Raynes Park is home to professional families and the people saving to become one. Nearly two-thirds own their home. The typical resident is about 40. Six in ten hold a degree, and households earn close to six figures before tax, which explains the cars on the drives and the price of the houses.
About 34,000 people live in Raynes Park across 13,370 households, and every population figure here comes from the 2021 census. About 64% of households own their home and about 28% rent privately, with social renting making up most of the rest at about 8%. Private renters are mostly the people who want to live here and are still a deposit short of it.
The median age is about 40, and about 32% of residents are aged 25 to 44. That is a suburb full of people in the middle of their careers, with mortgages to match and children at primary school or about to be.
The Office for National Statistics models median household income across the area at about £98,000 before tax for the financial year to March 2023. That is a gross figure from a few years back, and the amount that reaches a bank account after tax is a good deal smaller. Even so, these are households where two decent salaries are close to normal, which is how the area keeps paying its own prices.
Households split almost evenly between families and people living alone. About 26% are couples with dependent children and about 26% are one person living alone, a group that includes the 11% of households who are a single pensioner. Lone parents head about 8% of households. Raynes Park manages to be a family suburb and a good place to live alone at the same time.
About 60% of adults hold a degree or equivalent, about 10% have no formal qualifications, and only about 2% are full-time students. Six in ten have a degree and almost nobody is studying for one, the profile of people who got the qualification somewhere else and came here to start paying for it.
Health is good. About 88% of residents describe their health as good or very good, and about 3% as bad or very bad. Across the London Borough of Merton, preventable deaths run below the England rate and the borough's smoking rate is about 6%, better than England's, figures that describe the whole borough more than this corner of it.
Raynes Park has one of the strongest local populations a buyer could hope for: settled owners, two-salary households and good health. Newcomers who fit that profile will settle in quickly, and everyone else can expect to be asked about their loft conversion.