People in the middle of things: mortgages, children, and a commute or a laptop. Just over half own their home. About a quarter rent privately. The typical resident is in their late thirties. Aldershot is neither a retirement town nor a student town, and nobody here has the spare time to be either.
About 40,500 people live in Aldershot, in just under 15,900 households, and every population figure on this page comes from the 2021 Census. About 54% of households own their home, outright or with a mortgage, and about 26% rent from a private landlord, with social housing making up much of the rest at about 17%. That is a town with a foot in both camps: a solid owning majority, and a private rental market big enough that the letting agents' window gets as much attention as the estate agents'.
The median age is 37, and about 33% of residents are between 25 and 44. That is the age of first homes, second children and the sudden discovery that the garden needs a shed. The town is built around people who are working, raising families or both, which is why the parks are busy on Saturday morning and the town centre quiet on a Tuesday afternoon.
Median household income was about £59,000 before tax in the financial year to March 2023, as modelled by the Office for National Statistics for the town's neighbourhoods. That is a gross figure for a whole household, often two earners, and it describes three years ago, not this year's pay slips. It points to a working town on working wages, not a commuter enclave living off City bonuses.
The household mix is broad. About 27% of households are one person living alone, and about 9% are pensioners living alone, who are part of that one-person figure rather than on top of it. About 22% are couples with dependent children and about 11% are lone parents. That is a town where the family car and the one-bed flat sit on the same street, and neither looks out of place.
About 28% of adults hold a degree-level qualification, and about 21% hold no formal qualifications. Full-time students make up about 2% of residents, which means there is no student quarter, no term-time rent spike and no one handing out club flyers at the station. The spread is wide, and it describes a town where trade skills and university degrees share the same school gates.
About 640 people live in communal settings such as care homes rather than private households, a small enough number that it does not change how any of the shares above should be read.
Aldershot's population is middling in the most practical sense: working-age, mixed in income and qualifications, and more interested in getting on with the week than in what the neighbours think of the postcode.