Hastings is a town of settled owners, a big rented sector and a lot of people living on their own. Just under six in ten households own their home. The typical resident is in their mid-forties. More than a third of households are one person. It's a town of front doors with one name by the bell.
About 57% of households own their home outright or with a mortgage. Around 28% rent privately and about 14% rent from a council or housing association. So roughly four in ten households rent, and landlords are as much a part of the housing market as owner-occupiers. The estate agent's "ideal first home" and "ideal buy-to-let" are often the same flat with a different photo.
The typical resident is about 44 years old, and around 25% of people are aged 25 to 44. That's an older town than its arts-and-seafront image suggests and a younger one than a retirement resort, somewhere in the working middle.
Average household income before tax was about £46,700 in the financial year to March 2023, as modelled across the town's neighbourhoods. That's gross, before tax takes its share, and it describes that year, not this one. It's enough for a town where a typical home sells in the high two hundred thousands, and not enough for anyone to be complacent about the heating bill.
The Census 2021 figures on household make-up show the pattern clearly. About 36% of households are a single person, and within that, about 15% of all households are a pensioner living alone. Couples with dependent children make up about 16% of households, and lone parents about 12%. For every family with a school run, there's a flat with one kettle and one mug. Anyone expecting a town of young families on every corner is imagining the brochure, not the census.
About 29% of adults hold a degree-level qualification, about 20% have no formal qualifications, and full-time students make up about 2% of residents. The spread is wide, which makes sense for a town that holds a university campus, a further education college and a long history of working-class trades on the same few square miles.
About 1,381 people live in communal settings such as care homes and hostels rather than private households. Against a population of about 92,200, that's too small to change how the other shares should be read.
On the measures used to compare places, the people side of Hastings sits below the middle, with modest incomes, a big rented sector and plenty of people living alone. Every one of those numbers describes circumstances, not character, and the town's tables have always been harder on it than its streets are.