Södermanland County

Södermanland is a county where Stockholm's pull fades towards the south-west. Along Lake Mälaren and the Sörmland coast lie small towns such as Strängnäs, Trosa and Nyköping. Further inland, towards Flen, Katrineholm and Vingåker, forest, lakes and countryside take over. Around 300,000 people live here, spread across nine municipalities that differ from one another more than the county name lets on. And almost everywhere the question is the same: how far is it to Stockholm, and what do you get for your money on the way there?

Coast and lake against mill towns and inland

The well-off municipalities sit by the water and close to the capital. Trosa has the highest median income in the county, just over SEK 383,000, and the lowest unemployment. Strängnäs is the county's fastest-growing municipality, with a population that has risen by just over three per cent in recent years, and it is also where education levels are highest. Gnesta and Nyköping sit in the middle, with incomes just above the national average for municipalities.

At the bottom of the table is Flen, with a median of just under SEK 300,000, the county's highest unemployment and a population that has shrunk by almost six per cent. Vingåker and Katrineholm are also clearly below the national level. Flen also has the county's oldest population, Eskilstuna the youngest. Taken as a whole, the county is below the national average on incomes and education, and has the highest unemployment of Sweden's 21 counties.

Commuting, jobs and trains

A lot of the county commutes. Trosa and Gnesta send more than half of their working residents to other municipalities, Strängnäs close to half. The train to Stockholm takes about an hour from Eskilstuna and under an hour from Strängnäs, and the Stockholm commuter train reaches Gnesta. Trosa has no railway station in the town itself, only in Vagnhärad, so the bus is what you rely on there.

Oxelösund, by contrast, draws commuters in, since the steelworks is a major employer, and Nyköping works as a hub for jobs in the neighbouring municipalities. On paper Katrineholm is close to Stockholm, but with delays the journey takes longer than it looks, and the monthly travel pass eats up the savings on rent. Young adults have a hard time in Oxelösund and in Gnesta, where most jobs are somewhere else.

Everyday life, services and the downsides

Eskilstuna is the county's big town, with just over 106,000 residents and a full range of restaurants, cinemas, theatre and swimming baths. Nyköping is almost as complete on a smaller scale. In the other municipalities everything is gathered in the main town, and if you live in the countryside the car is part of everyday life. Flen, Vingåker and Oxelösund have thin services.

The downsides are clear. Eskilstuna has unemployment almost as high as Flen's, a high share of people on low incomes and three districts that the police list as police-designated vulnerable areas: Skiftinge, Fröslunda and Årby. It is also Eskilstuna that pushes up the county's crime figures, which are among the highest in the country. Within Flen and Vingåker the gaps between the town and the surrounding countryside are wide, and deprivation is found in the towns rather than in the countryside. In Katrineholm the districts differ sharply from one another. Here the picture points the same way as in Eskilstuna: cheap housing, but with real social problems.

What speaks for the county is the housing market. Houses and flats are cheaper than closer to Stockholm, and in Strängnäs, Trosa and Gnesta both nature and water are right on the doorstep. Anyone who can work remotely or has an income sorted elsewhere can get a lot for their money. Anyone who needs a strong local job market should look carefully, anyone renting in Katrineholm should be choosy about the building and the neighbourhood, and anyone buying cheaply in Oxelösund should think about how easily the home will sell again.