Anerley is mostly renters in their thirties, about 27,000 people in roughly 12,000 households, many living alone in flats. Only about four in ten own their home. Social and private landlords house the rest in roughly equal shares. Close to half have a degree. It is one of the few corners of Bromley where the council and housing associations are among the biggest landlords.
All the population figures here come from the 2021 Census. About 42% of households own their home, 27% rent privately and 29% rent from the council or a housing association. Anerley's renters are split almost evenly between private landlords and social ones, which gives the place a broader mix than an area dominated by buy-to-let.
The typical resident is 37, and about 37% of people are between 25 and 44. With so much of the population in their working years, the area empties out on weekday mornings towards the stations and fills up again after six.
The Office for National Statistics models gross household income, before tax, at about £81,000 for the financial year to March 2023, averaged across Anerley's five neighbourhood areas. That average combines double-income households in converted flats with single-pensioner and social-rented households, so very few households are actually typical. It is also a pre-tax figure from more than three years ago, so it overstates what reaches a bank account today.
About 35% of households are one person living alone, and within that, 8% are a pensioner living alone. Couples with dependent children make up 15% of households and lone parents 17%. Families with children are a minority of households here. The one-bedroom flat shapes the population as much as anything else does.
About 47% of residents aged 16 and over have a degree, while 15% have no formal qualifications, and full-time students make up only 2%. Neither group dominates, and the mix sits between a graduate enclave and an old working suburb.
In 2021, about 84% of Anerley's residents described their health as good or very good. For the London Borough of Bromley as a whole, the death rate from preventable causes is better than the England average, and so is the smoking rate, at about 7% of adults. Both are borough figures, measured across a much larger and generally better-off area than Anerley alone.
Anerley's population is younger, poorer and more likely to rent than the borough that surrounds it, and on most measures of advantage it sits below average. Many residents are well-educated, but home ownership, household income and family stability run behind the more comfortable parts of Bromley.