Settled, well-off homeowners from late middle age upwards. More than eight in ten own their home. Half the adults have a degree. People in their late twenties and thirties are thin on the ground. It's a village of people who have already arrived.
At the 2021 Census, the source for every population figure here, about 83% of West Horsley's 527 households owned their home. About 9% rented privately and about 7% rented from a council or housing association. Ownership is the default by a wide margin. Most people who move in do it by buying a house that probably hasn't been on the market for years.
The median age is 49, and people aged 25 to 44 make up only about 17% of the population. The age group doing most of England's house-hunting is the one least represented here, in a village where the typical sale costs over a million. The people here are mostly those who bought years ago and stayed.
The Office for National Statistics models typical household income for the wider area at about £89,000 a year before tax, in the financial year to March 2023. It is a modelled average across a wider area that includes West Horsley, and three years old by now. Before-tax income looks generous on a mortgage application. In a village where band G is the most common council tax band, the after-tax figure is the one that pays the bills.
The households are mostly couples, with or without children at home. About 27% are couples with dependent children and about 7% are lone parents. More than half the homes have four bedrooms or more, and only about a quarter of households have children at home.
Living alone is less common than in most places. About 21% of households are one person living alone, and about 12% are pensioners living alone, who are counted within that 21% and not on top of it. West Horsley's population is 1,378, and 18 of them live in a communal setting such as a care home. That is too few to change how the other figures read.
About 53% of adults here hold a degree or higher qualification, about 10% have no formal qualifications, and only about 1% are full-time students. There is no university or college nearby, so almost nobody here is a student. The degree share is a description of the village, and it doesn't explain anything else about it.
Who lives here is one of West Horsley's real strengths. It is a stable village of long-term homeowners, mostly middle-aged or older, and the people with degrees, families and good incomes who live there tend to stay.