United Kingdom · West Midlands · Local Authority
Sandwell
Metropolitan district · West Midlands, England · population ~329k · 122 state-funded schools
Low pay and high crime are the trade-off for affordable housing in Sandwell. While median house prices are a low 6.2 times median annual pay, and well below the West Midlands average, weekly earnings are also low at £670.80. Rent is a significant burden, taking 32.3% of gross median pay. Recorded crime is among the highest in the West Midlands at 95.2 per 1,000, and Sandwell's deprivation score is also near the regional worst. The standout figure is education, with 95.2% of pupils in Good or Outstanding schools, a figure bettered by only one other authority in the region. This offers value for those prioritising school quality and housing affordability over career prospects and a low crime rate.
Written from the indicators on this page, 2026-08 data.
The signature
How Sandwell ranks across 361 UK Local Authorities
Pay
£34,882/yr
Very low
Worse than 93% of UK LAs
House price
£217,000
Affordable
Better than 74% of UK LAs
Rent
£938/mo
Mid-range
Better than 57% of UK LAs
Council tax
£2,244/yr
Cheapest
Better than 88% of UK LAs
Crime
95.2/1k
High
Worse than 80% of UK LAs
Deprivation
34.9
Most deprived
Worse than 96% of UK LAs
Schools
94.0%
Mid
Better than 59% of UK LAs
Colour shows quintile position against 361 UK Local Authorities. Green is the best position for someone moving here; red is the worst. Direction is set per indicator — higher pay, lower rent, less crime, less deprivation are all green.
Schools
120 state-funded schools · Ofsted Feb 2026
110 of 117 (94%) rated Good or Outstanding under Ofsted's legacy framework. 3 schools are on the post-2024 report-card framework and don't roll up into the legacy total. How we count →
The map
122 schools · pins coloured by Ofsted grade
Grades, phase and pupil numbers for all 122 schools, sortable and filterable.
Schools in Sandwell →Places with similar signatures
Nearest by quintile position across pay · housing · tax · crime · IMD · schools
Sandwell head-to-heads
What we don't know yet
Commute times · GP appointment availability · broadband speeds · air quality at LA level · green-space proximity · public transport coverage. These matter for a relocation decision. We'll add them when the source data is reliable nationally and consistent across LA boundaries.