Socio-economic statistics for Penge, Croydon

Is Penge in Croydon 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 Penge older than the national average or younger? What is the population of Penge and Croydon? What is the claimant count in Penge and how many residents are unemployed? This page should provide you with the answers.

How many residents own or rent their home in Penge and Croydon

We have taken the raw data from the 2021 census and calculated what proportion of people in Penge either own or rent their home. All percentages have been rounded to two decimal places. 54.92 of residents own their home either outright or mortgaged. 45.08 of Penge residents rent their home either privately or through a social landlord.

Area	Owned	Rented
Crystal Palace & Upper Norwood	54.92%	45.08%
Croydon	54.7%	45.3%
London	45.23%	54.77%
England	61.31%	38.69%

Source: Census 2021 (Nomis/ONS)

Penge has a lower level of home ownership than than the national average.

Penge compared to other wards in Croydon

#	Ward	Owned	Rented
1	Sanderstead	83.35%	16.65%
2	Old Coulsdon	78.09%	21.91%
3	Coulsdon Town	77.3%	22.7%
4	Kenley	77.01%	22.99%
5	Selsdon & Addington Village	76.9%	23.1%
6	Selsdon Vale & Forestdale	76.73%	23.27%
7	Purley Oaks & Riddlesdown	71.43%	28.57%
8	Shirley North	71.33%	28.67%
9	Shirley South (Croydon)	70.84%	29.16%
10	Purley & Woodcote	65.8%	34.2%
11	Norbury Park	64.94%	35.06%
12	Addiscombe East	62.2%	37.8%
13	Crystal Palace & Upper Norwood	54.92%	45.08%
14	Norbury & Pollards Hill	52.9%	47.1%
15	Park Hill & Whitgift	52.58%	47.42%
16	Bensham Manor	51.26%	48.74%
17	South Croydon	51.09%	48.91%
18	Thornton Heath	50.7%	49.3%
19	Woodside (Croydon)	50.52%	49.48%
20	New Addington South	49.06%	50.94%
21	West Thornton	45.43%	54.57%
22	Waddon	44.61%	55.39%
23	Addiscombe West	42.15%	57.85%
24	South Norwood	41.84%	58.16%
25	Broad Green	36.7%	63.3%
26	Selhurst	33.91%	66.09%
27	New Addington North	28.85%	71.15%
28	Fairfield (Croydon)	22.41%	77.59%

Penge is ranked 13 out of 28 wards in Croydon for the percentage of home owners.

Source: Census 2021 (Nomis/ONS)

Penge Health Statistics

Crystal Palace & Upper Norwood has more residents (very_good_pc-$country_health->very_good_pc, 2)%) describing their health as very good than the national average for England.

Area	VG	G	F	B	VB
Crystal Palace & Upper Norwood	53.04%	33%	10.52%	2.75%	0.69%
Croydon	51.2%	33.45%	11.09%	3.26%	1%
London	53.55%	31.85%	10.33%	3.23%	1.05%
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 Croydon changed since 2011?

Croydon residents who describe their health as either good or very good has increased by 1.21% between the 2011 and 2021 census.

Year	VG	G	F	B	VB
2011	48.04%	35.4%	11.96%	3.5%	1.09%
2021	51.2%	33.45%	11.09%	3.26%	1%

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

Source: Census 2011/2021 (Nomis/ONS)

Penge Education Statistics

We have taken the raw data from the 2021 census to found of the level of education Penge 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 Penge to the national average for England.

Level	Crystal Palace & Upper Norwood	England
No Qualifications	12.13%	18.08%
Level 1	7.39%	9.69%
Level 2	9.51%	13.32%
Apprenticeship	3.12%	5.32%
Level 3	13.22%	16.92%
Level 4	51.94%	33.92%

Source: Census 2021 (Nomis/ONS)

What are the occupations of the residents of Penge?

The largest employment sector in Penge is Professional Occupations. The smallest employment sector is Process Plant & Machine Operatives.

