Gregory King's estimate of population and wealth, England and Wales, 1688

Number
of families
Ranks, Degrees,
Titles, and Qualifications
Heads
per family
Number of
persons
Yearly income
per family
160 Temporal Lords 40 6,400 2,800
26 Spiritual Lords 20 520 1,300
800 Baronets 16 12,800 880
600 Knights 13 7,800 650
3,000 Esquires 10 30,000 450
12,000 Gentlemen 8 96,000 280
5,000 Persons in Offices 8 40,000 240
5,000 Persons in Offices 6 30,000 120
2,000 Merchants and Traders by Sea 8 16,000 400
8,000 Merchants and Traders by Sea* 6 48,000 200
10,000 Persons in the Law 7 70,000 140
2,000 Clergymen 6 12,000 60
8,000 Clergymen 5 40,000 45
40,000 Freeholders 7 280,000 84
140,000 Freeholders 5 700,000 50
150,000 Farmers 5 750,000 44
16,000 Persons in Sciences and Liberal Arts 5 80,000 60
40,000 Shopkeepers and Tradesmen 180,000 45
60,000 Artisans and Handicrafts 4 240,000 40
5,000 Naval Officers 4 20,000 80
4,000 Military Officers 4 16,000 60
511,586   2,675,520 67
50,000 Common Seamen 3 150,000 20
364,000 Labouring People and Out Servants 1,275,000 15
400,000 Cottagers and Paupers 1,300,000 6.5
35,000 Common Soldiers 2 70,000 14
849,000   2,795,000 10.5
  Vagrants   30,000  
849,000   2,825,000 10.5
511,586 Increasing the Wealth of the Kingdom 2,675,520 67
849,000 Decreasing the Wealth of the Kingdom 2,825,000 10.5
1,360,586     5,500,520  

Source: Two Tracts by Gregory King, ed. G. E. Barnett (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins Press, 1936).

* This second category of maritime merchants is what King wrote; versions in which it appears as ‘Merchants and Traders by Land’ are subsequent alterations, though it is possible that this is what King intended.