Petts Wood is mostly owner-occupier families in their middle years, with more social housing than you might expect. About two-thirds own their home. The typical resident is around forty. One household in five rents from a social landlord, about double the share renting privately. It's a commuter suburb with a fuller mix of people than the semis suggest.
The 2021 census, the source for the population figures below, recorded about 66% of households in the BR5 district owning their home, about 11% renting privately and about 21% renting from a council or housing association. The district also covers St Mary Cray and St Paul's Cray. In Petts Wood, a tenant is more likely to pay rent to a housing association than to a buy-to-let landlord.
The median age is about 40, and about 26% of residents are aged 25 to 44. Forty is roughly when people buy a semi with a long garden and start having opinions about their neighbour's hedge.
The Office for National Statistics models typical household income before tax at about £84,000 for the financial year to March 2023, averaged across the area's neighbourhoods. That is a modelled estimate for a past year. An average across eleven neighbourhoods can hide wide differences between them, and the BR5 district stretches from conservation-area roads to the Crays. One area's income is a different figure from a household's income, and a mortgage lender will only care about yours.
About 27% of households are one person living alone, and about 13% are a single pensioner living alone, which is part of that 27%. Couples with dependent children make up about 23% of households and lone parents about 15%. Unemployment was about 3%. There are plenty of families, and a sizeable minority of pensioners living alone in houses bought for families.
About 34% of residents hold a degree, about 18% have no formal qualifications, and only about 2% were in full-time study. The student figure is a shopping parade with no university nearby. Graduates and people with no qualifications live on the same streets, often in houses built in the same decade.
About 84% of residents described their health as good or very good, and about 5% as bad or very bad. Across Bromley, the borough's rate of deaths from preventable causes compares better than England's, and its smoking rate of about 7% is also better than England's. Those are borough figures, set against the England average.
Petts Wood's population is middling and mixed. It's comfortable on average, with a real spread underneath, and most of its people live there and earn their money somewhere else.