Watford — Housing Profile (Census 2021)

Watford has a Gera Housing Stock Profile (GHSP) of 68/100 from ONS Census 2021 (-6 points below the national average of 74/100). 38.6% of its 39,628 households occupy detached or semi-detached houses, 73.8% use mains gas heating, and 8.7% are overcrowded by bedroom standard. Source: ONS Census 2021 Tables TS044–TS052 (OGL v3.0), census day 21 March 2021.

According to ONS Census 2021 (Table TS044), 38.6% of the 39,628 households in Watford occupy detached (10.5%) or semi-detached (28.1%) properties. Terraced houses account for 24.8% and purpose-built flats for 28.8%. Source: ONS Census 2021, OGL v3.0.

Per ONS Census 2021 (Table TS046), 73.8% of households in Watford use mains gas as their sole central heating source. Electric-only heating accounts for 13.9%, oil-only for 0.1%, and 1.8% of households have no central heating. Source: ONS Census 2021, OGL v3.0.

The ONS bedroom standard defines overcrowding as a household having one or fewer bedrooms than required. In Watford, 8.7% of households were overcrowded at Census Day 21 March 2021. By contrast, 54.5% were under-occupied (one or more spare bedrooms). Source: ONS Census 2021, Table TS052, OGL v3.0.

According to ONS Census 2021 (Table TS045), 22.4% of households in Watford have no car or van. 44.5% have one car, 25.3% have two cars, and 7.8% have three or more. Source: ONS Census 2021, OGL v3.0.

The Gera Housing Stock Profile (GHSP) is a 0–100 index computed from four ONS Census 2021 Topic Summary tables (TS044 accommodation type, TS045 car availability, TS046 central heating, TS052 bedroom occupancy rating). Formula: GHSP = 0.30 × (detached+semi)% + 0.25 × (100 − overcrowded%) + 0.25 × mains-gas% + 0.20 × (100 − no-car%). A higher score indicates a local authority with more spacious housing, lower overcrowding, stronger mains-gas connection, and higher car availability. National England & Wales baseline: 74/100. Source: ONS Census 2021 (OGL v3.0), census day 21 March 2021. All data is published by ONS.