Westminster is home to young, highly educated professionals, most of them renting and many of them living alone. Only about a quarter own their home. The typical resident is in their mid-thirties. Most hold a degree. Mixed in with them are social tenants who have been here far longer than the latest arrivals, and a barracks-and-boarding fringe that never shows up on a doorbell.
Ownership is the minority option. About 27% of households own their home, about 41% rent privately and about 31% rent from a social landlord. Private and social tenants together far outnumber owners, and they live in neighbouring blocks, which is how central London has always worked here.
The age profile is young and working. The median age is 35, and about 36% of residents are between 25 and 44. That is the age band that arrives with a job offer and a deposit saved for something smaller than it hoped, and leaves when the second bedroom stops being enough.
Household income is high. The Office for National Statistics models it at about £74,700 a year before tax for the financial year to March 2023, averaged across the area. After tax and housing costs, the net figure the same source carries is about £51,250, and in a place where the typical private rent across Westminster runs to several thousand a month, that is the number that decides who stays.
Households are small. All of these shares come from the 2021 Census, as do the other population figures here. About 45% of households are one person living alone, and about 10% are pensioners living alone, who are part of that 45%. Couples with dependent children make up about 10% of households and lone parents about 10%. Families are present, but they are a minority in a place built mostly of one and two-bedroom flats.
The residents are highly qualified. About 60% hold a degree or equivalent, about 10% have no qualifications, and about 3% are full-time students. Westminster School grew out of the abbey and the University of Westminster sits nearby, but the students on the census are a small share, so the degrees mostly belong to people who finished studying years ago and now walk to an office.
Health is good on the self-reported measure, with about 86% of residents describing their health as good or very good. Across the City of Westminster as a whole, the rate of deaths from preventable causes is better than England's, while the borough's smoking rate is similar to England's. Those last two describe the whole borough, so they say nothing about the people on any one street here.
About 1,080 people live in communal establishments, such as barracks, halls and care homes, and not in private households. That is a real share in an area of about 17,400 residents, and it nudges the age and household figures in its own direction. The barracks near Buckingham Palace mean that some of Westminster's residents are on duty outside a palace for a living, which is a commute nobody else can put on a mortgage application.
Westminster's population is young, well qualified, well paid and mostly renting, a professional crowd mixed with long-standing social tenants. It is a strong, stable place to live, though it rarely holds anyone for long once they need a bigger flat.