Mostly homeowners in early middle age, with more social housing than the house prices would lead you to expect. About two in three households own their home. Nearly one in five rents from a social landlord. The typical resident is in their early forties. Southborough is a more mixed town than its asking prices suggest.
Every population figure here comes from the 2021 Census. About 64% of households own their home. Private renting accounts for about 16%, and social renting for about 19%, which makes social tenants the larger group of renters. That is worth knowing for anyone who had assumed from the listings that the whole town was mortgage-holders arguing about the extension next door.
The median resident is 42, and about 25% of people are aged 25 to 44. The town is neither a retirement spot nor a starter-flat hotspot. It sits in the middle of working life.
Modelled household income before tax averaged about £63,000 across the area in the financial year to March 2023. That figure describes that year, not this one, and it is an average across the area's households. It sits comfortably alongside the ownership figures, and it is still gross income, before anyone has taken their share.
Southborough's 4,575 households split into several recognisable groups. About 25% are couples with children, and about 12% are lone parents. About 28% are people living alone, and around 12% of all households are a single pensioner living alone, a group that counts within that 28%, not on top of it. That mix doesn't fit a single stereotype. Families, older residents on their own and single-parent households all live on the same streets.
About 38% of residents hold a degree-level qualification, and about 15% have no formal qualifications. Full-time students make up about 1%, so there is no university crowd filling the town with flatshares. The spread of qualifications is broad, which fits the housing mix.
Southborough's population is middling: settled and mostly comfortable, but more mixed than the town's reputation, with a real share of social housing alongside the family semis.