Social Grade is the socio-economic classification used by the Market Research and Marketing Industries. Although it is not possible to allocate Social Grade precisely from information collected in the Census, the Market Research Society has developed a method for using Census information to provide a good approximation of Social Grade

Most output by Social Grade will be for people aged 16 and over in households. They will be classified by the Social Grade of their Household Reference Person (HRP). For households where the HRP is aged less than 16 or over 74 the Social Grade of people in the household will be determined by the household tenure. One table, for the workplace population (people in employment whose usual place of work is in the area) will categorise people by their own Social Grade based on their own occupation.

Applicability: All people aged 16-74, UK

1,2  AB Higher and intermediate managerial/administrative/professional

3     C1 Supervisory, clerical, junior managerial/administrative/professional

4     C2 Skilled manual workers

5     D Semi-skilled and unskilled manual workers

6     E  On state benefit, unemployed, lowest grade workers

X Not applicable

Total number of categories: 6

Not applicable category (X) comprises: people aged 15 or under or aged 75 or over

CAS023, CAS024, CAS042, CAS043, CAS044, CAS045, CAS046, CAS047, CAS224, CAS225

CAST01, CAST07

S23, S24, S42, S43, S44, S45, S46, S47, S64, S213, S215, S244, S225, S243

KS14a-c

T16, T27, T28, T34

UV50, UV78

Census Areas Statistics (CAS), Census Areas Statistics Theme (CAST), Key Statistics (KS) and Univariate (UV) tables are available for all census areas.

Standard (S), Armed Forces (AF) and Theme (T) tables are available at ST Ward/ST Postcode Sector and above.  

Click here to view a diagram of the census areas.