Didcot is mostly working households in their thirties and forties, paying off a mortgage. About two in three own their home. The typical resident is in their mid-thirties. Around four in ten have a degree. Students barely register.
About 64% of Didcot's households own their home, about 19% rent privately and about 14% rent from a council or housing association. The 2021 census is the source for this and every other population figure on this page.
The median age is 36, and about 35% of residents are between 25 and 44. That is a town at the age of first jobs, first houses and first children, and the estates of Ladygrove and Great Western Park were built for exactly those buyers.
The Office for National Statistics models household income before tax at about £68,600 a year for the financial year to March 2023, averaged across Didcot's seven neighbourhood areas. The figure is three years old and before tax, and it averages out the differences between the old village streets and the newest estates. On paper it is a comfortable two-earner income, and most of it goes on the mortgage.
About 25% of households are couples with children, and about 25% are one person living alone. About 9% are lone parents. School-run families and people living alone turn up in equal numbers, which is not what most people picture when they think of a garden town.
Within the single-person households, about 8% of all households are a pensioner living alone. That is a modest share for a town with this many new estates, but the old village around Lydalls Road and Manor Road keeps some of its long-standing residents.
About 39% of adults hold a degree or equivalent, about 13% have no formal qualifications, and only about 2% are full-time students. Oxford is close enough to commute to and keeps its students. Didcot gets them later, once they have graduated and need somewhere they can afford to buy.
Didcot is mostly young, working and home-owning, and its residents are one of the town's strengths. It is a settled place to buy into.