Socio-economic statistics for Lea (Lee), Essex

Is Lea (Lee) in Epping Forest a nice place to live or is it a bit rough? We have collated a series of socio-economic statistics and demographics from UK government sources such as the 2021 Census and the Index of Multiple Deprivation. They should give you a broad snapshot of the area and the surrounding locations. Are the residents of Lea (Lee) older than the national average or younger? What is the population of Lea (Lee) and Epping Forest? What is the claimant count in Lea (Lee) and how many residents are unemployed? This page should provide you with the answers.

Lea (Lee) Education Statistics

We have taken the raw data from the 2021 census to found of the level of education Lea (Lee) residents have in terms of formal qualifications as a percentage. The UK government breaks qualifications down into 7 levels. A detailed explanation of these levels can be found here. However, the Census groups these into just 4 \'levels\'. Here are some examples of the qualifications each census level represents when not stated;

Level 1 - GCSE grades D, E, F, or G & below
Level 2 - GCSE A*, A, B, C or O Level grades A, B or C
Level 3 - A or AS qualification at any grade
Level 4 - HNC, Bachelors Degree, Masters Degree or Phd

In this first table we have compared Lea (Lee) to the national average for England.

Level	Waltham Abbey North East	England
No Qualifications	26.11%	18.08%
Level 1	12.57%	9.69%
Level 2	14.12%	13.32%
Apprenticeship	6.56%	5.32%
Level 3	15.78%	16.92%
Level 4	22.17%	33.92%

Source: Census 2021 (Nomis/ONS)

What are the occupations of the residents of Lea (Lee)?

The largest employment sector in Lea (Lee) is Professional Occupations. The smallest employment sector is Process Plant & Machine Operatives.

Sector	Proportion
Professional Occupations	14.36%
Skilled Trades	13.62%
Managers, Directors & Senior Officials	13.46%
Administrative & Secretarial	11.3%
Associate Professional & Technical	11.03%
Caring, leisure & Other Services	10.24%
Elementary Occupations	9.93%
Process Plant & Machine Operatives	8.61%

Source: Office for National Statistics (30 June 2020)

Lea (Lee) Health Statistics

Waltham Abbey North East has a significantly lower proportion of residents (>5%) describing their health as very good than the national average for England.

Area	VG	G	F	B	VB
Waltham Abbey North East	43.29%	35.45%	15.66%	4.24%	1.36%
Epping Forest	51.8%	32.87%	11.23%	3.12%	0.98%
East	48.28%	34.64%	12.5%	3.58%	1%
England	48.49%	33.71%	12.65%	3.98%	1.17%

VG = Very Good, G = Good, F = Fair, B = Bad & VB = Very Bad

Source: Census 2021 (Nomis/ONS)

How has the health of residents in Epping Forest changed since 2011?

Epping Forest residents who describe their health as either good or very good has increased by 1.66% between the 2011 and 2021 census.

Year	VG	G	F	B	VB
2011	49.26%	33.75%	12.38%	3.56%	1.04%
2021	51.8%	32.87%	11.23%	3.12%	0.98%

VG = Very Good, G = Good, F = Fair, B = Bad & VB = Very Bad

Source: Census 2011/2021 (Nomis/ONS)

Lea (Lee) & Epping Forest Immigration Statistics

We have analysed the Census 2021 raw data on country of birth and compiled immigration statistics as percentages of the population. All percentages have been rounded to two decimal places. Below are the figures for Lea (Lee) in the Epping Forest local area district.

Lea (Lee) has a lower rate of immigrants than Epping Forest, the East of England region and England as a whole.

