Commuting in and out · 2024
20.4 % / 26.2 %
Commuting inCommuting outKolada N02276 / N02279
Share of the employed who cross the municipal border to get to work.
Halland County
Short answer: Varberg is in Halland County. The municipality has 69,070 residents (Statistics Sweden 2024), making it Sweden's 35th largest. The population has grown by 3.6% over the past five years. The main town is Varberg along with 21 other towns and villages.
Urban areas, small localities and villages with their own page, by population.
Varberg is in Halland County. The municipality has 69,070 residents (Statistics Sweden 2024), making it Sweden's 35th largest. The population has grown by 3.6% over the past five years. The main town is Varberg along with 21 other towns and villages.
The median income is SEK 413,800 per year (2024). The average age is 44.2 years. The municipal tax rate is 31.73%. Unemployment was 3.3% in 2024.
Short answer: A house costs 4,303,000 SEK on average. That is the price actually paid in registered sales in 2024, not asking prices.
4,303,000 SEKis what a house costs on average here (2024)
The house price in Varberg is 4,303 thousand SEK. A flat costs 36,078 SEK per square metre. Over 3 years the price has changed by +1 %.
Price is rarely what decides whether a move is possible. Supply is: how many homes are on the market while you are looking. The calculation below the chart converts the average house price into a monthly cost on two median incomes, so the number can be compared with the rent you pay today.
The house price is Kolada N07915: average price for registered house sales, that is prices paid and not asking prices. The flat price is N07908, SEK per square metre. New construction is N07916, completed homes per thousand residents. The price change is measured between the two years closest to five years apart in the series, with both years spelled out.
Short answer: 85.9 % of ninth-graders qualified for upper secondary school in 2024. The median municipality is at 82.5 %.
85.9 %of pupils qualified for upper secondary school (2024)
Eligibility for upper secondary school is 85.9 % (2024). 44.3 % of residents aged 25–64 have post-secondary education.
The eligibility figure above is the municipality's aggregate, not the individual school's. It says something about the system and little about one child: the spread between schools within a municipality is routinely larger than the difference between two municipal averages. That is why the schools are listed one by one at the end of this chapter, with the figures the National Agency for Education actually publishes per unit — and with empty cells where it does not.
Upper-secondary eligibility is Kolada N15428: the share of year 9 pupils eligible for a vocational programme, all pupils of the home municipality regardless of provider. Post-secondary education is N01982. The institutions come from data/education_data.json. The school rows come from the National Agency for Education's open API (planned-educations) and carry the latest year with a value per school; preschools are OpenStreetMap points without quality data and are therefore not in the list.
Short answer: 88 % feel safe out in their own neighbourhood.
88 %feel safe in their neighbourhood
88 % say they feel safe in their neighbourhood (SALAR 2023). Reported violent crimes number 696 per 100,000 residents.
Safety and crime do not measure the same thing and do not always move together. The first is a survey question about how it feels, the second is reported offences, which also rise when more people choose to report. Read them side by side, not as checks on each other.
The health centres and emergency departments are points from OpenStreetMap (ODbL), the same source as the map's "Health & care" layers. The count is the points located inside the municipality; the distances are as the crow flies from the main town and are searched across the whole country, so the nearest emergency department may well sit in another municipality. We deliberately show no "nearest hospital" row: OSM's hospital tag covers everything from university hospitals to osteopathy clinics, and such a row would have pointed at the wrong building. Waiting times per health centre do not exist as open, joinable data, and Kolada's measures of primary-care access are reported per REGION, not per municipality — which is why no such figure appears here. The safety figure is Kolada N00610 from Statistics Sweden's citizen survey on behalf of SALAR — a survey, so perceived safety. Violent crime is N07403, reported offences per 100,000 inhabitants according to Brå. The citizen index is N00670 or N00667, the municipality as a place to live. The bar chart shows five offence types per 100,000 inhabitants, reported by place of offence, and the national median beside it is computed across all 290 municipalities in the same year.
Short answer: Unemployment is 3.3 %. If two of you are moving, both need to find something — that is where a move most often falls apart.
