Paxman formerly lived with Elizabeth Ann Clough in Stonor, southeast Oxfordshire.
They have three adult children.
The couple, who did not marry, amicably separated in 2016 after 35 years together.
He prefers to keep his private life "out of the spotlight" and says he is not interested in the private lives of others.
He has a flat in Kensington, London.

He supports Leeds United and he also enjoys fly fishing in his leisure time.
He is vice-chairman of the Wild Trout Trust conservation charity.
He is also a patron of the charity Sustrans and east London homeless charity Caritas Anchor House.

When, in his twenties, Paxman unsuccessfully applied for the vacant editorship of the Labour-supporting weekly, the New Statesman, he said that in his youth he considered himself a socialist.
He had previously stood as a Communist candidate in his school elections.
More recently, he has been described as "the archetypal floating voter", and Jon Snow once said that Paxman's greatest strength was being "not very political".
In 2014, Paxman described himself as a one-nation conservative.
Elsewhere, Paxman has stated that he has no dominant political ideology:
I do understand we have to have a government, and I do firmly believe in democracy.
So it's not true to say I'm not a political person.
I am a political person.
But I'm not a party political person.
I don't believe there is a monopoly of wisdom in any one party.
I suppose as one gets older – I would have described it at the age of 21 as the process of selling out, but another way of looking at it is to say, actually, the world is not a very simple place, and that as you get older simple-minded solutions seem less attractive.

In June 2014, Paxman, speaking at the Chalke Valley History Festival about his new book, Britain's Great War, complained that Newsnight was made by idealistic "13-year-olds" who foolishly thought they could "change the world":
"Look, Newsnight is made by 13-year-olds.
It's perfectly normal when you're young that you want to change the world," Mr Paxman said. "
The older you get, the more you realise what a fools' errand much of that is and that the thing to do is to manage the best you can to the advantage of as many people as possible."
Speaking about his political views in general, he said he was "in favour of governments getting out of people's lives – particularly foreign government", saying Europe had been "nothing but trouble for us".
He also joked that Belgium was a "pointless little country". "
The closer you can take decision-making to the people affected by those decisions, the better."

In 2019, in a 60 Minutes Australia interview, Paxman said he voted remain in the 2016 United Kingdom EU membership referendum, (initially intending to vote leave), but believed the result had to be respected:
"I went to the polling station intending to vote leave and I ended up voting remain, because as I walked in I thought “it’s an awful institution the European Union but it’s all we’ve got.”
So that’s why I changed my mind...But actually I think now you can’t tell people that you’re gonna have a referendum and their vote will be respected and then not respect it, you just can’t do it.
It shows utter contempt for the voters.”

Paxman became a focus of media attention in October 2000 when a German Enigma machine, which had been stolen from Bletchley Park Museum, was inexplicably sent to him in the post.
He returned it to its rightful location.
Paxman formerly lived with Elizabeth Ann Clough in Stonor, southeast Oxfordshire. They have three adult children. The couple, who did not marry, amicably separated in 2016 after 35 years together. He prefers to keep his private life "out of the spotlight" and says he is not interested in the private lives of others. He has a flat in Kensington, London.
He supports Leeds United and he also enjoys fly fishing in his leisure time. He is vice-chairman of the Wild Trout Trust conservation charity. He is also a patron of the charity Sustrans and east London homeless charity Caritas Anchor House.
When, in his twenties, Paxman unsuccessfully applied for the vacant editorship of the Labour-supporting weekly, the New Statesman, he said that in his youth he considered himself a socialist. He had previously stood as a Communist candidate in his school elections. More recently, he has been described as "the archetypal floating voter", and Jon Snow once said that Paxman's greatest strength was being "not very political". In 2014, Paxman described himself as a one-nation conservative. Elsewhere, Paxman has stated that he has no dominant political ideology:
I do understand we have to have a government, and I do firmly believe in democracy. So it's not true to say I'm not a political person. I am a political person. But I'm not a party political person. I don't believe there is a monopoly of wisdom in any one party. I suppose as one gets older – I would have described it at the age of 21 as the process of selling out, but another way of looking at it is to say, actually, the world is not a very simple place, and that as you get older simple-minded solutions seem less attractive.
In June 2014, Paxman, speaking at the Chalke Valley History Festival about his new book, Britain's Great War, complained that Newsnight was made by idealistic "13-year-olds" who foolishly thought they could "change the world":
"Look, Newsnight is made by 13-year-olds. It's perfectly normal when you're young that you want to change the world," Mr Paxman said. "The older you get, the more you realise what a fools' errand much of that is and that the thing to do is to manage the best you can to the advantage of as many people as possible." Speaking about his political views in general, he said he was "in favour of governments getting out of people's lives – particularly foreign government", saying Europe had been "nothing but trouble for us". He also joked that Belgium was a "pointless little country". "The closer you can take decision-making to the people affected by those decisions, the better."
In 2019, in a 60 Minutes Australia interview, Paxman said he voted remain in the 2016 United Kingdom EU membership referendum, (initially intending to vote leave), but believed the result had to be respected:
"I went to the polling station intending to vote leave and I ended up voting remain, because as I walked in I thought “it’s an awful institution the European Union but it’s all we’ve got.” So that’s why I changed my mind...But actually I think now you can’t tell people that you’re gonna have a referendum and their vote will be respected and then not respect it, you just can’t do it. It shows utter contempt for the voters.” 
Paxman became a focus of media attention in October 2000 when a German Enigma machine, which had been stolen from Bletchley Park Museum, was inexplicably sent to him in the post. He returned it to its rightful location.
Jeremy Paxman