Sandwell: local statistics
Sandwell is a metropolitan borough in the West Midlands, home to an estimated 352,918 people (mid-2025). This page brings together 10 official figures for the area, each with its period, publisher and the address it was read from. See also who has power over Sandwell, from the council up to the G20.
Key figures
What the figures show
Homes in Sandwell sold for an average of £205,830 in July 2026, down 0.4% on July 2025. It ranks as the 2nd lowest in the West Midlands; the average for the West Midlands was £250,880. Since July 2016 prices have risen 69%; the July high in the series was £206,755 in 2025. The average price is 6.2 times the median annual pay of full-time employees who live in Sandwell. That ratio is the 22nd highest ratio of the 30 council areas in the West Midlands.
The median full-time employee living in Sandwell was paid £670.80 a week before tax in April 2025, or £33,029 over a year. It is the 2nd lowest of the 30 council areas in the West Midlands, and 8.2% less than across the West Midlands. Jobs based in Sandwell paid almost the same: a median £675.30 a week. In 2015 the residents' median was £451.60, so it has risen 49% before inflation.
In August 2026, 15,105 people in Sandwell were on the claimant count, 6.7% of residents aged 16 to 64 (the West Midlands: 5.3%). The rate was the same a year earlier. Over the last five years it peaked at 7.8% in August 2021 and was lowest at 5.8% in January 2024.
Life expectancy at birth in Sandwell is 81.2 years for women and 76.7 years for men (2022 to 2024), compared with 83.3 and 79.5 years across England. For women that is 0.1 years less than in 2012 to 2014; for men, 0.3 less. It is the 3rd lowest for women of the 30 council areas in the West Midlands.
The police recorded 96.1 crimes per 1,000 residents in Sandwell in the year to March 2026 (33,927 offences in all), the 3rd highest rate of the 22 council areas in the West Midlands. The rate was 95.6 in the year to March 2025. In the year to March 2016 it was 61.8 per 1,000. Fraud is not included.
The Annual Population Survey estimates that 64.6% of Sandwell residents aged 16 to 64 were in work in April 2025 to March 2026, with a margin of error of 4.5 points either way, against 73.6% across the West Midlands. Its lowest reading in the series was 61.5% and its highest 74.0%.
A Band D home in Sandwell pays an average of £2,244.46 in council tax in 2026-27, 5.2% more than in 2025-26. That makes it the 27th highest of the 30 council areas in the West Midlands. Ten years earlier, in 2016-17, it was £1,390.22.
12,220 businesses were registered for VAT or PAYE in Sandwell in March 2026, 22% more than in 2016. That is 35 for every 1,000 residents, 24th of 30 in the West Midlands, counting from the highest.
352,918 people lived in Sandwell in mid-2025, according to the ONS, a change of -0.1% in a year. That is 27,007 more people than in mid-2015, a rise of 8.3% (the West Midlands: +7.8%), mid-table in the West Midlands, 13th of 30. The series peaked at 353,270 in mid-2024.
History
Population (mid-year)
| 2015 | 325,911 |
| 2016 | 330,051 |
| 2017 | 333,826 |
| 2018 | 336,977 |
| 2019 | 340,198 |
| 2020 | 341,436 |
| 2021 | 341,895 |
| 2022 | 345,718 |
| 2023 | 349,541 |
| 2024 | 353,270 |
| 2025 | 352,918 |
Average house price (same month each year)
| July 2016 | £121,625 |
| July 2017 | £127,554 |
| July 2018 | £139,042 |
| July 2019 | £142,235 |
| July 2020 | £148,779 |
| July 2021 | £167,319 |
| July 2022 | £184,318 |
| July 2023 | £193,158 |
| July 2024 | £198,854 |
| July 2025 | £206,755 |
| July 2026 | £205,830 |
Median weekly pay, residents
| 2015 | £451.60 a week |
| 2016 | £457.20 a week |
| 2017 | £461.50 a week |
| 2018 | £486.30 a week |
| 2019 | £495.60 a week |
| 2020 | £498.30 a week |
| 2021 | £536.10 a week |
| 2022 | £550.50 a week |
| 2023 | £613.70 a week |
| 2024 | £643.50 a week |
| 2025 | £670.80 a week |
Average Band D council tax
| 2016-17 | £1,390.22 |
| 2017-18 | £1,457.33 |
| 2018-19 | £1,535.10 |
| 2019-20 | £1,614.63 |
| 2020-21 | £1,681.77 |
| 2021-22 | £1,741.57 |
| 2022-23 | £1,831.46 |
| 2023-24 | £1,930.09 |
| 2024-25 | £2,027.83 |
| 2025-26 | £2,133.45 |
| 2026-27 | £2,244.46 |
Recorded crimes per 1,000 residents
| 2015/16 | 61.8 per 1,000 |
| 2016/17 | 70.3 per 1,000 |
| 2017/18 | 79.7 per 1,000 |
| 2018/19 | 88.3 per 1,000 |
| 2019/20 | 84.3 per 1,000 |
| 2020/21 | 92.7 per 1,000 |
| 2021/22 | 116.4 per 1,000 |
| 2022/23 | 111.9 per 1,000 |
| 2023/24 | 104.3 per 1,000 |
| 2024/25 | 95.6 per 1,000 |
| 2025/26 | 96.1 per 1,000 |
Employment rate
| 2015/16 | 66.9% |
| 2016/17 | 61.5% |
| 2017/18 | 64.2% |
| 2018/19 | 71.0% |
| 2019/20 | 69.4% |
| 2020/21 | 74.0% |
| 2021/22 | 69.6% |
| 2022/23 | 64.7% |
| 2023/24 | 68.0% |
| 2024/25 | 66.5% |
| 2025/26 | 64.6% |
Life expectancy, women
| 2012 to 2014 | 81.3 years |
| 2013 to 2015 | 81.4 years |
| 2014 to 2016 | 81.5 years |
| 2015 to 2017 | 81.4 years |
| 2016 to 2018 | 81.2 years |
| 2017 to 2019 | 81.4 years |
| 2018 to 2020 | 80.9 years |
| 2019 to 2021 | 80.7 years |
| 2020 to 2022 | 80.6 years |
| 2021 to 2023 | 80.9 years |
| 2022 to 2024 | 81.2 years |
Registered businesses
| 2016 | 10,015 |
| 2017 | 10,485 |
| 2018 | 10,525 |
| 2019 | 10,630 |
| 2020 | 10,820 |
| 2021 | 11,310 |
| 2022 | 11,600 |
| 2023 | 11,680 |
| 2024 | 11,665 |
| 2025 | 11,870 |
| 2026 | 12,220 |
Questions about Sandwell
What is the average house price in Sandwell?
