Caterham is mostly homeowners in their mortgage-paying years. Seven in ten own their home. The typical resident is around 40. About a quarter of households are couples with children. Most people moved here to settle down, not to be seen.
About 73% of households own their home, outright or with a mortgage. About 16% rent privately and about 10% rent from a council or housing association. Houses here tend to stay with the same owners for a long time. Renting exists, but it's a small share of the town.
The median age is 41, and about 26% of residents are aged 25 to 44. It isn't a retirement town, and there's no big student population. Most of the demand for houses comes from people in the middle of their working lives.
Household income before tax was modelled at about £70,800 on average in the financial year to March 2023. That's an estimate averaged across the area for that year, not today's figure. It points to a comfortable town where a lot of that income goes on the mortgage.
The figures here come from the 2021 Census, including the town's population of 24,232. About 29% of households are one person living alone, and about 13% are a pensioner living alone, who are included in that 29%. About 24% are couples with dependent children, and about 12% are lone parents. So Caterham isn't only a town of young families. Almost a third of homes have one person in them, many of them older residents who have been here for decades.
About 37% of residents hold a degree or equivalent, about 13% have no formal qualifications, and about 2% are full-time students. It's a mixed town, with graduates and people who left school early living on the same streets.
Of the 24,232 residents, 393 live in care homes and similar communal settings rather than private households. That's too few to change any of the shares above.
Caterham is settled, owner-occupied and doing well, one of the steadier towns for a buyer to join, as long as they plan to stay a while.