Erith is home to young households in the middle of building their lives. They work, commute, raise children and pay off mortgages, often all at the same time. Around half own their home and about a quarter rent from a social landlord. The typical resident is in their mid-thirties. About one household in five is a single parent with children. Most of Erith is busy with the mortgage, the children and the commute, and few people here have spare time for much else.
The 2021 Census counted about 41,000 people in Erith, living in about 15,350 households, and it is the source for every population figure on this page. About 54% of households own their home. Some 27% rent from the council or a housing association, and about 16% rent privately. The council's tower blocks from the 1960s are still part of the town, and so is the social renting that came with them.
The median age is 35, and about 29% of residents are aged 25 to 44. Erith once worked at the Vickers works and the cable factories by the river. Its thirty-somethings now mostly work wherever the trains take them.
In the financial year to March 2023, Erith's household income was about £73,000 before tax, on modelled figures from the Office for National Statistics averaged across the area. That is gross household income, often from two earners, and it describes a period three years ago. No national comparison is given, because without a matching benchmark it would be easy to read the wrong way.
Erith's households are a mixed lot. About 25% are one person living alone, and about 10% are a pensioner living alone, a group already counted within the first figure. Couples with children make up about 22% of households and single parents about 19%. The town has a lot of school runs and a fair share of people living on their own.
About 32% of adults hold a degree and about 20% have no formal qualifications. Full-time students make up about 3% of residents, so Erith has no student scene to speak of. The town made cables and guns for a century before it started sending commuters to London, and its qualifications still show both histories.
About 84% of residents describe their health as good or very good. Across the London Borough of Bexley, deaths from preventable causes are similar to the England average. So is smoking, at about 7% of adults. On those borough-wide measures Bexley looks unremarkable, which is what its public health team would want.
Erith is a working town of young families and renters with less money and fewer advantages than a comfortable suburb. Its residents are mostly still working their way up.