Worplesdon is home to settled, well-paid homeowners in the middle of life, and they aren't going anywhere. Eight in ten own their home. The typical resident is in their mid-forties. Half the adults have a degree. The parish runs like a sensible pension fund: steady, comfortable and not interested in surprises.
All the population figures here come from the 2021 Census, which counted 1,798 residents in 683 households. Home ownership dominates. About 79% of households own their home outright or with a mortgage, about 12% rent privately and about 9% rent from a social landlord. Renting here is mostly something other people do, somewhere else.
The median age is 46. People aged 25 to 44 make up about 20% of residents, which is thin for the age group that normally buys first homes. That's mostly because the parish has so few first homes to buy. People mostly move to Worplesdon on their second or third move, not their first.
Household income is high. The Office for National Statistics models it at about £80,000 before tax for the financial year to March 2023, and about £55,000 after tax. That's a modelled average for the area in that year, not a pay slip, and it will have moved since. It still describes a place where conversations at the memorial hall are more likely to be about extensions than overdrafts.
Families are a large group, but not the only one. About 25% of households are couples with dependent children, and about 9% are lone parents. About 20% are one person living alone. Some of those, about 9% of all households, are pensioners living alone, and they're part of the 20%, not an extra group on top. The parish has enough families to fill a primary school and enough people living alone that someone on the lane always knows whose parcel went to the wrong house.
On qualifications, about 48% of residents hold a degree or higher and about 11% have no formal qualifications. That's a mix, not a monoculture. Full-time students are about 2%, and in term time the nearest thing to a student house is a teenager's bedroom with the door shut.
Worplesdon's residents are one of its strong points. They're settled owners with good incomes and plenty of qualifications, though the mix is older and wealthier than a first-time buyer will find easy to join.