Kronoberg County

Kronoberg is lakes, forest and Småland restraint, with just over 200,000 inhabitants and one single proper city. Almost half the county (län) lives in Växjö, and around it lie seven municipalities that resemble each other more than they resemble the county seat: small towns, industry, the car as a given and a population that in most cases is shrinking. So the question is less what it is like to live in Kronoberg than where in Kronoberg you live.

Växjö and the rest

Växjö is the university city with just under 100,000 inhabitants, the only municipality in the county where the population is growing, and it is home to the county's youngest population. The city has restaurants, shops, a concert hall, a theatre and a county hospital, and the lakes sit right inside town. The drawbacks are grey winters, a nightlife that anyone who has moved from Stockholm misses, and neighbourhoods that can be slow to open up to someone arriving alone, without a campus or children to open doors. Araby is in the police's lowest category of vulnerable area, a few minutes' walk from the centre.

The county's two extremes look entirely different. Uppvidinge in the north-east has lost more of its population than any other municipality in the county, and Tingsryd in the south has the oldest population. In the west lies Ljungby, the county's second largest town, a low-key small town on the river Lagan with surprisingly complete services, its own hospital and no railway station, since the tracks were torn up long ago. The county as a whole is barely growing at all, while the country grows noticeably.

Money and jobs

Incomes are below the national average and unemployment above it, and only a handful of counties have higher unemployment. The spread is still clear. Älmhult has the county's highest incomes thanks to IKEA, which gives the town an international touch and many white-collar jobs, but also a dependence on a single employer. Lessebo has the lowest incomes and the highest unemployment, just over twice as high as in Ljungby, which has the lowest. In Uppvidinge and Markaryd few people have studied for long at university, while in Växjö it is one adult in three.

The pattern repeats across the small municipalities: young people get into work early, because industry and the practical trades hire without a degree, but anyone wanting an academic career often moves to Växjö or further away. Industry carries the area, with aluminium in Åseda, and the glassworks of Glasriket, the Kingdom of Crystal, live on as visitor attractions, Kosta being one of the biggest.

Trains, commuting and distances

The county is held together by the trains and by commuting towards Växjö. Alvesta is a junction where the Öresund trains to Malmö run every hour on weekdays, and almost half of those who live there commute out. The same goes for Lessebo, where the train stops in both Lessebo and Hovmantorp. Älmhult and Markaryd, by contrast, draw commuters in, and from Älmhult the train takes just over an hour to Malmö. Ljungby has no train at all, and Tingsryd and Uppvidinge rely on the car, with Växjö half an hour to forty minutes away.

Outside the main towns a car is almost always a requirement, often two per household. Services in the small municipalities match their size: a supermarket, a pizzeria, perhaps a cinema, and for most other things you drive in. What makes up for it is nature, with Lake Åsnen and Lake Bolmen, and Store Mosse a drive north of Ljungby, and housing that costs far less than in the big cities. In Markaryd you can buy a detached house with a large garden for a fraction of the big-city price.

Who suits Kronoberg?

The county suits those who want a house, nature and Växjö or a train as a lifeline, and who do not need a broad job market on their doorstep. The differences are large within the county and within the municipalities: in Lessebo almost one resident in three in the main town lives on a tight budget, while Hovmantorp is close to the national level. Those looking for city life, nightlife or winter sunshine should stick to Växjö or look at another county. Police-designated vulnerable areas exist only in Växjö, and most municipalities have an undramatic picture of safety.