Jönköping County

Jönköping County (län) is Småland in concentrated form. Just under 370,000 people spread across thirteen municipalities, with the southern tip of Lake Vättern in the north, Höglandet, the Småland highlands, in the east and the old industrial belt in the west. Between the larger towns lie lakes, nature reserves and villages where a car is a must. The county is not one single whole. It is one big city, a handful of industrial and railway towns and a number of small municipalities where most people commute somewhere else.

One city and many small towns

Jönköping is the county's centre of gravity with just over 148,000 inhabitants. The city has a university college, a swimming beach right in the centre, new lakeside neighbourhoods, logistics and Husqvarna, and it has the county's highest share of people with long post-secondary education, level with the national figure. It is also growing steadily. But the main rail lines partly pass it by, and the direct trains to Stockholm and Gothenburg leave from the neighbouring town of Nässjö. Råslätt is the police-designated vulnerable area, and income gaps within the city are large.

Around Jönköping are the small towns, and they differ. Värnamo, Gislaved and Gnosjö in the west are working country, with industrial jobs that often do not require a degree. Gnosjö has one of the lowest shares of post-secondary education in the country but still has incomes above the national median. Nässjö, Vetlanda and Eksjö sit on the highlands, Tranås furthest north. Eksjö is a well-preserved wooden town with a hospital and museums, Tranås a quiet railway town by Lake Sommen, Vetlanda cheap and shaped by industry. Nässjö is the county's railway junction and at the same time has a reputation as a town people would rather leave, with trouble around the station.

The population follows the same pattern. Habo grows by five per cent in three years, and Jönköping and Mullsjö are also heading upwards. Gnosjö shrinks by just under five per cent, Gislaved by just over two. Habo has the county's youngest population, Eksjö the oldest, but taken as a whole the average age matches the national average.

Commuting holds the county together

It is commuting that makes the county work. Habo, Mullsjö and Aneby send more than half of their working residents somewhere else, mostly towards Jönköping or the neighbouring towns, and the train stops in all three. At the same time Gnosjö and Habo draw in many commuters, in Gnosjö almost every other person employed there, which says something about how densely the industrial jobs are packed around Värnamo and Gislaved. Nässjö is a case of its own. Many who work there live in Jönköping, Huskvarna or Eksjö and travel the other way. The train to Jönköping takes half an hour from Nässjö and around three quarters of an hour from Tranås, while Värnamo is roughly an hour away.

Services follow size. Värnamo and Eksjö have more than their populations suggest, and Jönköping has most things except big-city breadth. In the smallest municipalities, such as Aneby, Mullsjö and Sävsjö, everyday life fits into one or two towns, and for bigger shopping and entertainment you go to one of the larger places. If you live outside the main towns, you rarely manage without a car.

Money, work and the downsides

Incomes are somewhat below the national average and unemployment somewhat below too. The spread is still wide. Habo has the county's highest median income and the lowest unemployment, Sävsjö the lowest income and the highest unemployment. Nässjö and Tranås also have clearly elevated unemployment. The share with long post-secondary education is well below the national figure, which ties in with jobs so often being in industry. Anyone with an academic degree often has to look towards Jönköping or further afield. Anyone without Swedish faces, in Gislaved at least, a higher threshold than before, even in industry.

The differences within municipalities are bigger than those between them. In Gislaved municipality, four in ten in the north-west of the main town live with low economic standard, against one in twenty in eastern Anderstorp. In Vetlanda the corresponding figure is just over four in ten in Upplanda. Crime is below the national level, with Habo the calmest and Eksjö the highest, partly because offences are recorded where they happen. Råslätt is the county's only vulnerable area.

Jönköping County suits those who want work without a university requirement, a detached house with a garden and nature close by, with a bigger city or a train within reach. Those looking for big-city breadth, a lively evening or an academic job market on their doorstep should work out the commute first.