3.3 %unemployment among 16–64-year-olds (2024)
Unemployment among 16–64-year-olds is 3.3 % (2024). Median income is 414 thousand SEK per year. 26.0 % of those in work commute out of the municipality. There are 139 workplaces per 1,000 residents, and 71 % of them have no employees.
An unemployment figure says how many are looking, not how broad the offering is. Out-commuting says more: if many commute out, the labour market is larger than the municipality, but you may also have to count on travel time every day. The vacancies card is fetched live from the Swedish Public Employment Service and shows the situation right now.
Unemployment is Kolada N02280: openly unemployed and jobseekers in programmes, aged 16–64, as a share of the register-based labour force. Median income is N00906, aggregate earned income. Out-commuting is N02279. Workplaces come from Statistics Sweden's business register (2025); the per 1,000 residents figure is our own processing using Statistics Sweden's population for the same year.
Short answer: 19,260 departures on an ordinary weekday. Weekends are thinner, and weekend service is what decides whether you can manage without a car.
19,260departures on an ordinary weekday
374 stops and stations on 159 lines. The municipality has rail service.
Frequency is what makes a difference day to day, not whether a line exists on the map. A line with three departures a day cannot be planned around. The journey planner computes door to door by train, bus and car, so you can test the trip you would actually make.
Stops, lines and departures are counted from Samtrafiken's GTFS feed for a normal week. A stop is counted once even if several lines call there. Travel times in the journey planner are computed by our own MOTIS instance on the same GTFS data plus OpenStreetMap's road network. The airport at the bottom is the one with the most domestic routes among those at most 50 km farther than the nearest, measured as the crow flies from the main town. It is not necessarily the fastest to reach, and the route list is scheduled domestic traffic, without charter or international routes.
Short answer: 20.4 % of those working in Varberg commute in, and 26.2 % of working residents commute out (2024).
Commuting in and out · 2024
20.4 % / 26.2 %
Commuting inCommuting outKolada N02276 / N02279
Share of the employed who cross the municipal border to get to work.
Departures on a normal weekday, week 7 · 2026
19,325
−1.7 % since 2022
Week 7, the same week every yearKoDa · Trafiklab
Departures from stops in the municipality on a normal weekday, measured in the same week every year from Trafiklab's historical timetables. Departures are not the same as trips: a trip calling at fewer stops produces fewer departures. The series is based on Hallandstrafiken, Västtrafik.
Close to public transport · 2024
73.6 %
−0.7 percentage points since 2014
Share of residentsKolada N07418
Share of residents with a stop within 500 metres, counting stops with at least one departure an hour on weekdays 06 to 20. It measures access, not how much traffic runs, so it has its own chart.
Commuting is Kolada N02276 and N02279, share of the employed. Departures are counted from KoDa's archive of GTFS timetables in the same ISO week each year, for operators present throughout; departures are stop calls, not trips. Access is Kolada N07418, in percentage points.
Short answer: If pump prices rise 20 %, a household in Varberg pays roughly SEK 2,490 more a year for petrol and diesel, against SEK 2,620 in the median municipality (2025, model).
Extra cost if fuel gets 20 % dearer · 2025
2,490 SEK per household a year
Median municipality: 2,620 SEK per household a year
VarbergNational medianModel on Trafikanalys and SCB data
A model, not statistics: cars per household × the county's mileage × 0.065 litres per km × SEK 17 per litre × 20 %. Linear, so 40 % gives twice as much.
The oil shock on the mapPetrol, diesel and hybrid cars · 2025
0.97 per household
Median municipality: 1.03 per household
VarbergNational medianTrafikanalys
Passenger cars in traffic at year end that run on petrol or diesel, divided by the number of households. Leased and company cars count where the company is registered.
Mileage per car in the county · 2025
1,165 Swedish miles a year
Median municipality: 1,150 Swedish miles a year
VarbergNational medianTrafikanalys
Only available per county and for all passenger cars, so municipalities in the same county share the figure. A Swedish mile is 10 km.
Heating oil in homes · 2024
10 kWh per household a year
Median municipality: 19 kWh per household a year
VarbergNational medianSCB EN0203
Fossil liquid fuel in houses and blocks of flats. Statistics Sweden withholds some municipalities.
