Demographics
The population of Roker is approximately 4,600. Since the redevelopment of former brownfield areas of heavy industry into affluent riverside housing areas, and the founding of the St Peters Campus of the University of Sunderland to the immediate south of the area, Roker has undergone rapid demographic change. The first of these two changes brought a large influx of professional and managerial workers into the areas now known as St Peters Riverside and North Haven. The arrival of the university campus has seen a large number of the larger houses in the vicinity of Roker Avenue being converted into flats and student residences. The pursuant studentification has brought a substantial Chinese community into the area for the first time, along with a variety of other nationalities
Along with the district of Monkwearmouth, Roker forms the St Peters electoral ward on Sunderland City Council, which is a division of the Sunderland Central parliamentary seat. Previously a reliable Labour ward, St Peters is now a swing ward, with the Conservatives taking two seats in 2004 and a third in 2006, but Labour winning them all back in the 2010, 2011 and 2012 local elections.
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