Area	Born in UK	Born outside UK
Waltham Abbey North East	88.03%	11.97%
Epping Forest	86.14%	13.86%
East	85.09%	14.91%
England	82.65%	17.35%

Source: Census 2021 (Nomis/ONS)

Lea (Lee) compared to other wards in Epping Forest

#	Ward	Born in UK	Born outside UK
1	Grange Hill	67.17%	32.83%
2	Chigwell Village	76.39%	23.61%
3	Loughton Alderton	81.02%	18.98%
4	Loughton Fairmead	81.8%	18.2%
5	Loughton Broadway	82.68%	17.32%
6	Buckhurst Hill West	82.84%	17.16%
7	Chigwell Row	83.51%	16.49%
8	Loughton St Mary's	83.7%	16.3%
9	Waltham Abbey South West	84.19%	15.81%
10	Buckhurst Hill East	84.51%	15.49%
11	Loughton Forest	84.79%	15.21%
12	Loughton Roding	85.1%	14.9%
13	Waltham Abbey Honey Lane	86.05%	13.95%
14	Waltham Abbey Paternoster	87.37%	12.63%
15	Loughton St John's	87.56%	12.44%
16	Waltham Abbey North East	88.03%	11.97%
17	Epping Hemnall	88.42%	11.58%
18	Broadley Common, Epping Upland and Nazeing	88.8%	11.2%
19	Lower Nazeing	89.08%	10.92%
20	Waltham Abbey High Beach	89.37%	10.63%
21	Epping Lindsey and Thornwood Common	89.93%	10.07%
22	Roydon	90.53%	9.47%
23	Passingford	90.68%	9.32%
24	Lower Sheering	90.88%	9.12%
25	Lambourne	92.11%	7.89%
26	Theydon Bois	92.6%	7.4%
27	North Weald Bassett	93.28%	6.72%
28	Hastingwood, Matching and Sheering Village	94.11%	5.89%
29	Shelley	94.75%	5.25%
30	Moreton and Fyfield	94.86%	5.14%
31	Chipping Ongar, Greensted and Marden Ash	95.34%	4.66%
32	High Ongar, Willingale and The Rodings	95.99%	4.01%

';Lea (Lee) is ranked 16 out of 32 wards in Epping Forest for the number of residents born outside of the UK.

Source: Census 2021 (Nomis/ONS)

Lea (Lee) Age Distribution Statistics

We have taken the raw data from the 2021 Census and the calculated the proportion of age groups in Waltham Abbey North East.

Age Band	Proportion
4 & under
5 - 9 years
10 - 15 years
16 - 19 years
20 - 24 years
25 - 34 years
35 - 49 years
50 - 64 years
65 - 74 years
75 - 84 years
85 years & over

Source: Census 2021 (Nomis/ONS)

Lea (Lee) Unemployment Statistics

Since the introduction of Universal Credit, The Department for Work & Pensions have not issued any statistics (in our view) that can be used to ascertain the levels of unemployment or under employment in the UK, just meaningless geographic counts. However, the Office of National Statistics does publish claimant counts of people receiving out of work benefits, be that legacy Jobseeker’s Allowance or Universal Credit as a proportion of people over 16. These figures are usually updated once a month and are for Local Authority Districts and Unitary Authority Districts. So below are the figures of Epping Forest.

Area	Unemployed	Yearly Change
Epping Forest	2.6%	-0.6%
East of England	3%	-0.3%
England	3.8%	-0.3%
UK	3.7%	-0.3%

Source: Office for National Statistics (ONS), Last Retrieved: March 2023

The 2021 census had data on people who were economically active (seeking work) yet unemployed on Census day (Sunday March 21st 2021). These statitics do cover Lea (Lee) on a ward level. However, it has to be noted that the Census day was during the height of the Covid19 pandemic and therefore are not reflective of normal levels of unemployment. For example, between March 2020 and June 2020 people claiming Universal Credit doubled in most areas of the United Kingdom and then steadily declined up to the day of the Census and beyond. This data also contains the proportion of people in part-time work (working between 1-35 hours per week), which maybe an indicator of under employment in Lea (Lee).

Economic Status	Proportion
In Employment	53.86%
In Part-Time Work	29.95%
Unemployed	4.94%

Source: Census 2021 (Nomis/ONS)

70.05% of the people in work, are in full-time employment in Lea (Lee)

How many residents own or rent their home in Lea (Lee) and Epping Forest

We have taken the raw data from the 2021 census and calculated what proportion of people in Lea (Lee) either own or rent their home. All percentages have been rounded to two decimal places. 70.04 of residents own their home either outright or mortgaged. 29.96 of Lea (Lee) residents rent their home either privately or through a social landlord.

