Wimbledon is lived in by graduates in their thirties and forties with good jobs and long working weeks. About half own their home. Six in ten adults have a degree. The typical resident is in their late thirties. It is a suburb run by people who read the small print for a living.
According to the 2021 Census, the source for every population figure here, about 51% of Wimbledon's 35,210 households own their home and about 35% rent privately, with the remaining 13% in social housing. A third of the town pays a private landlord, and with prices at this level many of those tenants are earning well and still saving for a deposit.
The median age is 37, and about 38% of residents are between 25 and 44. That is a town in its working prime, between the student years and retirement, and its residents spend most of their time either commuting or doing up a flat.
The Office for National Statistics models gross household income, before tax, at about £92,600 for the financial year to March 2023, averaged across the area's neighbourhoods. After tax and housing-related deductions the same households come out at about £61,300. The bigger number is the one people mention at dinner. The smaller one is what has to cover a Wimbledon mortgage.
About 22% of households are couples with children and about 9% are lone parents. About 27% of households are one person living alone, and 9% of all households are a single pensioner living alone, a group included within that larger share. Family homes and flats for one sit side by side, which is what a stock split between Edwardian terraces and purpose-built flats produces.
About 62% of residents aged 16 and over have a degree, about 10% have no formal qualifications, and only 2% are full-time students. Wimbledon's young adults arrive with salaries and student loans to pay off, and very few of them are still studying.
About 89% of residents describe their health as good or very good, and about 3% as bad or very bad. Across Merton as a whole, smoking runs at about 6% of adults, which public health records rate better than England, and the rate of deaths from preventable causes is also better than the England average.
Wimbledon's population is one of its real strengths, with high qualifications, good health and solid incomes across most of the town. The people here have done well, and they bought or rented in Wimbledon to keep it that way.