Smallfield is where people land, not where they start. Eight in ten own their home. The typical resident is nearly fifty. People living alone outnumber families with children. Nobody moves here for the nightlife, and nobody who lives here is complaining about that.
Ownership sets the tone. About 80% of households own their home, and only about 11% rent privately, with social renting at about 8%. The stock of rentals is small, so the churn is low, and the people on your street in five years will mostly be the ones on it now. That is either the most reassuring thing about the village or the most alarming, depending on how you feel about your neighbours' hedges.
Every population figure on this page comes from the 2021 census. The median age is 48. People aged 25 to 44, the years of first homes, young children and career moves, make up about 21% of residents. Smallfield has younger households, but they are not the main group, and anyone moving in expecting a street full of families at the school gate should adjust the picture before viewing.
Money is not the problem. Household income averaged about £71,600 before tax in the Office for National Statistics' modelling for the financial year to March 2023, or about £50,100 after tax and housing-related deductions on its net measure. Both describe a year some way back, not this one. Neither describes a village worried about the gas bill so much as one debating whether to replace the conservatory or add a garden room.
The household mix is quieter than the house sizes would suggest. About 27% of households are one person living alone, and within that about 16% of all households are a single pensioner. Couples with dependent children make up about 18% of households, and lone-parent households about 9%. Plenty of the four-bedroom houses here hold two people and a spare room with an exercise bike in it.
On qualifications, about 27% of residents hold a degree-level qualification, and about 19% have no formal qualifications. Full-time students are about 1%, which fits a village with no university nearby and no reason for students to rent here. The mix reads like a place of trades, small businesses and office jobs, not a commuter enclave of consultants.
About 96 people live in communal settings such as care homes rather than private households. That is too few to change how the other shares should be read.
Smallfield is comfortably in the middle: settled, fairly well off, a little older than average, and in no hurry to change.