Most people in Wallingford are settled, well-educated homeowners in middle age, and there are more social tenants than the riverside image would suggest. Two in three households own their home. The typical resident is in their mid-forties. More than four in ten have a degree. Students barely register. It is a grown-up town where people went to university and then bought a house near the river.
The 2021 census counted 8,803 people in Wallingford living in 3,825 households, and every population figure on this page comes from that census. About 66% of households own their home and about 14% rent privately. About 18% rent from the council or a housing association, which is more than rent privately. Most investors seem to have bought their rental properties somewhere else.
The typical resident is about 45, and about 24% of people are aged 25 to 44. Families in their prime working years are a minority, and much of the town is past the stage of needing childcare.
Gross household income, before tax, was modelled at about £66,000 for the financial year to March 2023, and at about £47,000 after tax. These are averages across the whole town, so they include retired households living on pensions as well as couples with two salaries. It is enough to live comfortably in South Oxfordshire, and not enough to stop anyone watching what things cost.
About 32% of households are one person living alone. Within that group, about 16% of all households are one pensioner on their own. Couples with dependent children make up about 22% of households, and lone parents about 8%. So for every family on the school run, there is a household of one with a quieter morning.
About 44% of residents aged 16 and over hold a degree, about 13% have no formal qualifications, and only about 1% are full-time students. The degree share partly reflects the employers in town. The Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, HR Wallingford and CABI are all in or next to Wallingford. The town's medieval priory produced the mathematician Richard of Wallingford, and the scientists working here now are the latest in a long local habit.
Wallingford's population is comfortable, settled and well qualified. It also includes a sizeable share of social tenants, which makes the town more varied than the riverside house prices suggest.