Chorleywood is home to well-qualified homeowners in early middle age, most of whom moved in to stay. Eight in ten own their home. Over half the adults have a degree. The typical resident is in their mid-forties. Students barely register. Most residents finished their education somewhere else and came back with a mortgage.
At the 2021 census, which is the source for every population figure here, about 82% of Chorleywood's households owned their home and about 10% rented privately. Renting is the exception in Chorleywood, and the people who rent tend to be passing through on the way to buying.
The median resident is 46. People aged 25 to 44 make up about 19% of the population, which is a thin slice for the years of first flats and early promotions. Most of them spend that stage somewhere cheaper and return once the deposit has grown to match the village.
The Office for National Statistics models typical household income across Chorleywood's neighbourhoods at about £79,000 before tax, for the financial year to March 2023. That is comfortable money. In a village of large detached houses, though, it pays the running costs, and most homes were bought with equity from an earlier sale.
The households are mostly families. Couples with children make up about 29% of households and lone parents about 7%. Single-person households are about 19%, and single pensioners living alone account for about 13% of all households within that group. Plenty of people raise a family here and then stay on alone in a house with four bedrooms and one occupant.
About 54% of residents aged 16 and over have a degree, about 9% have no qualifications at all, and full-time students make up about 2% of residents. There is no student population to speak of. The village educates its children and then sends them away to study.
Chorleywood's population is one of its real strengths. Owners who stay, families with children and a highly qualified population give it unusual stability.