Romford is mostly home-owners in their thirties and forties, with a big renting minority close to the station. About six in ten own their home. About a quarter rent from a private landlord. The typical resident is in their late thirties. On a Saturday night, though, most of the crowd in the town centre has come in from somewhere else.
At the 2021 census, about 61% of Romford's households owned their home, about 25% rented privately and about 11% rented from a council or housing association. A quarter renting privately in a town with this many flats keeps landlords busy, and a lot of the turnover happens close to the station.
The typical Romford resident is about 38, and about 31% of residents are aged 25 to 44. That makes it a town of people in their working and family-building years, with fewer at the very young and very old ends than a seaside town would have. The nightlife is a different crowd. Romford's bars and clubs draw from the whole of east London and beyond, so the people out at midnight are a younger crowd than the people who live here.
Average household income was about £71,000 before tax in the financial year to March 2023, a figure the Office for National Statistics modelled across the neighbourhood. That's what households earned before tax, not what they take home, and it is now a few years old. Comfortable money, but not the kind that ends conversations about the mortgage.
At the 2021 census, about 28% of households were one person living alone, and about 12% of all households were a single pensioner living alone, part of that same 28%. Couples with dependent children made up about 21% of households and lone parents about 13%. Romford mixes young families, people living on their own and older residents in about equal measure.
About 33% of adults hold a degree or equivalent, about 19% have no formal qualifications and about 2% are full-time students. Romford covers the full range of qualifications, from graduates commuting into the City to people working in the town's own shops and offices. With so few students, there is no university in town setting the pace of the rental market.
About 84% of residents described their health as good or very good at the 2021 census. Across Havering, the council's rate of preventable deaths is better than England's, and its smoking rate of about 8% is similar to the national figure. Those borough figures cover everywhere from Rainham to Upminster as well as Romford.
The people who live in Romford are an ordinary mix: mostly home-owners, with a big renting minority, working-age adults, and incomes that are comfortable without being well-off. It's the people who come in for a night out, more than the ones who live here, who shape the town's reputation.