Kentish Town is mostly people in their thirties who rent, and under a third of households own the home they live in. About four in ten rent from the council or a housing association. A third of households are one person. More than half the adults have a degree. A lot of graduates live here, and most of them pay rent.
Owner-occupiers are the minority. At the 2021 census, the source for every population figure here, about 31% of Kentish Town's households owned their home, about 25% rented privately and about 43% rented from the council or a housing association. Social renting is the biggest of the three. Owners who say "the neighbourhood" are talking about a place where they hold under a third of the front doors.
The age profile is young without being student-heavy. The median resident is 35, and about 34% of people are aged 25 to 44. At 35, the typical local has had a career long enough to have stopped sharing a flat, and not long enough to have bought one here.
Modelled household income across Kentish Town averaged about £73,000 before tax in the financial year to March 2023. That average combines the large council estates with the villas in Dartmouth Park, so it describes a household that lives in neither.
Households here are small. About 35% are one person living alone, and about 10% are a pensioner living alone, who are counted inside that 35% and not on top of it. Couples with children make up about 14% of households and lone parents about 15%. In a place built mainly of flats and converted terraces, the one-person household is the most common kind of home.
The qualifications are high and the student numbers low. About 54% of adults hold a degree, about 14% have no qualifications and only about 3% are full-time students. Most of the graduates here finished studying some time ago and stayed on. The area has a long list of writers and artists among its past residents, including the novelist Ben Aaronovitch, the photographer Gerry Badger and the rapper Akala.
Health is mostly good. About 82% of Kentish Town's residents described their health as good or very good at the census. Across Camden, preventable deaths run at a rate better than England's, and the borough's smoking rate is similar to England's.
Who lives in Kentish Town comes out middling overall. The degrees and good health weigh against how few people own their homes and how much the averages hide, between the estates and the villas.