Crap Towns / West Midlands / Tipton
Tipton
72/100Crap Score
281st crappest of 984 towns, and 12th in the West Midlands. Higher scores are crapper.
Have your say
Crap Town of the Year 2026/27
See the raceThe public vote. It's separate from the Crap Score, and it closes on 31 December 2027.
Letters from the locals
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agree it's crap have defended it
Venice, it isn't.
Plenty of canals. Owen Street is shutters, and the towpath is litter.
Tipton calls itself the Venice of the Midlands because it's got a lot of canals. Venice hasn't got this much litter on the towpath. Owen Street is shuttered shops, the shopping improvements they promised got dropped, and they used to make pork pies here. Better days.
Sandwell's fly-tippers dump at 3.3 times the typical council's rate, and what doesn't get dumped gets set on fire. Fires get started on purpose at 3.6 times the typical town, mostly bins, and the number's going up. Between that and everything else, Tipton's air is properly mucky, nitrogen dioxide well over the health guideline.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Tipton's 95 for air pollution means it's crapper than 95% of towns.
- Air pollution95/10014.4 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 8.0 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Fly-tipping94/10035.9 incidents per 1,000 people a year, Sandwell council area, 2022-23 to 2024-25
- Deliberate fires90/10020.6 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Criminal damage and arson77/1009.2 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Serious road collisions67/1002.9 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Food hygiene61/1003.2% rated 0 to 2, of the 158 food businesses with a rating
- Rain61/100134 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Anti-social behaviour21/1006.9 per 1,000 people a year, September 2023 to August 2026
- Sewage spills21/10043.2 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2023 to 2025
- Broadband18/1004.1% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 3.8% across the Sandwell council area
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 8 | Dudley | 76 |
| 9 | Willenhall | 74 |
| 10 | Rushall and Shelfield | 73 |
| 11 | Oldbury | 72 |
| 12 | Tipton | 72 |
| 13 | Darlaston | 71 |
| 14 | Smethwick | 70 |
| 15 | Bilston | 68 |
| 16 | Pelsall | 65 |
Tipton by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 93.5 crimes per 1,000 people a year (September 2023 to August 2026) Worse: 23% higher than the typical town's 76.2
- 14 reports of litter and bins on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Worse: 3.0 per 10,000 people, 3.3x the typical town's 0.9
- 7 serious pollution incidents within 1 km since 2016, the latest in 2026
What's left on the high street
- 23 pubs, 9 hairdressers, 2 bookmakers, 1 vape shop, 1 bank, 1 Greggs on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 3.9% of takeaways rated 0 to 2 for hygiene (1 of 26) About the same: About the same as the typical town's 4.0%
- 1 cash machine closure assessed by LINK
- 6 public toilets on the map (October 2026) Worse: 1.3 per 10,000 people, 19% lower than the typical town's 1.6
- 2 public swimming pools open; 2 closed for good since 2010 Worse: 0.4 per 10,000 people, 43% lower than the typical English town's 0.7
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- 12.54am last bus out on a Wednesday Better: Later than the typical town's 12.14am
- Under 0.1% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) Better: Far lower than the typical town's 0.5%
- 30.8% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Worse: 2x the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,465 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) About the same: About the same as the typical town's 1,532
Sandwell council
Have a crap-off
Tipton against your mate's town, and a match ticket to rub it in.
- ?Fly-tippingper 1,000, council area?
- ?Anti-social behaviourper 1,000 people?
- ?Serious road crashesper 10,000 people?
- ?Sewage spillshours per 10,000 people?
- ?Food hygienerated poor?
- ?Criminal damageper 1,000 people?
- ?Dirty airµg/m³?
- ?No gigabitof premises can't get it?
- ?Deliberate firesper 10,000 people?
- ?Raindays a year?
Ten ingredients. One verdict. Who's crapper? The higher Crap Score takes it.