448 | £223,500 |
| 15 | West Bromwich | 69 | Lifestyle 92 Healthcare 86 | 100,502 | £230,000 |
| 16 | Brierley Hill | 68 | Healthcare 86 Transport 84 | 32,363 | £215,000 |
| 17 | Dudley (Dudley) | 68 | Healthcare 85 Transport 87 | 60,125 | £205,000 |
| 18 | Pelsall | 68 | Healthcare 76 Transport 73 | 10,437 | £245,000 |
| 19 | Solihull | 68 | Healthcare 77 Transport 78 | 110,079 | £345,000 |
| 20 | Blackheath | 67 | Transport 90 Lifestyle 81 | 7,068 | £210,000 |
| 21 | Cradley Heath | 67 | Transport 88 Healthcare 81 | 19,619 | £220,000 |
| 22 | Rushall and Shelfield | 67 | Transport 78 Healthcare 71 | 12,429 | £217,250 |
| 23 | Stourbridge | 67 | Healthcare 75 Transport 77 | 56,733 | £260,000 |
| 24 | Darlaston | 66 | Transport 90 Healthcare 85 | 21,873 | £185,000 |
| 25 | Wolverhampton | 66 | Healthcare 78 Transport 81 | 228,055 | £225,000 |
| 26 | Knowle and Dorridge | 65 | Healthcare 53 Broadband 91 | 18,632 | £570,000 |
| 27 | Bilston (Wolverhampton) | 64 | Transport 87 Healthcare 81 | 35,720 | £210,000 |
| 28 | Bloxwich | 64 | Healthcare 89 Transport 86 | 48,337 | £190,000 |
| 29 | Walsall | 64 | Healthcare 90 Transport 89 | 68,583 | £215,000 |
| 30 | Willenhall | 64 | Healthcare 82 Transport 85 | 49,935 | £216,250 |
Ranked on the default weighting, out of 100. Strongest categories are the two furthest above the national median for that category, not simply the two highest numbers. Almost every town scores well on safety, so raw highs would say little.
Find your own best place in West Midlands
The ranking above uses one weighting. Change any control below to re-rank all 34 qualifying towns around what you actually care about — who's moving, a minimum on one category, a price ceiling for the type of home you'd buy.
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How this ranking was built
Every settlement in West Midlands was scored across 9 categories (safety, schools, healthcare, transport, environment, broadband, lifestyle, economic health and bills) from official sources including Police UK, Ofsted, the CQC, Ofcom, the Environment Agency and MHCLG. Two filters then decide who appears here:
- Population above 3,000. Without a floor the list fills with hamlets of a few dozen people. West Midlands has 34 towns above it.
- Real data in at least 8 of 9 categories. Places we can only partly measure are excluded rather than ranked on guesswork.
Counties are ceremonial, and a town belongs to the county its postcodes physically sit in, so border towns land where residents would expect them to.
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