Shefford is mostly owner-occupiers in early middle age: families who earn reasonably well, keep themselves fairly healthy and plan to stay. Seven in ten own their home. The typical resident is about forty. Couples with children are one of the largest groups. Almost nobody is a student, so the town runs on mortgages and school runs.
About 68% of Shefford's households own their home. Social renting accounts for about 17% and private renting about 13%, so a Shefford tenant is more likely to rent from a council or housing association than from a private buy-to-let landlord. With few rented homes changing hands, people who move to Shefford mostly buy, and then mostly stay.
Every population figure here comes from the 2021 census. The median age was 41, and about 26% of residents were aged 25 to 44. Shefford is middle-aged in the plain sense of the word, with plenty of people still in the years of mortgages and children.
The Office for National Statistics models average household income across the area at about £68,600 before tax for the financial year to March 2023. That is gross income for the whole household, from more than one earner in many homes, and it describes a year that is now a few years past. The mortgage lender works from that figure, but the household budget has to manage on what is left after tax.
Households come in every shape. About 28% are one person living alone, and a smaller group within those, about 11% of all households, are pensioners living alone. Couples with dependent children make up about 24%, and lone parents about 10%. School places, care for older residents and a pub for a quiet pint are all in demand in the same town, sometimes in the same family.
Qualifications vary. About 33% of residents hold a degree, about 14% have no formal qualifications, and full-time students are about 2%. Shefford has very few students, so term dates do not shape the rental market or empty the town each summer.
At the census about 85% of residents described their health as good or very good. Central Bedfordshire, the council area as a whole, is better than England for deaths from preventable causes, and its smoking rate of about 10% is similar to England's. Those comparisons describe the council area, and any one street in Shefford could be above or below them.
Shefford's population is one of its strengths. It is a town of homeowners and young families, people who earn a decent income and stay healthy, and most of them seem in no hurry to move away.