Maidstone Profile

The People

The total population of Maidstone is 155,200[1] people. Just over half the population is female (50.7%) and 49.3% of the population is female. The largest ethnic group in Maidstone is White (93.3%). The largest single BME ethnic group is Indian at 1% (1,500)[2].

Maidstone has a marginally lower proportion of 75’s with only 7.86% compared to the Kent average of 8.7%. The town has the highest percentage and actual population aged between 25-29 years old, accounting for 6.25% of the total population for Maidstone (9,700 people), the Kent average is 5.45%. The same is true for the age group 30-34 year olds with this group accounting for 6.19% of the population (9,600 people) compared to the Kent average of 5.6%.  Maidstone has a lower number of people aged 15-19 with only 5.99% compared to the all England figure of 6.30%. This bucks the trend for Kent where overall this group makes up 6.56% of the population. Maidstone borough has slightly more men aged between 25 and 54 compared to the Kent average, however, when comparing the results for Maidstone to the all England results male 40-54 years old are slightly better represented in Maidstone. The prison and barracks in Maidstone could account for this.

Educational attainment is high with over 34% of the population being educated to NVQ level four or higher.

The households

With 64,940 Maidstone has the greatest number of dwellings in the County, Maidstone has a higher than average percent of semi detached dwelling (35.65% of the total housing stock, compared with 31.99% respectively), and fewer terraced houses (only 23.93% while the KCC area has 25.73%).

In October 2011 there were 530 long term vacant dwelling in Maidstone accounting for 7.5% of all long term vacant dwellings in Kent. The majority of properties (53.35%) in the borough are in Council Tax bands C and D.  In terms of Council tax Maidstone has the third highest average rate per dwelling for council tax (band D) in Kent (£1430 including perish precepts).

The number of people claiming benefits in Maidstone is broadly consistent with the overall figures in the KCC Area; 9.0% of the total working population (aged 16-64) are on out-of-work benefits. Of the out-of-work benefits being claimed in Maidstone, more people are claiming Incapacity Benefit (51.5%) than Jobseekers Allowance (30.7%).

Six of the 92 Lower Super Output Areas are areas that are amongst the top 20% of most deprived areas in England. 14.5% of children under 16 in Maidstone are living in poverty; this is lower than the figure for the KCCC which is 18.5%.

Maidstone the economy

Of the total population, 99,100 (63.6%) people are aged 16-74 and considered of working age.  81.5% of people are economically active, of which 78.3% of people are in employment and 2.5% unemployed. The wage gap between work based and resident based earning is currently £73.40, the difference between male and female resident based earnings per week in Maidstone in £155.30. 

The main industries in Maidstone are construction, followed by Professional, Scientific and technical industries and retail. The borough also has a growing medical sector with a new private hospital currently being built. Maidstone town centre is also home the Kent Country Council and Maidstone Borough Council offices with 19,700 residents employed by the public sector, research by KCC shows that it is expected that there will be a 1,490 job losses in this sector between 2011 and 2015. 

There are 6,600 VAT register businesses in the borough, and 62.4% of new businesses survive at least three years compared to the KCC area average of 63.8%.

Maidstone – health & community safety

There was a net population increase in 2010 (1,880 births compared to 1,431 deaths).  There were 1,260 people claiming carers allowance in February. 

Life expectancy at birth in Maidstone for men is slightly higher than the KCC average at 79.2 years compared to 79.1 years. There is no difference in life expectancy for females between the Maidstone and KCC area figures at 82.7 years.

14.6% of people in Maidstone consider themselves to have a limiting life long illness and 18.6% of those aged over 65 claim either disability living allowance or attendance allowance compared to 3.3% of those age 24 and under.   

The crime level in the borough is marginally lower than the KCC average (59.2 recorded crimes per 1,000 population compared to 59.4), however this is not the case when looking at the different type of offences as Maidstone has a higher rate than the KCC area for shoplifting, theft and drug offences.