Extra cost is a model, not statistics: the municipality's petrol, diesel and hybrid cars in traffic (Trafikanalys) divided by the number of households (Statistics Sweden), times the county's average mileage per passenger car (Trafikanalys, not available per municipality), 0.065 litres per km, SEK 17 per litre and a price rise of 20 %. The model does not account for people driving less when prices rise, for company cars or for leased cars being registered where the company is. Heating oil is Statistics Sweden's final use of fossil liquid fuel in homes. The sub measures are shown separately; we do not combine them into an index. Our own processing, not official Trafikanalys statistics.
Short answer: 31 nature reserves within the municipal boundary, 53 km² of protected land in total.
31nature reserves in the municipality
Protected land, lakes, trails and the national parks within reach of Varberg.
Distances are as the crow flies from the main locality, which is the most honest we can be without knowing where in the municipality you would live. A national park 120 km away is a weekend trip, not a Sunday walk — the figures are there to tell the two apart.
Nature reserves and protected area come from the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency's open data, lakes and watercourses from Lantmäteriet's map data, trails from OpenStreetMap and bathing spots from the Swedish Agency for Marine and Water Management's bathing site register. Distances to national parks are as the crow flies from the municipality's largest locality.
Short answer: The county boards have mapped 14 flood areas in Varberg between 1901 and 2011. The Swedish Forest Agency has mapped 4 forest fires in Varberg since 2018.
Past floods
14 mapped areas
Most in 1990 (14)
County administrative boards 1901 to 2011, CC0
One point per mapped flood and place in the county boards' national register. A single large flood can give many areas, and older events are less well documented, so a municipality with no hits may still have flooded.
Show the floods on the mapForest fires since 2018
4 fires
4.8 ha burnt, latest 2025
Swedish Forest Agency, CC0
Burnt areas of at least 0.5 hectares, mapped by the Swedish Forest Agency from satellite images and rescue service alarms. Fires with an unknown year are included.
Show the fires on the mapSatellite fire detections since 2021
18 detections
of which 2 strong (over 10 MW), latest 2026-08-21
SMHI, CC BY 4.0
A detection is a heat anomaly seen by a satellite, usually a fire but not a confirmed one. Cloud hides most of it, so the figure is a lower bound.
Show the detections on the mapCoastal erosion
9.6 km
0.00 km highly sensitive, 0.00 km with observed ongoing erosion
SGU, CC BY 4.0
Coastline assessed by SGU, from Skåne to Halland and western Blekinge. The rest of the coast is not mapped. Sensitivity says how easily the coast erodes; observed erosion is a bluff that is actually collapsing.
Show the erosion on the mapGroundwater
1 station
SGU
SGU measures the groundwater level at stations across the country. How the level compares with earlier years keeps changing, so it is shown on the map, not here.
Show the levels on the mapFire bans
Live on the map
County administrative board decisions
County administrative boards, CC BY 4.0
The county administrative board decides on fire bans in dry periods, and the situation changes several times a week. That is why it is shown live on the map instead of in a page that is rebuilt now and then.
Show the fire bans on the mapThe figures are our own counts from the sources' map data: points and burnt areas belong to the municipality they lie in, zones and coastlines are clipped to the municipal border. Landslide risk and coastal erosion are only mapped in some areas, so a municipality with no figure there is unmapped, not risk free. SGU's landslide mapping, flood mapping, ground movement and groundwater aquifers exist as map layers but are not counted per municipality here. The sources are coarse and show where the risk should be investigated, not that it exists.
Short answer: It snows on 8 days a year here. But it is the December darkness people underestimate, not the cold.
8days with snowfall a year
8 days with snowfall a year. 5.4 hours of sunshine per day on average across the year.
Daylight is derived from the municipality's latitude using the standard sunrise/sunset formula, ignoring clouds and horizon. Snowfall days and sunshine hours come from SMHI: a snowfall day is a day with at least 1 mm of precipitation and a below-freezing daily mean at the nearest station, median over the 1991-2020 normal period, which is not the same as how many days snow lies on the ground. Sunshine hours are SMHI's STRÅNG radiation model 2020-2024. The wind curves come from SMHI station observations 1991-2020, one file per municipality; when it is missing the cards are hidden rather than showing zeroes.
