Summary of facts and figures

Kent has a land area of 1,368 square miles and approximately 350 miles of coastline.

It is known as 'the garden of England' as a minimum of 72.7% of the land in each of the 12 districts is undeveloped.

For more information read the land use in Kent's local authorities bulletin (PDF, 944.0 KB).

According to the 2021 Census, Kent has 648,393 households. The majority (65.4%) of these are one family households. The average household size in Kent is 2.39 people which is comparable to that of the South East (2.39 people) and the national figure of 2.37 people.

Read more about Kent area profiles.

Data from the Land Registry states that the average house price in Kent during 2023 was £408,640. This is higher than the national average of £363,358 but lower than the average for the South East which is £455,599.

For more information read the property prices and sales in Kent bulletin (PDF, 792.3 KB).

Band D council tax is the standard measure of council tax (all other bands are set as a proportion of the Band D). 20.1% of dwellings in Kent fall into this band. However, the largest proportion of Kent dwellings falls into band C (27.2%). Council tax for a Band D property in Kent varies from £2,078 per month in Dartford up to £2,222 per month in Folkestone and Hythe. The national average of £2,065. The largest number of Kent dwellings fall into band C (192,390).

For more information read the Council Tax in Kent local authorities bulletin (PDF, 506.5 KB).

Kent has remained within the same national decile for 2019 Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD2019) as for IMD2015 for 4 of the 5 summary measures. Kent is ranked within the least deprived 50% of upper-tier local authorities in England for 4 out of 5 summary measures of the IMD2019. There are some areas within Kent that do fall within the 20% most deprived in England.

Read more about Kent area profiles.

With a resident population of 1,610,300 Kent has the largest population of all the South East counties. Just over half of the total population of Kent is female (51.3%) and (48.7%) are male.

Read the mid-year population estimates age and gender profile bulletin (PDF, 454.0 KB).

Over the past 10 years Kent's population has grown by 8.1% between 2013 and 2023. This is higher than the average both for the South East (7.6%) and for England (7%).

Read the population change bulletin (PDF, 228.6 KB).

Kent’s population is forecast to increase by a further 18.2% between 2022 and 2040.

Overall, the age profile of Kent residents is similar to that of England. However, Kent does have a greater proportion of young people aged 14 years and under and of people aged 50+ years than the England average. Just over a fifth of Kent’s population is aged 65 and over (20.5%).

Read the age and sex profile bulletin (PDF, 454.0 KB).

Kent has an aging population. Forecasts show that the number of 65+ year olds is forecast to increase by 40.7% between 2022 and 2040, yet the proportion of population aged under 65 is only forecast to increase by 12.3%.

Read the interactive population estimate toolkit.

The largest ethnic group in Kent is White. 83% of all residents are of white British ethnic origin, and 17% are of other minority ethnic origin. The largest single other ethnic group in Kent is Asian representing 4.4% of the total population.

48.5% of Kent residents describe themselves as Christian, whilst the largest non-Christian religious group is Muslim (1.6%). 46.6% of the population stated that they had no religion or did not state their religion.

82.2% of Kent residents describe their health as being “very good” or “good” and 18.0% of Kent’s population have an illness or condition which limits their day-to-day activities in some way.

Read more about Kent area profiles.

The number of Kent residents who are claiming disability benefits is 161,897 (10.2%). This is higher than the national figure (9.7%) and the the South East region (8.2%).

Read the disability in Kent bulletin (PDF, 1.1 MB).

60.3% of Kent’s population (971,500 people) are of working age (aged 16 to 64). 60.2% of Kent’s resident working age population is economically active which means that they are either in work or actively looking for work.

Read more about Kent area profiles.

The remaining 39.8% of the working age population are economically inactive. These people are not in work nor are they looking to work. This group includes those who are retired, looking after home and family, students or are permanently sick or unable to work.

Read the labour force profile (PDF, 1.1 MB).

139,660 Kent residents were claiming Universal Credit as at November 2023. 38.9% of those were in employment of some kind.

Read the benefit claimants in Kent bulletin (PDF, 713.0 KB).

Currently, approximately 34,895 people in Kent (3.6%) are claiming unemployment benefit. This is lower than the rate for Great Britain (4.3%).

Read the unemployment change bulletins.

Over a third of the Kent's population aged 16 to 64 (42.7%) is qualified to at least RQF level 4/5. This is lower than both the national average (46.6%) and the figure for the South East as a whole (49.2%). The percentage of Kent's population aged 16 to 64 with no qualifications, at 7%, is above the national figure of 6.3% and higher than the South East (5.1%).

Read the district profile.

The average weekly full-time earnings for people who live in Kent is £696.30. This is above the national average of £682.60 but below the regional average of £723.50.

Read the earnings in Kent bulletin (PDF, 603.9 KB).

The construction industry accounts for the largest proportion of businesses in Kent (18%) providing 44,500 jobs. This proportion is significantly higher than Great Britain (13.8%).

The professional, scientific and technical industry has the second highest number of businesses based in Kent (10,165) accounting for 15.8% of all enterprises in the county.

Kent has a high proportion of micro businesses - the latest data shows that 89.7% of all Kent’s businesses employ less than ten people. Medium and large enterprises employing 50 or more employees account for 1.4% of all businesses in Kent.

Read the UK business counts bulletin (PDF, 338.8 KB).

Kent Businesses in the wholesale and retail trade have the largest proportion of employees (16.3%) followed by 12.9% working in human health and social work activities and then 9.6% in administrative and support service activities.

Read the BRES bulletin (PDF, 620.6 KB).

The latest 1-year survival rate for businesses in Kent is 94.2%. This is slightly above the survival rate in the South East (94%) and Great Britain (93.4%).

Find out about the business demography (PDF, 547.9 KB).