As a professional person who was brought up and indeed still lives in Erdington, I am aghast at the misleading and wildly inaccurate reviews on here. Erdington is a very large area, extending from Spaghetti Junction and Brookvale Park at its southern fringe, to Sutton Coldfield and Kingstanding in the north and west respectively. There are not many rough / deprived parts; the only areas I would avoid in the B24 postcode are those near Spaghetti Junction (e.g. the area around Minstead, Wheelwright and Erdington Hall Roads where there are lots of bedsits), and Birches Green. In terms of the B23 postcode, Slade Road and its immediate environs is rather scruffy (again, lots of bedsits), and I would most definitely avoid the estates around Witton Lakes in Stockland Green.
Generally speaking, the B24 postcode area between Kingsbury Road and the A5127 (Gravelly Hill North, Sutton Road) is very nice indeed. This part of Erdington is very popular with families and professional couples, with attractive houses on leafy roads. These include the area around Jaffray Road / Jaffray Crescent (note the attractive cottages on Wood End Lane); the area around Rollason and Deakin Roads (this includes the lovely Rookery Park with its tennis courts and landscaped gardens); the area around Moor End Lane, Berkswell Road and Orchard Road (the latter in particularly includes a number of fine Victorian and Edwardian houses); and the area further north which is centred upon Grange Road, Holly Lane, Orphanage Road, Poppy Lane and Cedar Drive.
If you have a young family and are looking to move to Erdington, the B24 postcode area is served by an Ofsted-rated 'Outstanding' primary school (St Barnabas on Spring Lane), as well as good Catholic primary schools including The Abbey on Sutton Road, and St Peter and St Paul's on Kingsbury Road. At secondary school level, St Edmund Campion Catholic school is good, or alternatively (if you can afford it), the independent Highclare School at Sutton Road.
The local High Street still has a traditional butchers and a number of independent greengrocers, a WHSmith, Boots chemist, and a large, friendly Co-op supermarket. The latter has been recently refurbished to a very high standard and stocks a wide variety of high quality produce, which in my view is on a par with Waitrose. Erdington also has the recently restored St Barnabas parish church, offering a contemporary coffee shop ("Harbour Cafe"); a well-stocked library; and a swimming pool, Turkish baths and leisure centre.
The transport links in the area are fantastic; if you choose to live in the more prosperous parts of the B24 postcode area mentioned above, you are generally within 10 - 15 minutes' walk of the cross-city train line (12-15 mins to Birmingham New Street), or alternatively, hop on any bus which goes via the Aston Expressway and you can be in the city centre in around 15-20 minutes.
Having lived in Manchester, London and Sussex, I genuinely think Erdington is, by and large, a decent place to live. It really does not warrant the misinformed and frankly idiotic comments made in other reviews on here. Erdington's only real misfortune is that it is not seen as a fashionable area when compared with the likes of Harborne and Moseley. However, to me that is a distinct advantage because you get better value for money when buying a home here.
There is a tendency to knock Erdington because it it not 'fashionable' in the way that areas such as Harborne and Moseley have become.