Maida Vale is mostly renters in their thirties, and most of them have degrees. Only about a quarter of households own their home. The rest are split between private landlords and social housing. The typical resident is in their mid-thirties. Single people outnumber families with children.
At the 2021 census, which is the source for every population figure here, 28% of households in Maida Vale owned their home. Private renters made up 39% and social renters 32%. That puts people who rent from the council or a housing association and people who rent from private landlords on the same mansion-block staircases as the owners. All three share the same bin store and complain about the same parking.
The median age is 36, and 37% of residents are aged 25 to 44. Most residents are of working age, with careers and rents to match, and there are relatively few retirees or school leavers.
The Office for National Statistics models gross household income in Maida Vale at about £71,500 for the financial year to March 2023, before tax and averaged across the area. Before tax, that sounds comfortable. After tax and a Westminster rent, there is much less left over.
Single-person households make up 38% of the total, the largest single type. Single pensioners living alone are 10% of households, and they are counted within that 38%, not added to it. Couples with dependent children make up 14% and lone parents 12%. The district's housing reflects this, with a third of homes having one bedroom, so families looking here are competing for the minority of larger flats. To get a sense of who your neighbours would be in a block you are considering, ask the managing agent how many of its flats are owner-occupied and how many are let.
Of residents aged 16 and over, 56% have a degree or equivalent, and 14% have no qualifications. Only 2% are full-time students, so there are no student houses changing over every September. The share with no qualifications is a reminder that Maida Vale's residents range well beyond graduates.
Residents rate their own health well, with 84% describing it as good or very good. For Westminster as a whole, the death rate from preventable causes is better than England's, and the borough's smoking rate is similar to the England figure. Both are borough-wide figures, published with England as the benchmark.
Maida Vale is a district of mostly working-age renters, a lot of graduates and a lot of people living alone, with fewer families or owners than a typical neighbourhood. The district's population does not stand out in either direction.