Dudley is a large borough covering 9822 hectares located to the west of the bordering both Worcestershire and Staffordshire. It has an urban character (Merry Hill shopping centre, the 4th largest in the UK is located here), however more than half of the borough is open space.
305,400 people reside within Dudley, approximately 8% of which originate from black or minority ethnic communities (considerably lower than the 13% nationally). 60.2% of the population are of working age (male: 16 - 64, female: 16 – 59, slightly lower than that reported nationally (62.2%). Employment is just above regional levels and in line with the national percentage, currently standing at 74.8%. These overall figures hide great disparities within the area however with some parts of Dudley reporting much lower employment figures.
18.2% of Dudley’s housing stock is council owned compared to 9.4% nationally.. The average house price in Dudley as of 2006 was £145,347; this is significantly below the regional average of £168,854 and the national average of £206,715.
Dudley’s most deprived areas suffer with low educational achievement. Overall, at the end of Key Stage 4, 86.9% of pupils achieved 5 or more grade A* - Gs. This is lower than the regional and national proportions.
Dudley has low crime rates. Crime rates in Dudley for November 2008 - January 2009 were 15.19 per thousand residents which is significantly lower than the peer average* of 19.08 per thousand residents.
