Burgess Hill is home to people in their forties who own the house and plan to stay in it. Three in four households own their home. The typical resident is in their early forties. Students barely register. These are people who have finished moving house and started arguing about hedges.
Home ownership sets the tone. The 2021 Census, the source for every population figure here, puts owner-occupiers at about 75% of households, with about 13% renting privately and about 11% in social housing. Landlords haven't taken over here. The rental market is a sideline, and the typical front door belongs to the person who paints it.
The median age is 43, and people aged 25 to 44 make up about 26% of residents. That's a town in the middle of life: old enough to have a pension statement they don't open, young enough to still be paying for the kitchen they chose. Across 34,514 residents, the average is being pulled neither towards retirement bungalows nor towards shared houses of twenty-somethings.
Household income was modelled at around £70,000 a year before tax, across the town, for the financial year to March 2023. That's a gross, modelled figure from a few years back, not anyone's current payslip. It describes households comfortable enough to worry about a loft conversion rather than the heating bill, and cautious enough to get three quotes for the conversion.
Household make-up is mixed rather than dominated by one type. Couples with dependent children account for about 23% of households, and lone parents for about 9%. People living alone make up about 26%, and pensioners living alone, who are included within that 26% rather than on top of it, account for about 13%. So the town isn't only families, whatever the school-run traffic suggests. About one household in eight is a pensioner living alone, and they are more likely to know the neighbours' names than anyone else on the street.
On qualifications, about 34% of adults have a degree-level qualification and about 13% have none. Full-time students make up about 2% of residents, which explains why the nightlife keeps sensible hours. It's a practical mix: degrees next door to trades, and nobody on the street asking which university you went to.
Burgess Hill's population is comfortably above average: settled, solvent, homeowning and mid-career. The town doesn't set out to impress anyone, but the census doesn't pick up on that.