Best places to live & work as a programmers and software development professionals in West Midlands
Every local authority in West Midlands ranked by the Gera Settle Score for a family with two children — ONS regional pay of £49,081 joined to real house prices, Ofsted school quality, crime and GP access.
Where is the best place to live and work as a programmers and software development professionals in West Midlands?
As of June 2026, the best place in West Midlands to live and work as a programmers and software development professionals for a family with two children is Stoke-on-Trent, with a Gera Settle Score of 87.8/100. The ONS ASHE full-time median pay for this occupation in West Midlands is £49,081, against an average home price of £152,101 and 88.1% Good/Outstanding schools. Gera recomputes this quarterly.
| # | Local authority | Settle Score | Regional pay | Avg price | Years to buy | Good+ schools |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Stoke-on-Trent | 87.8 | £49,081 | £152,101 | 3.1 | 88.1% |
| 2 | Wolverhampton | 79.2 | £49,081 | £215,264 | 4.4 | 90% |
| 3 | Sandwell | 78.9 | £49,081 | £212,547 | 4.3 | 89.1% |
| 4 | Walsall | 76.1 | £49,081 | £214,922 | 4.4 | 86.4% |
| 5 | Birmingham | 72.0 | £49,081 | £235,682 | 4.8 | 87.9% |
| 6 | Dudley | 69.7 | £49,081 | £229,829 | 4.7 | 81.8% |
| 7 | Coventry | 63.8 | £49,081 | £218,334 | 4.4 | 78% |
| 8 | Telford and Wrekin | 59.2 | £49,081 | £220,193 | 4.5 | 68.6% |
| 9 | Shropshire | 58.6 | £49,081 | £280,197 | 5.7 | 78.6% |
| 10 | Solihull | 57.8 | £49,081 | £330,248 | 6.7 | 88.6% |
| 11 | Herefordshire | 55.3 | £49,081 | £288,434 | 5.9 | 80.5% |
Find your own best area
Change occupation or family size — the ranking recomputes live from real data.
Your best places to live and work as a programmers and software development professionals (UK median £56,914/yr), ranked by Gera Settle Score for a family with two children:
| # | Local authority | Settle Score | Local pay | Avg price | Yrs to buy | Good+ schools |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | GatesheadNorth East | 91.4 | £56,340 | £158,885 | 2.8 | 96.9% |
| 2 | SunderlandNorth East | 90.8 | £56,340 | £145,293 | 2.6 | 95.7% |
| 3 | MiddlesbroughNorth East | 89.9 | £56,340 | £139,005 | 2.5 | 95.8% |
| 4 | RutlandEast Midlands | 89.3 | £49,685 | £305,174 | 6.1 | 100% |
| 5 | WarringtonNorth West | 88.6 | £50,336 | £253,219 | 5.0 | 100% |
| 6 | Blackburn with DarwenNorth West | 88.5 | £50,336 | £165,813 | 3.3 | 92.9% |
| 7 | DoncasterYorkshire and The Humber | 88.4 | £47,908 | £173,624 | 3.6 | 95.5% |
| 8 | CalderdaleYorkshire and The Humber | 87.7 | £47,908 | £190,555 | 4.0 | 94.4% |
| 9 | South TynesideNorth East | 87.4 | £56,340 | £156,931 | 2.8 | 92.3% |
| 10 | WiganNorth West | 86.6 | £50,336 | £190,802 | 3.8 | 96.2% |
| 11 | Stockton-on-TeesNorth East | 86.6 | £56,340 | £169,540 | 3.0 | 93.3% |
| 12 | EnfieldLondon | 86.6 | £75,296 | £465,031 | 6.2 | 100% |
| 13 | Stoke-on-TrentWest Midlands | 86.2 | £49,081 | £152,101 | 3.1 | 88.1% |
| 14 | DarlingtonNorth East | 86.1 | £56,340 | £156,880 | 2.8 | 90.9% |
| 15 | HounslowLondon | 85.8 | £75,296 | £497,276 | 6.6 | 100% |
Salary is the ONS ASHE full-time regional median for your occupation; every other figure is the real Land Registry, Ofsted, Home Office and NHS value for the area. See the Gera Settle Score methodology.
Frequently asked questions
- What is the best place to live and work as a programmers and software development professionals in England?
- Stoke-on-Trent (West Midlands) tops the Gera Settle Score at 87.8/100, combining £49,081 regional pay, £152,101 average home price (3.1 years of pay) and 88.1% Good/Outstanding schools. Source: ONS ASHE + Land Registry + Ofsted, June 2026.
- What is the median salary for a programmers and software development professionals in the UK?
- The ONS ASHE 2025 full-time median gross annual pay for programmers and software development professionals is £56,914 (25th–75th percentile £42,289–£75,794), reference period April 2025, Open Government Licence v3.0.
- How is the Gera Settle Score calculated?
- It joins the ONS ASHE regional salary for your occupation to four real area datasets — affordability (Land Registry price ÷ regional pay), school quality (Ofsted % Good/Outstanding), safety (Home Office crime per 1,000) and GP access (NHS England) — each normalised 0–100, then weighted by your family size. Full method at /methodology/gera-settle-score.
- Which area scores lowest for a programmers and software development professionals?
- Herefordshire (West Midlands) has the lowest Gera Settle Score in this ranking at 55.3/100, mainly because a home there costs 5.9 years of local pay. All figures are real government data, June 2026.
Find a home in Stoke-on-Trent
Browse rentals and homes in Stoke-on-Trent and the rest of West Midlands — the top Settle Score areas for your work and family.
Other regions for this occupation
Contains public sector information published by Gera Systems and licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: Gera Settle Score — ONS ASHE salary joined to HM Land Registry, Ofsted, Home Office and NHS England area data (June 2026, published 19 June 2026).