Renting social housing
Published
- 1. Navigate toMain facts and figures section
- 2. Navigate toThings you need to know section
- 3. Navigate to By ethnicity section
- 4. Navigate to By ethnicity and area section
- 5. Navigate to By ethnicity and income section
- 6. Navigate to By ethnicity and age group section
- 7. Navigate to By ethnicity and socio-economic group section
- 8. Navigate toData sources section
- 9. Navigate toDownload the data section
1. Main facts and figures
- in the 2 years to March 2023, 17% of households in England lived in social housing – this means they rented their home from a local authority or housing association
- the highest percentage of households renting social housing were from the Black Caribbean (48%), Mixed White and Black Caribbean (41%), and Bangladeshi (40%) ethnic groups
- households from the Indian (5%), Chinese (5%), and White Other (11%) ethnic groups had the lowest percentage renting social housing
- across all income bands, White British households were less likely to rent social housing than households from all other ethnic groups combined
2. Things you need to know
What the data measures
The data measures the percentage and number of households in each ethnic group that rent social housing. People usually rent social housing from a local authority or housing association.
The information relates to households of either one person or a group of people sharing cooking facilities and a living room or dining area. It must be their main or only home.
Percentages have been rounded to the nearest whole number.
Not included in the data
Estimates based on fewer than 5 households have not been included. This is to protect people’s confidentiality, and because it is harder to make reliable generalisations from smaller numbers of survey respondents.
The ethnic groups used in the data
The data uses the 18 ethnic groups from the 2011 Census.
For data by ethnicity and another factor (for example, socio-economic group), 2 ethnic groups are shown:
- White British
- Other – all ethnic minority groups combined, including White minorities
This is to keep group sizes big enough to be able to make reliable generalisations.
Data is based on the ethnicity of the 'household reference person'. This is usually the person responsible for the tenancy or mortgage. If there are joint owners or tenants, it is the person with the highest income. If they have the same income, it is the oldest person.
The data does not account for people of different ethnic backgrounds who live in the same household.
Ethnicity was known for 99.8% of households.
Methodology
Read the detailed methodology document for the data on this page.
The data is an average for the 2 years from April 2021 to March 2023. This is to make sure there are enough households to be able to make reliable generalisations.
Figures are based on survey data. Find out more about:
- interpreting survey data, including how reliability is affected by the number of people
- how weighting is used to make survey data more representative of the whole group being studied
In the data file
Download the data for:
- unrounded percentages
- sample sizes
- weighted figures for the numerator and denominator
- estimates for previous years
3. By ethnicity
| Ethnicity | % | Social housing households ('000s) | All households ('000s) |
|---|---|---|---|
| All | 17 | 3,816 | 23,105 |
| Asian | 13 | 192 | 1,529 |
| Bangladeshi | 40 | 50 | 125 |
| Chinese | 5 | 8 | 151 |
| Indian | 5 | 33 | 673 |
| Pakistani | 18 | 62 | 352 |
| Asian other | 17 | 38 | 227 |
| Black | 42 | 325 | 778 |
| Black African | 40 | 198 | 496 |
| Black Caribbean | 48 | 112 | 232 |
| Black other | 29 | 14 | 49 |
| Mixed | 30 | 138 | 465 |
| Mixed White/Asian | 15 | 16 | 104 |
| Mixed White/Black African | 34 | 50 | 147 |
| Mixed White/Black Caribbean | 41 | 38 | 92 |
| Mixed other | 28 | 34 | 122 |
| White | 15 | 3,056 | 19,933 |
| White British | 16 | 2,876 | 18,552 |
| White Irish | 26 | 42 | 160 |
| White Gypsy/Traveller | 26 | 3 | 11 |
| White other | 11 | 135 | 1,210 |
| Other | 26 | 105 | 401 |
| Arab | 36 | 23 | 65 |
| Any other | 24 | 81 | 336 |
Download table data for ‘By ethnicity’ (CSV) Source data for ‘By ethnicity’ (CSV)
4. By ethnicity and area
| All | White British | Other than White British | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Region | All % | All Social housing households ('000s) | All All households ('000s) | White British % | White British Social housing households ('000s) | White British All households ('000s) | Other than White British % | Other than White British Social housing households ('000s) | Other than White British All households ('000s) |
| All | 17 | 3,816 | 23,105 | 16 | 2,876 | 18,552 | 21 | 939 | 4,554 |
| East | 15 | 386 | 2,557 | 15 | 321 | 2,140 | 16 | 65 | 417 |
| East Midlands | 14 | 288 | 2,004 | 14 | 236 | 1,681 | 16 | 53 | 323 |