Sector	Proportion
Professional Occupations	28.31%
Associate Professional & Technical	18.33%
Managers, Directors & Senior Officials	15.02%
Administrative & Secretarial	8.69%
Caring, leisure & Other Services	7.36%
Elementary Occupations	6.96%
Skilled Trades	6.54%
Process Plant & Machine Operatives	3.67%

Source: Office for National Statistics (30 June 2020)

Penge 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 Croydon.

Area	Unemployed	Yearly Change
Croydon	5.6%	-0.4%
London	4.8%	-0.4%
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 Penge 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 Penge.

Economic Status	Proportion
In Employment	64.66%
In Part-Time Work	24.86%
Unemployed	5.98%

Source: Census 2021 (Nomis/ONS)

75.14% of the people in work, are in full-time employment in Penge

Penge & Croydon 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 Penge in the Croydon local area district.

Area	Born in UK	Born outside UK
Crystal Palace & Upper Norwood	68.43%	31.57%
Croydon	65.15%	34.85%
London	59.37%	40.63%
England	82.65%	17.35%

Source: Census 2021 (Nomis/ONS)

Penge compared to other wards in Croydon

#	Ward	Born in UK	Born outside UK
1	Fairfield	49.35%	50.65%
2	West Thornton	50%	50%
3	Broad Green	50.05%	49.95%
4	Bensham Manor	51.29%	48.71%
5	Park Hill & Whitgift	51.3%	48.7%
6	Norbury & Pollards Hill	53.43%	46.57%
7	Selhurst	56.26%	43.74%
8	Thornton Heath	57.19%	42.81%
9	Addiscombe West	57.56%	42.44%
10	Norbury Park	58.17%	41.83%
11	South Norwood	61.51%	38.49%
12	Waddon	62.18%	37.82%
13	South Croydon	65.46%	34.54%
14	Woodside	66.09%	33.91%
15	Addiscombe East	67.45%	32.55%
16	Crystal Palace & Upper Norwood	68.43%	31.57%
17	Purley & Woodcote	71.41%	28.59%
18	Purley Oaks & Riddlesdown	72.62%	27.38%
19	New Addington North	73.74%	26.26%
20	Shirley South	75.15%	24.85%
21	Selsdon & Addington Village	75.36%	24.64%
22	Shirley North	75.38%	24.62%
23	New Addington South	78.49%	21.51%
24	Coulsdon Town	78.53%	21.47%
25	Kenley	79.63%	20.37%
26	Selsdon Vale & Forestdale	81.07%	18.93%
27	Sanderstead	81.47%	18.53%
28	Old Coulsdon	84.92%	15.08%

';Penge is ranked 16 out of 28 wards in Croydon for the number of residents born outside of the UK.

Source: Census 2021 (Nomis/ONS)

Penge Age Distribution Statistics

We have taken the raw data from the 2021 Census and the calculated the proportion of age groups in Crystal Palace & Upper Norwood.

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)

What is the population of Penge and Croydon?

The table below contains the populations figures for each ward in Croydon including Penge. These population ONS figures are estimated are dated Mid 2020.

Ward	Population
Addiscombe East	11463
Addiscombe West	15961
Bensham Manor	16911
Broad Green	20461
Coulsdon Town	13890
Crystal Palace & Upper Norwood	16950
Fairfield	13833
Kenley	10743
New Addington North	10865
New Addington South	11788
Norbury & Pollards Hill	13330
Norbury Park	10636
Old Coulsdon	10033
Park Hill & Whitgift	5671
Purley & Woodcote	16013
Purley Oaks & Riddlesdown	9785
Sanderstead	15489
Selhurst	12521
Selsdon & Addington Village	10143
Selsdon Vale & Forestdale	9425
Shirley North	15163
Shirley South	10368
South Croydon	18372
South Norwood	16732
Thornton Heath	17634
Waddon	18804
West Thornton	18695
Woodside	16884
Croydon Total	388563

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