Mostly families in their forties who own their homes. Seven in ten households own. Around half the adults have a degree. Couples with children outnumber people living alone. Hersham is run by people who have both a mortgage and a school run.
Every population figure here comes from the 2021 Census. Of Hersham's 5,332 households, about 70% own their home, outright or with a mortgage. About 14% rent privately and another 14% rent from a council or housing association. That leaves renters a minority, and the private market especially thin. The social rented share is the same size as the private one, so Hersham has a wider mix of tenures than its house prices would suggest.
The median age is 40, the middle of family life, with school fees or school runs and the mortgage at its heaviest. About 28% of residents are aged 25 to 44, the bracket that tends to be buying its first family house or extending it. At the southern end, Whiteley Village was built almost entirely for retired people, which pulls the age up a little without changing what the rest of the village is like.
The Office for National Statistics models average household income across Hersham's two neighbourhood areas at about £75,000 a year before tax for the financial year to March 2023. After tax the same model gives about £53,000. That is good money, and it is also the income that sits next to a local median sale price of £590,000. The gap between those two numbers explains why many households here took longer to buy than they planned to.
Couples with children make up about 29% of households, slightly more than the 26% who live alone. About 12% of all households are a pensioner living alone, which is part of that solo share, and lone parents head about 9%. Almost every household in Hersham is a private one. Only about 43 residents live in care homes, halls or similar, too few to move any of these shares. Hersham's households tend to have children and plans for the garden rather than flats with one occupant.
About 48% of residents aged 16 and over hold a degree-level qualification, about 12% have no qualifications at all, and only about 2% are full-time students. Hersham has no university and no sixth-form campus large enough to fill rented rooms. Graduates here are mostly in their forties, and the ones not talking about schools are probably talking about one of the two golf clubs.
Hersham's population is comfortable, mostly settled and family-shaped, which counts as one of its strengths. It is a village of owners in mid-life, with enough renters and retired residents to keep it from being all one type.