£205,830 in July 2026, on HM Land Registry's UK House Price Index (-0.4% on a year).
What is the average salary in Sandwell?
£670.80 a week before tax, the median for full-time employees who live there (April 2025, ONS).
How many people claim unemployment-related benefits in Sandwell?
15,105 in August 2026 (6.7% of residents aged 16 to 64), on the ONS claimant count, which is not the unemployment rate.
What is life expectancy in Sandwell?
81.2 years for women and 76.7 for men (2022 to 2024, ONS).
What is the crime rate in Sandwell?
96.1 recorded crimes per 1,000 residents in the year to March 2026, excluding fraud (Home Office).
How much is Band D council tax in Sandwell?
The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government gives an average Band D bill of £2,244.46 for 2026-27.
What is the population of Sandwell?
The ONS estimates 352,918 people lived in Sandwell in mid-2025.
Who has power over Sandwell
Every body that makes decisions for Sandwell, from the street up to the G20. Each one links to its page on the official record. How the ten levels work.
Level 1: Neighbourhood and community power
Residents' and tenants' groups, neighbourhood forums and local policing panels.
Level 2: Parish, town and community councils
Parish, town and community councils, where the area has them, sit below the council.
Level 3: Local councils
- Sandwell council spending, reserves, debt and council tax
- Sandwell in official figures this page
Level 5: Devolved and state governments
England has no devolved parliament of its own: its laws are made by the UK Parliament.
Level 6: National government
- Halesowen: Alex Ballinger (Labour) MP
- Smethwick: Gurinder Singh Josan (Labour) MP
- Tipton and Wednesbury: Antonia Bance (Labour) MP
- West Bromwich: Sarah Coombes (Labour) MP
- All 650 MPs votes, interests and costs
- UK government and Parliament official figures and sources
Level 7: Regional blocs and supranational bodies
- Council of Europe and the European Court of Human Rights (CoE / ECtHR) The UK Government says the United Kingdom was one of the Council of Europe's founding members.
Level 8: The UN and global treaty bodies
- United Nations (General Assembly and Security Council) The UN lists the United Kingdom as a member admitted on 24 October 1945.
- United Nations Security Council (UNSC) The UK is one of the five permanent members of the Security Council and holds the veto, according to the UN.
- NATO NATO lists the United Kingdom among its 12 founding members, which signed the North Atlantic Treaty in Washington, D.C.
- World Health Organization (WHO) WHO's list of member states includes the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
- World Trade Organization (WTO) The WTO says the United Kingdom has been a WTO member since 1 January 1995 and a member of GATT since 1 January 1948.
- Commonwealth of Nations The UK is one of the 56 members, one of three European members with Cyprus and Malta, and the Commonwealth Secretariat is headquartered at Marlborough House in London.
Level 9: The IMF, World Bank and global finance
- International Monetary Fund (IMF) The UK has been a member since 27 December 1945 and has a quota of SDR 20,155.1 million (IMF country page for the United Kingdom).
- World Bank Group (WBG) The UK holds 3.75% of voting power in the IBRD (data as of 30 June 2026) and 6.92% in IDA (as of 30 June 2026), according to the World Bank's voting tables.
Level 10: G7, G20, Davos and global forums
Sources
Each value above links to the official file or query it was read from, on 14 October 2026. What each figure measures.
- Recorded crime: Years before April 2020 come from the earlier Home Office table.
More on this area and these figures
- Council money: spending, reserves and debt
- Figures for the whole region: the West Midlands
- UK figures: UK average house price · UK average weekly earnings growth · UK unemployment rate
- Other council areas in the West Midlands: Coventry · Dudley · Shropshire · Stoke-on-Trent · Walsall · Wolverhampton
Related questions
- What is the average house price in my area?
- What is the average salary in my area?
- What is the unemployment rate in my area?
- How healthy is my area?
- How do I check my council tax band?
Figures checked 14 October 2026. Link moved or figure out of date? Tell us.