| London | 21 | 748 | 3,507 | 17 | 282 | 1,717 | 26 | 466 | 1,790 |
| North East | 22 | 252 | 1,149 | 22 | 238 | 1,068 | 18 | 14 | 81 |
| North West | 17 | 529 | 3,077 | 17 | 463 | 2,705 | 18 | 66 | 372 |
| South East | 13 | 491 | 3,738 | 13 | 414 | 3,111 | 12 | 77 | 627 |
| South West | 13 | 315 | 2,421 | 13 | 280 | 2,224 | 18 | 34 | 196 |
| West Midlands | 18 | 420 | 2,372 | 17 | 321 | 1,907 | 21 | 99 | 465 |
| Yorkshire and the Humber | 17 | 386 | 2,280 | 16 | 322 | 1,998 | 23 | 64 | 282 |
Download table data for ‘By ethnicity and area’ (CSV) Source data for ‘By ethnicity and area’ (CSV)
5. By ethnicity and income
| All | White British | Other than White British | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Income band | All % | All Social housing households ('000s) | All All households ('000s) | White British % | White British Social housing households ('000s) | White British All households ('000s) | Other than White British % | Other than White British Social housing households ('000s) | Other than White British All households ('000s) |
| All | 17 | 3,816 | 23,105 | 16 | 2,876 | 18,552 | 21 | 939 | 4,554 |
| Up to 99GBP | 66 | 142 | 216 | 63 | 107 | 170 | 78 | 36 | 46 |
| 100GBP to 199GBP | 46 | 612 | 1,341 | 45 | 490 | 1,087 | 48 | 123 | 254 |
| 200GBP to 299GBP | 35 | 725 | 2,098 | 34 | 600 | 1,773 | 39 | 126 | 325 |
| 300GBP to 399GBP | 30 | 617 | 2,075 | 27 | 465 | 1,696 | 40 | 153 | 378 |
| 400GBP to 499GBP | 22 | 440 | 2,050 | 19 | 327 | 1,691 | 32 | 113 | 359 |
| 500GBP to 599GBP | 17 | 329 | 1,935 | 15 | 224 | 1,541 | 27 | 105 | 394 |
| 600GBP to 699GBP | 15 | 251 | 1,692 | 13 | 184 | 1,373 | 21 | 67 | 319 |
| 700GBP to 799GBP | 11 | 175 | 1,646 | 9 | 120 | 1,315 | 17 | 55 | 331 |
| 800GBP to 899GBP | 9 | 121 | 1,419 | 8 | 94 | 1,137 | 10 | 27 | 282 |
| 900GBP to 999GBP | 9 | 97 | 1,133 | 8 | 69 | 876 | 11 | 28 | 258 |
| 1000GBP and above | 4 | 304 | 7,501 | 3 | 197 | 5,893 | 7 | 107 | 1,608 |
Download table data for ‘By ethnicity and income’ (CSV) Source data for ‘By ethnicity and income’ (CSV)
6. By ethnicity and age group
| All | White British | Other than White British | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Age group | All % | All Social housing households ('000s) | All All households ('000s) | White British % | White British Social housing households ('000s) | White British All households ('000s) | Other than White British % | Other than White British Social housing households ('000s) | Other than White British All households ('000s) |
| All | 17 | 3,816 | 23,105 | 16 | 2,876 | 18,552 | 21 | 939 | 4,554 |
| 16 - 24 | 19 | 138 | 731 | 22 | 109 | 505 | 13 | 29 | 226 |
| 25 - 34 | 16 | 545 | 3,365 | 16 | 380 | 2,335 | 16 | 165 | 1,030 |
| 35 - 44 | 16 | 632 | 3,857 | 15 | 392 | 2,608 | 19 | 240 | 1,249 |
| 45 - 54 | 17 | 718 | 4,244 | 15 | 486 | 3,263 | 24 | 232 | 981 |
| 55 - 64 | 18 | 728 | 4,117 | 16 | 578 | 3,540 | 26 | 150 | 576 |
| 65 or over | 16 | 1,055 | 6,792 | 15 | 931 | 6,300 | 25 | 124 | 492 |
Download table data for ‘By ethnicity and age group’ (CSV) Source data for ‘By ethnicity and age group’ (CSV)
7. By ethnicity and socio-economic group
| All | White British | Other than White British | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Socio-economic group | All % | All Social housing households ('000s) | All All households ('000s) | White British % | White British Social housing households ('000s) | White British All households ('000s) | Other than White British % | Other than White British Social housing households ('000s) | Other than White British All households ('000s) |
| All | 15 | 3,208 | 21,169 | 14 | 2,459 | 17,165 | 19 | 749 | 4,004 |
| Higher managerial, administrative and professional occupations | 6 | 585 | 10,394 | 5 | 398 | 8,412 | 9 | 187 | 1,982 |
| Intermediate occupations | 14 | 650 | 4,546 | 13 | 493 | 3,706 | 19 | 156 | 840 |
| Routine and manual occupations | 32 | 1,974 | 6,229 | 31 | 1,568 | 5,046 | 34 | 406 | 1,182 |
Download table data for ‘By ethnicity and socio-economic group’ (CSV) Source data for ‘By ethnicity and socio-economic group’ (CSV)
8. Data sources
Source
Type of data
Survey data
Type of statistic
National Statistics
Publisher
Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government
Note on corrections or updates
Information published in the English Housing Survey headline report and other annual reports is usually based on a 12-month period, rather than the 2 years’ combined data used here. As a result, the statistics shown here may not match those in the English Housing Survey reports.
Publication frequency
Yearly
Purpose of data source
The English Housing Survey is a continuous national survey. It collects information about people’s housing circumstances and the condition and energy efficiency of housing in England.
9. Download the data
measure time time_type ethnicity ethnicity_type geography nssec income_band region age_group value numerator denominator sample_size