Princes Risborough is a town of homeowners in their fifties who arrived some time ago and have no plans to leave. Seven in ten own their home. The typical resident is about fifty. Households are comfortably off. Nobody moved here to be near the nightlife, and the nightlife has noticed.
The town has about 8,900 residents in about 3,900 households, and every population figure here comes from the 2021 Census. About 73% of households own their home, about 12% rent privately and about 14% rent from a council or housing association. Social renters outnumber private ones, which is unusual for a commuter-belt market town and means the rental listings are thin in a way the county averages hide.
The median age is 50, and about 21% of residents are aged 25 to 44. The people who bought here young have mostly stayed, and the next generation of first-time buyers is a smaller crowd than the one already in the houses.
The Office for National Statistics models median household income at about £72,000 a year before tax for the financial year to March 2023, averaged across the three wider neighbourhood areas that cover the town. That is a gross figure from three years ago, and income tax and the mortgage have both had a go at it since.
About 31% of households are one person living alone, and about 20% are a pensioner living alone, part of that same group. Couples with dependent children make up about 19% of households and lone parents about 8%. Families are a minority of households, and the town's school run is shorter than its pensioners' list of hospital appointments.
About 42% of residents aged 16 and over have a degree or equivalent, and about 15% have no formal qualifications. Full-time students are about 2% of residents. The town educates its children well and then waves them off to study somewhere else.
About 83% of residents described their health as good or very good. Across Buckinghamshire Council's area, preventable deaths are lower than the England rate, and about 8% of adults smoke, also better than England. Those are county measures, and the town's own self-reported health is the closer figure.
The people of Princes Risborough are a strong part of its appeal: settled, well-off and mostly healthy, and in no hurry to sell to anyone.