Location

Birmingham’s enviable central position has been a major driver in its growth over the centuries. Now a thriving international city, it’s perfectly placed for business – being at the hub of the UK's road and rail network and boasting its own international airport.

The city offers access to a business client base that’s second to none and to a talent pool that includes access to over 97,000 graduates a year.

WIDER DRIVE TIMES

Travel time from Birmingham City Centre	Total population all age groups
10 minutes	319,600
20 minutes	1,510,300
30 minutes	2,833,000
40 minutes	3,955,400
50 minutes	4,941,100
60 minutes	6,693,000

View our interactive map of the West Midlands and search for key development sites, transport links and higher education sites by area.

The West Midlands

Birmingham is located in the West Midlands, which is an area of just under 13,000 km2. Approximately 5.4 million people live in the West Midlands, giving a population density of 416 people per km2.

Other major centres in the area additional to Birmingham are:

• Solihull
• Coventry.

Other significant urban areas are:

• Stoke-on-Trent,
• Wolverhampton,
• Stafford, and
• Worcester.

Resident population and labour market data for Birmingham and the West Midlands

These are defined as the local authorities of Birmingham, Coventry, Dudley, Sandwell, Solihull, Walsall and Wolverhampton.

Source: ONS mid-year population estimates.

Source: ONS mid-year population estimates. Notes: % is a proportion of total population.

The number of people in employment in the region rose by 31,000 in the three months to May 2010, 46,000 more than 2009.
In March 2009 the level of employment in the West Midlands was 70.3, compared to a UK average of 73.6% - 3.3% behind the UK average. Since then this difference has gradually decreased and by the end of June 2010, this had been reduced to a 1.2% gap: