Midhurst is mostly lived in by people whose commuting days are behind them. About six in ten own their home. The typical resident is past fifty. More than one household in five is a pensioner living alone. This is a town where most people have already finished climbing the property ladder.
Home ownership stands at about 61%. Of those who rent, about 19% of households rent privately and about 19% rent from a social landlord. A tenant with a housing association and a tenant with a buy-to-let landlord are equally likely to live next door, so the renting half of the town is more mixed than the Market Square suggests.
The median age is 51. Only about 21% of residents are aged 25 to 44, the years when most people are buying a first home, starting a family and moving for work. That age group isn't absent, but it's outnumbered. A thirty-something buyer here will have plenty of neighbours happy to tell them how much cheaper houses used to be.
Median household income was about £52,600 in the financial year to March 2023. That's a gross figure, before tax, from the Office for National Statistics' modelled estimates for the area, and it describes that year rather than today. It's a comfortable income for a small market town, spread across a population in which plenty of households are living on pensions rather than wages.
Every figure on household make-up here comes from the 2021 Census. About 37% of households are one person living alone, and about 22% are a single pensioner living alone, which is part of that same 37%, not in addition to it. Couples with children make up about 15% of households, and lone parents about 8%. For every family with school-age children, there are more homes with one person, a quiet kitchen and the radio on.
About 34% of residents hold a degree, and about 17% have no formal qualifications. Only about 1% are full-time students, which is roughly what you'd expect in a town with no university and no nightlife to tempt one. The population covers a broad mix, from retired professionals to people who have worked in the town's own trades all their lives.
Almost everyone lives in an ordinary household. Only 5 people live in care homes, halls or other communal settings, too few to affect any of the figures above.
Midhurst's population is settled, comfortably off and older than average, and it's one of the town's strengths for anyone who values quiet. Young families will find their peers, but they'll have fewer of them than retirees do.