Epsom is mostly comfortable, middle-aged homeowners. About two in three own their home. The typical resident is about forty. Almost half the adults have a degree. It is a town of people with mortgages, school runs and opinions about the Downs, and there are not many students.
At the 2021 census, which is the source for every population figure here, about 65% of Epsom's households owned their home. About 22% rented privately and 12% rented from a council or housing association. The borough council has held the lordship of the manor since 1955, which makes it the town's longest-standing landlord, at least on paper.
The median resident of Epsom is 40, and about 27% of residents are aged 25 to 44. Epsom is not young and not retired, and much of the town is in the busy middle years of jobs, children and a mortgage.
The Office for National Statistics models average household income across Epsom's six neighbourhood areas at about £76,000 before tax in the financial year to March 2023. After tax the modelled figure is about £52,700, and that is the money that actually meets the mortgage. The figures are a few years old and averaged across a mixed town, so some households earn well above them and some well below.
Most homes hold a family or a couple. Couples with dependent children make up about 26% of Epsom's households, and lone parents about 10%. Family life is a big part of what the town is.
People living alone make up almost exactly as large a share. About 27% of households are one person, and that includes the roughly 12% who are pensioners living alone, which is part of the one-person figure, not extra to it. Couples with children and people on their own each make up about a quarter of the town, and they need very different things from the same high street.
About 48% of Epsom's adults hold a degree or equivalent, and about 12% have no formal qualifications. Full-time students make up only about 2%. Epsom has a university campus and several famous schools, but very few students live in town. They come in for lectures and leave again.
The census counts 762 residents living in communal settings such as care homes, not private households. That is too few to change any of the shares above.
Epsom's population is one of its strengths. Residents are well educated, mostly own their homes and are comfortably off, though the town is less uniform than a quick look suggests. Families and people living alone, homeowners and renters all have a real share of the town.