Västmanland County

Västmanland is the old mill and mining country of Mälardalen, the Lake Mälaren valley. At its southern edge the county meets Lake Mälaren, with Västerås as a heavyweight industrial centre, and the further north you go, the more forest, lakes and old mining and mill towns take over. Of the county's almost 281,000 residents, nearly six in ten live in Västerås. The rest is nine smaller municipalities, several of them built around an ironworks or a mine.

One city and nine small towns

Västerås is what holds the county up. It has the broadest job market, the highest incomes and the youngest population, with an average age of just over 41. It is also the only one growing noticeably. Almost every other municipality has lost people since 2021, Norberg most of all, with a fall of nearly five per cent. Skinnskatteberg, Surahammar and Fagersta come next, and Skinnskatteberg has the oldest population in the county, with an average age above 48. So things are moving in two directions at once: Västerås grows while the mill towns shrink and age.

Incomes in the county as a whole sit somewhat below the national average, but the range is not wide. It runs from just over SEK 360,000 in Västerås down to just under SEK 310,000 in Skinnskatteberg. The gap in education is much larger. In Västerås one in three has a longer post-secondary education, in Norberg only around one in seven. Jobs in the mill towns long required no university degree, and it still shows.

Work and commuting

Unemployment is one of the county's weak points, and only two counties in Sweden have higher. Fagersta is worst at just over eight per cent, followed by Kungsör, Köping and Västerås. Sala and Surahammar are lowest. Industry still matters: ABB and other technology companies in Västerås, Volvo's plant in Köping, the armed forces in Arboga. But the Västerås job market is good mainly for engineers, and young adults struggle to get a foothold in several municipalities. Skinnskatteberg and Norberg have few entry-level jobs.

Commuting is part of everyday life. In Surahammar, Hallstahammar, Kungsör and Norberg more than half of those in work have their job in another municipality, often in Västerås or one of the neighbouring towns. At the same time Hallstahammar and Kungsör draw in a lot of commuters themselves. The train between Västerås and Stockholm takes about an hour, and Arboga, Köping and Kungsör are within reach of Västerås, Örebro and Eskilstuna. Outside the towns a car is in practice a must.

Everyday life and what's on offer

Västerås has most of what a city can offer: over a hundred restaurants, several shopping centres, an art museum, theatres and Lake Mälaren close by. Köping and Sala are complete small towns with a cinema, a swimming baths and several restaurants, and Sala also has the silver mine as a visitor attraction. Arboga has a handsome old town centre and a swimming baths. Hallstahammar has the Strömsholm Canal and palace. In the smallest municipalities the offer covers daily needs, and you head to the next town for the rest. This is also where the nature and the heritage are, with Engelsberg Ironworks in Fagersta, hiking in the forests of Skinnskatteberg and ski slopes in Norberg.

The downsides

The county's biggest divide runs not between the municipalities but within them. Västerås holds both detached-house areas with very high incomes and districts where a large share of households have weak finances, and Bäckby is on the police list of vulnerable areas. It is the only such area in the county. Köping and Fagersta also have neighbourhoods where roughly one in three, or nearly one in two, live on a low economic standard, while other parts of the same municipality sit well above average.

Reported crime is high compared with Sweden as a whole, but the figure should be read with care, since shopping towns such as Västerås and Sala get many crimes registered. Kungsör, Arboga and Surahammar, by contrast, sit below the national level. In mill towns such as Fagersta the housing market is weak. Cheap houses are tempting, but they can be hard to sell again.

Västmanland suits those who want an affordable everyday life with Mälardalen within reach, especially engineers and families with children in Västerås, and those who want calm, forest and cheap housing in the mill towns and already have their income sorted. Anyone after a rich city life or a broad job market outside industry should think twice, and in the smallest municipalities that goes for young people trying to get into work as well.