Short answer: 69,070 residents, +3.6 % over five years. The pace decides whether schools, care and services expand or shrink.
69,070residents in 2024
69,070 residents in 2024. The population has changed by +3.6 % over five years.
The direction matters more than the level. A growing municipality builds out schools, care and shops; a shrinking one closes them, and it shows first in the smaller town. The only projection on this entire page is Statistics Sweden's population forecast — we never draw a trend line through gaps in the data.
Population is Kolada N01951, Statistics Sweden's register-based population on 31 December. The five-year change is measured between the two years in the series closest to five years apart, with both years spelled out. The projection is Statistics Sweden's regional population forecast and exists only for population.
Short answer: Varberg had 38,955 residents in 1970 and 69,460 in 2025. Statistics Sweden projects 74,771 by 2035.
Population · 2025
69,460
+78.3 % since 1970
Observed 1970 to 2025Statistics Sweden projection to 2035: 74,771Kolada N01951
Compared with Sweden: Varberg has changed +78.3 % since 1970, Sweden as a whole +31.2 %.
That would mean residents in 2035. Your own what if, not a forecast.
Milestones
Kolada N01951 · SCB
House price · 2025
4,561 kSEK
+1,390.5 % since 1981
Observed 1981 to 2025National medianKolada N07915
Median income · 2024
413,800 kr
+136.5 % since 1998
Observed 1998 to 2024National medianKolada N00906
Unemployment · 2025
3.6 %
−33.3 % since 2010
Observed 2010 to 2025Kolada N03920
Unemployment benefit · 2025
4.5 %
−74.5 % since 1999
Observed 1999 to 2025Kolada N02890
Observed population from Statistics Sweden via Kolada. The projection is Statistics Sweden's own official population projection; we do not calculate it ourselves. Average price for registered house purchases. Housing prices are deliberately NOT projected: they revert strongly to the mean over five years, so a linear trend often gets the sign wrong in exactly the interval you want to predict. Total earned income, MEDIAN for residents aged 20–64 (Kolada N00906). No projection; we show outcomes only. Unemployment over time is Kolada N03920: unemployed registered with the Public Employment Service as a share of the whole population aged 18 to 65, not of the labour force, and therefore lower than the figure under Jobs (N02280, only available from 2020). No projection, because the business cycle drives it and it is not linear. Unemployment benefit is Kolada N02890: share of residents aged 20 to 64 who received unemployment insurance at some point during the year, from IAF. It is the longest series, from 1999, but only counts those entitled to benefit. The national median is the median of all municipalities in the same year, from the same Kolada series. The what if slider only scales Statistics Sweden's own path.
Short answer: Governance in Varberg in 2025: centre right backed by SD. The balanced budget result was 0.0 % in 2025. In 2026 the municipality received 11,424 SEK per resident in equalisation.
Governance · 2025
Centre right backed by SD
Executive board chair: M, with L, KD, SD
SKR via Kolada N05829
Every municipality's governance on the mapMunicipal election · 2026
S 29.2 %
Largest party on the municipal council
Valmyndigheten
Every municipal election since 1973 on the mapBalanced budget result · 2025
0.0 %
National median 1.5 %
VarbergNational medianKolada N03139
The year's result excluding capital gains, as a share of tax, state grants and equalisation. The law requires it to be positive, and about 2 % is usually seen as sound management.
Equalisation · 2026
11,424 SEK per resident
receives · 793 million SEK
VarbergSCB OE0115
What the municipality receives (plus) or pays (minus) in the municipal equalisation system. LSS equalisation is a separate system and not included. Income equalisation is the largest part, and the latest year is Statistics Sweden's estimate for the current year.
Equalisation part by part on the mapGovernance is SKR's classification via Kolada (N05829). SKR counts MP as a left party only from 2022, so a municipality can change category between 2018 and 2022 without its governance changing. The election result is the municipal council election from SCB ME0104, not the general election. Finances refer to the municipality as an organisation, from Statistics Sweden's accounts via Kolada; the national median is the median of all municipalities in the same year.
