What it's like to live in Stafford

Housing in the Stafford council area leans heavily towards ownership. Around 70% of homes are owned, 15.5% privately rented and 13.6% socially rented, which is below the England figure of 17.1%. Within that, housing associations hold most of the stock at 10.2%, with council housing at 3.4%.

The biggest social landlord by a distance is Homes Plus Limited, with 6,885 homes in the area. The Wrekin Housing Group, Bromford Housing Association, Midland Heart and Sanctuary Housing Association each hold a few hundred more. Average weekly social rents in 2024/25 were about £90 for a one bed, £103 for two beds and £112 for three.

The age profile is a little older than England as a whole: 23% of residents are 65 or over, against 18.4% nationally, and 16.9% are under 16. Around 297 social homes were let through the council in 2024-25, with 100 households on the housing register at the end of March 2025. A register is not a simple queue, which is one reason a mutual exchange can be worth pursuing.

Families have a decent choice of schools close by. Within a mile of the centre you will find St Austin's Catholic Primary School and Nursery, St Paul's Church of England Primary, John Wheeldon Primary Academy, St Patrick's Catholic Primary and St Leonard's Primary, so most central addresses have several options within pram-pushing distance.

For older children, Blessed William Howard Catholic High School and King Edward VI High School are both under a mile away, with Stafford Manor High School and Sir Graham Balfour High School around a mile and a half out. Stafford Grammar School is also nearby. Check admission rules and catchments before you commit to a swap, as faith schools in particular have their own criteria.

Outside school, there is plenty to keep children busy. Victoria Park is only a couple of hundred metres from the centre, with Littleworth Park and Charnley Road Playing Fields a short walk further. Community groups include the 20th Stafford Scout Group, the Sea Cadets and North End Community Centre, and the library branches dotted around town are useful for younger readers.

Stafford station is about a third of a mile from the town centre and sits on the West Coast Main Line, so rail is a genuine option for commuting or visiting family further afield. Having a mainline station within walking distance of so many homes is one of the town's strongest cards.

Buses run from Gaol Square Bus Station, a couple of minutes from the shops, linking the centre with the surrounding estates and villages. If you do not drive, it is worth checking the exact routes and evening timings for the street you are swapping to, as frequencies vary across the town.

On foot, central Stafford is flat and compact. From an ST16 address you can realistically walk to the library, cinema, supermarkets, a pharmacy and the station. Drivers have good road links north and south through the county, though town-centre parking and the works around the Guildhall site can slow things at peak times. Cycling is manageable over these short distances.

For a town of this size, Stafford has a good spread of things to do without travelling. The Odeon Luxe cinema is right in the centre, and there is a cluster of pubs and bars within a few minutes' walk, including The Bear, the Shrewsbury Arms, Market Vault, the Pickled Pig and the Dog House.

Green space is close at hand. Victoria Park is the nearest, just two hundred metres from the middle of town, and Littleworth Park, Hospital Field and Charnley Road Playing Fields give you more room within a mile. Rowley Park Sports Stadium is handy for athletics and organised sport.

If you like to train, there is real choice: Foundry Gym and The Gym are both central, PureGym is under a mile away and Cerebrun Health & Fitness sits a little further out. For quieter days, Stafford Library and the historic William Salt Library are side by side near the centre, with branch libraries at Rising Brook, Holmcroft and Nelson for people living further from town.

The job picture in the wider Stafford council area looks steady. At the 2021 Census, 57.9% of adults were in work, a shade above the England figure of 57.4%, while unemployment stood at 2.3% against 3.5% for England.

More recent benefit figures point the same way. In September 2026, 2.6% of 16 to 64 year olds in the council area were claiming unemployment-related benefits, compared with 4% across England. That suggests a reasonably stable local labour market rather than one dominated by shortages of work.

For jobseekers, the town's hospitals are a visible presence, with St George's, County Hospital, Rowley Hall and Beacon Park all within a couple of miles, alongside the retail and leisure jobs you would expect in a county town centre. The mainline station also widens the net considerably: if your line of work is not well represented here, commuting by train to a bigger city is a realistic option from a central Stafford address.