Hertford is lived in by grown-ups who own their homes and stay in them. About two in three own. The typical resident is in their early forties. Well over a third have a degree. Students are almost nowhere to be seen, so the town's nights out belong to people in their forties.
Every population figure here comes from the 2021 census, which counted about 29,600 people in Hertford across 12,923 households. About 65% of those households own their home. About 18% rent privately and about 15% rent from a council or housing association, so about a third of the town rents in total. A third renting is enough to keep the town from feeling closed to newcomers, but owners still outnumber renters about two to one.
The median age is about 41, and about 28% of residents are aged 25 to 44, the age group buying first homes and starting families. That is a town at the middle of life. It has neither the young crowd of a university town nor the slower pace of a retirement town.
Money is comfortable. The Office for National Statistics modelled gross household income, before tax, at about £71,600 across the area in the financial year to March 2023. That is a figure for before tax and three years ago, and the real monthly budget is what is left after both. It's a household income that pays for the Hertford mortgage with enough left over to argue about the kitchen.
The household mix is broad. About 31% of homes are one person living alone, and within that about 12% are pensioners on their own. About 22% are couples with children and about 10% are lone parents. Single people and families with children are roughly equal in number, which helps explain why both one-bed flats and three-bed semis come up for sale.
Hertford is well educated. About 44% of adults have a degree-level qualification and about 12% have no qualifications at all, and only about 1% of residents are full-time students. John Wilkes, the radical politician, was educated in Hertford, and Alfred Russel Wallace went to Hertford Grammar School. These days the town sends its young people elsewhere to study and welcomes them back once they have mortgages.
Hertford's population is one of its strengths: established, well-qualified and comfortably off, with enough renters and single people that a newcomer won't feel like they've walked into a closed club.