Stroud is mostly middle-aged homeowners, plus more single people than the hill views would suggest. Two-thirds own their home. The typical resident is in their mid-forties. A third of households are one person living alone. More than a third of adults have a degree, which explains a lot about the town's opinions.
Census 2021, the source for every population figure on this page, counted 27,254 people in 12,285 households. About 68% of those households own their home, around 17% rent privately and about 15% rent from a council or housing association. Social renting comes close to private renting here, so a good share of the town's housing has been let at below-market rents for years.
The median resident is 46, and about 23% of residents are aged 25 to 44. Couples who moved here in their thirties for the commons and the schools have stayed, and the people who would have replaced them can mostly no longer afford the house.
The Office for National Statistics models average household income across Stroud at about £53,000 before tax for the financial year to March 2023. That figure is an estimate averaged across the area, a few years old, and before the tax office has taken its share. It sits behind a town where a three-bedroom semi is within reach for two earners, and stays out of reach for one.
About 34% of households are a single person living alone, and that group includes about 15% of households where the person living alone is a pensioner. Couples with dependent children make up about 18% of households and lone parents about 10%. The school run is a minority pursuit in Stroud, and living alone with a view is a common one.
About 37% of residents aged 16 and over hold a degree or higher, about 14% have no qualifications and about 2% are full-time students. The town has no university, so those graduates moved here or came home after studying somewhere else. Polly Higgins, the barrister who campaigned to make destroying the environment an international crime, spent her last years near Stroud, and Gail Bradbrook still lives in the town. A degree here is quite likely to come with a cause.
The population is a middling, mixed one: comfortable owners, a fair number of social tenants, plenty of people living alone, and enough graduates to keep the town's arguments going.