Short answer: Of every 100 kronor, 46 go to schools and 37 to care (2025). That is 8 % less per resident than in similar municipalities. Debt is 100,522 kr per resident.
Out of 100 tax kronor · 2025
46 kr to schools
and 37 kr to care
66,471 krper resident
SCB OE0107
Kronor of every 100 the services cost net, i.e. what is paid with tax, state grants and equalisation. Click the ring for the row.
Every municipality's costs on the mapVersus similar municipalities · 2025
66,471 kr
per resident, similar municipalities 72,319 kr
Similar municipalities are RKA’s seven most alike: Växjö, Kalmar, Gotland, Karlskrona, Skövde, Östersund, Skellefteå.
Cost level versus structure · 2025
−3 %
less than its structure justifies
RKA via Kolada
How much more (+) or less (−) the municipality spends than ages, distances and socio-economics justify under cost equalisation. Plus is not wrong: it can be a choice to invest.
What a place costs per year · 2025
129,950 kr
per compulsory school pupil
Kolada (RKA)
Net cost per resident · 2025
66,471 kr
+46.3 % since 2015
VarbergSwedenSCB OE0107
Current prices: part of the increase is wages and prices, not more services.
Investment per resident · 2025
9,741 kr
Sweden 9,335 kr
SCB OE0107
Yearly average 2023 to 2025 by area below. Investment through municipal companies is excluded.
Largest investments · 2025
Förskolor och skolor
236 mnkr outcome 2025, investment area (net expenditure)
Årsredovisning 2025, Varbergs kommun
From the municipality's own report (in Swedish); each row links to its page. Amounts are the whole project where reported, otherwise the year's spend.
The full annual report (PDF, Swedish)Where the money comes from · 2025
72 kr of 100 is tax
76,628 kr in per resident
SCB OE0107
State grants in the central government budgetLong term debt per resident · 2025
100,522 kr
Sweden 62,738 kr
VarbergSwedenSCB OE0107
The municipality as an organisation. A jump is usually an internal bank: the municipality borrows and lends on to its companies.
Net cost is what services cost after fees, rents and earmarked state grants, i.e. what is paid with tax, general state grants and equalisation. It comes from Statistics Sweden's municipal accounts (OE0107), in current prices, divided by the population on 31 December. Business operations such as water and municipal companies are excluded, so a municipality that runs schools or premises through a company looks cheaper in investments. Similar municipalities are RKA's seven most structurally similar ones (Kolada). Cost level is RKA's net cost deviation: how much more or less the municipality spends than its structure justifies according to cost equalisation. Long term debt also includes loans passed on to municipal companies.
Varberg has 69,070 residents and is in Halland County. The average age is 44.2 years. The median income is SEK 413,800 per year. 88% of residents say they feel safe in the municipality. The mean annual temperature is 8.1 °C.
69,070 people lived in Varberg Municipality in 2024 according to Statistics Sweden, making it Sweden's 35th largest municipality. The population has risen by 3.6% in five years.
A condominium costs on average SEK 36,078 per m² (2024). A detached house costs on average SEK 4.3 million. The municipal tax rate is 31.73%.
Unemployment in Varberg was 3.3% in 2024. The median income is SEK 413,800 per year. 44.3% of residents have post-secondary education.
44.3% of residents have post-secondary education. Condominium prices are SEK 36,078 per m².
85.9% of pupils in Varberg qualify for upper secondary school (2024). The municipality spends SEK 113,967 per child per year on preschool. 88% feel safe in the municipality.
The mean annual temperature in Varberg is 8.1 °C. In a typical year the warmest day reaches 30 °C and the coldest night -14 °C. 1106 mm of precipitation falls each year, spread over 128 rainy days and 8 of them below freezing. The sun shines an average of 5.4 hours a day.
88% of residents in Varberg say they feel safe (2023). Reported violent crimes stand at 696 per 100,000 residents.
The largest towns in Varberg Municipality are Varberg, Träslövsläge, Tvååker, Trönninge, Södra Näs, Skällinge, Rolfstorp, Tofta, Tångaberg, Derome, Löftaskog, Valinge and 10 more.