Knebworth is home to well-qualified homeowners in early middle age, with a solid stake in the place. Two-thirds own their home. Nearly half have a degree. The typical resident is in their forties. Most of the village works to pay off a mortgage, and much of that work happens from home.
The 2021 census, which supplies every population figure on this page, found about 67% of Knebworth households owning their home and 18% renting privately. A further 15% rented from the council or a housing association, almost as many as rent privately. The detached houses on the edge of the village make it easy to forget those homes are there.
The median resident is 43, and about 26% of people are aged between 25 and 44. That is old enough to have a mortgage and young enough to still be paying it off.
The Office for National Statistics models gross household income in Knebworth at about £71,000 a year before tax for the financial year to March 2023, averaged across the area. After tax the same model gives about £48,000, and that is the figure the mortgage and the rail fares are paid from.
The census counted 4,191 people living in 1,861 households, all of them in private homes, with nobody in communal accommodation such as care homes or halls. The Lytton family took the manor around 1492, so in Knebworth even a family that has lived here for generations counts as newcomers.
About 30% of households are one person living alone, and pensioners living alone account for 16% of all households, within that figure. Couples with dependent children make up about 21%, and lone parents about 9%. The mix spans families, couples whose children have left home, and older residents on their own.
About 45% of adults hold a degree, 11% have no formal qualifications, and only 2% of residents are full-time students. David Ensor, one of the village's notable residents, was a lawyer, an actor, an author and a politician, and the share of graduates suggests he would have found plenty of similarly busy neighbours.
The people are one of Knebworth's real strengths. The village is settled, well educated and comfortably off, and it mostly belongs to the people who live in it.