To measure similarity between authorities the Squared Euclidean Distance (SED) has been used, which is based solely on the 42 variables used in the main classification. Thus corresponding authorities could be geographically far apart, e.g. Salford and Gateshead or Isle of Wight and Scarborough. In this context, the range is defined as the range between the two most similar authorities and the two most dissimilar authorities.
Two authorities are considered to be:
Extremely similar if they have an SED of less than 1% of the range between the two most similar authorities and the two most dissimilar authorities.
Very similar if they have an SED of less than 2.5% of the range.
Similar if they have an SED of less than 5% of the range.
Somewhat similar if they have an SED of less than 10% of the range.
Not similar if they are more than 10% of the total range apart are considered.
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