Area	Owned	Rented
Waltham Abbey North East	70.04%	29.96%
Epping Forest	69.63%	30.37%
East	65.23%	34.77%
England	61.31%	38.69%

Source: Census 2021 (Nomis/ONS)

Lea (Lee) has a higher level of home ownership than than the national average.

Lea (Lee) compared to other wards in Epping Forest

#	Ward	Owned	Rented
1	Lower Nazeing	82.86%	17.14%
2	Chigwell Village	82.63%	17.37%
3	Loughton Forest	82.6%	17.4%
4	Loughton St John's	82.56%	17.44%
5	Theydon Bois	81.63%	18.37%
6	Roydon	80.32%	19.68%
7	Chigwell Row	79.67%	20.33%
8	Broadley Common, Epping Upland and Nazeing	79.03%	20.97%
9	Chipping Ongar, Greensted and Marden Ash	78.91%	21.09%
10	Waltham Abbey High Beach	77.11%	22.89%
11	Passingford	76.83%	23.17%
12	Hastingwood, Matching and Sheering Village	76.62%	23.38%
13	Moreton and Fyfield	75.47%	24.53%
14	Loughton Roding	75.3%	24.7%
15	Buckhurst Hill West	74.95%	25.05%
16	Lambourne	72.81%	27.19%
17	High Ongar, Willingale and The Rodings	72.42%	27.58%
18	North Weald Bassett	71.46%	28.54%
19	Loughton St Mary's	70.71%	29.29%
20	Waltham Abbey North East	70.04%	29.96%
21	Epping Lindsey and Thornwood Common	69.38%	30.62%
22	Buckhurst Hill East	68.07%	31.93%
23	Epping Hemnall	66.92%	33.08%
24	Waltham Abbey Honey Lane	66.41%	33.59%
25	Lower Sheering	64.4%	35.6%
26	Grange Hill	63.17%	36.83%
27	Loughton Fairmead	56.76%	43.24%
28	Shelley	56.67%	43.33%
29	Waltham Abbey South West	54.82%	45.18%
30	Waltham Abbey Paternoster	54.77%	45.23%
31	Loughton Alderton	54.59%	45.41%
32	Loughton Broadway	44.89%	55.11%

Lea (Lee) is ranked 20 out of 32 wards in Epping Forest for the percentage of home owners.

Source: Census 2021 (Nomis/ONS)

What is the population of Lea (Lee) and Epping Forest?

The table below contains the populations figures for each ward in Epping Forest including Lea (Lee). These population ONS figures are estimated are dated Mid 2020.

Ward	Population
Broadley Common, Epping Upland and Nazeing	2112
Buckhurst Hill East	4841
Buckhurst Hill West	7027
Chigwell Row	2292
Chigwell Village	4513
Chipping Ongar, Greensted and Marden Ash	4117
Epping Hemnall	6476
Epping Lindsey and Thornwood Common	7048
Grange Hill	7358
Hastingwood, Matching and Sheering Village	2420
High Ongar, Willingale and The Rodings	2291
Lambourne	2053
Loughton Alderton	4853
Loughton Broadway	4772
Loughton Fairmead	4511
Loughton Forest	4325
Loughton Roding	4904
Loughton St John's	4528
Loughton St Mary's	5320
Lower Nazeing	3970
Lower Sheering	2120
Moreton and Fyfield	1974
North Weald Bassett	4510
Passingford	2388
Roydon	2381
Shelley	2456
Theydon Bois	4154
Waltham Abbey High Beach	2734
Waltham Abbey Honey Lane	6412
Waltham Abbey North East	3971
Waltham Abbey Paternoster	4739
Waltham Abbey South West	4605
Epping Forest Total	132175

Source: Census 2021 (Nomis/ONS)

Last updated: 20/02/2024, Additional Sources: Office for National Statistics & Department for Work & Pensions.

Top 20 most depressing towns in Britain 2024