Brighton population

 

So far, data below applies to Brighton only, except where stated otherwise.

Up to 1800
Beware of spurious accuracy resulting from applying estimated multiplying factors. These are broad estimates only.

         
year population (est) based on multiplier source
1086 c400     Domesday Book, 1086.
1566 c1,100     ??
c1580 >3,000  for detailed breakdown see below.   L Salzman: Victoria County History, 1940.
c1640 2,850 nearly 600 families 4.75 T Cox: Magna Britannia et Hibernia, v, 1730, p510.
1665 1,268 267 houses 4.75 L Salzman: Victoria County History, 1940.
1676 3,340 2,000 of communicant age (?) 1.67 J H Cooper: 'A religious census of Sussex in 1676 in SAC, xlv, 1903, p144
1700 1,400-1,500     L Salzman: Victoria County History, 1940.
1724 2,375 500 families 4.75 WSRO Ep I/26/3: Bishop Bower's Visitation.
1730 <1,900 one third less than c1640 4.75 Cox, 1730.
1744 2,380 454 houses 5.25 J G Bishop: A Peep into the Past: Brighton in 1744-61. Brighton, 1895.
1747 2,150 410 houses 5.25 Bishop, 1895.
1753 2,140 407 houses 5.25 Bishop, 1895.
1761 2,035 400 families 5.0 Anthony Relhan: A Short History of Brighthelmston, 1761, re-edited by J C Michell (Brighton, 1829), p32. Relhan estimated 5/HH +35 in the workhouse.
1770 3,140 598 houses 5.25 [P Dunvan]: Ancient and Modern History of Lewes and Brighthelmston, Lewes, 1795, pp490, 553.
1786 3,620 [local census at the time of a smallpox outbreak]   W A Barron: 'Gleanings from Sussex archives: Brighton and the smallpox' in Sussex County Magazine, xxvi, 1952, p606.
1794 5,669 [local census at the time of a smallpox outbreak] 4.6 [Dunvan], 1795

Source: adapted from J H & S P Farrant: Brighton Before Dr Russell. Brighton: University of Sussex Centre for Continuing Education, 1976; apart from figures from the Victoria County History. Some additional estimates.


Brighton, population by employment 1580

     
occupation number
mariners, holding 10,000 nets, without enumerating their families 400
artificers and husbandmen, able to pay to the expenditure of the town, amounting to £5 0s 2d as their part of the contributon 102
exempt from rates, namely, the constable and his twelve assistant 13
freeholders of lands and tenements 92
total excluding poor families 597

Source: Charles Wright: Brighton Ambulator, 1818, p101

 

Census from 1801

           
year Brighton Hove
year population people/HH people/inhabited house households population
1801 7,339 5.32 5.72 1,282 101
1811 12,012 4.97 5.78 1,424 193
1821 24,429 5.18 6.19 312
1831 40,634 4.72 5.21 1,360
1841 46,661 4 4 2,509
...
1881 107,549 6.20
1891 115,873 5.93
1901 123,478 5.70

Source: decennial census


Census totals from 1801 to 2021

                     
  population population change change     population population change change
year Brighton Hove/Preston Brighton Hove/Preston   year Brighton Hove Brighton Hove
1801 7,339         1921 142,430 42,571 +8.5% +3.1%
1811 12,012   +63.7%     1931 147,427 55,875 +3.5% +31.3%
1821 24,429   +103.4%     1941 127,300e   -13.7%  
1831 40,634   +66.3%     1951 156,486 +22.9%  
1841 46,661   +14.8%     1961 163,159 72,973 +4.3%  
1851 65,569   +40.5%     1971 161,351 -2.0%  
1861 77,693 10,668 +18.5%     1981 149,400 71,049 -7.4%  
1871 90,011 13,749 +15.9% 28.9%   1991 153,900 72,083 +3.0% +1.5%
1881 107,546 29,333 +10.1% 113.3%   2001 155,919 91,880 +1.3% +27.5%  
1891 115,873 33,720 +7.7% 15.0%   2011 157,960 95,822 +10.3% +4.2%
1901 123,478 50,860 +6.6%     2021** 277,105   +1.4%  
1911 131,327 41,273* +6.4%    
*Hove
**Brighton and Hove

 

Area

1878: 2,591 acres

 

Header image: David Fisher
Page updated 5 October 2023