Photo: Eric Jones · CC BY-SA 2.0Fewer shared households of unrelated adults than 91% of towns in England and Wales: 1.5%
Set against 12% across Northern Ireland’s towns, 13% of residents give unpaid care in Bangor. The 2021 Census counted 64,596 residents in 27,167 households. The census found that 18% of households live in a terraced house here. At 32%, the share of one-person households is higher than in 68% of towns in England and Wales.
Bangor is younger than 55% of towns in England and Wales: a median age of 43.8
Share of residents in each five-year age band, Census 2021.
The biggest five-year age group is 50–54, with 7% of residents. In Donaghadee, the oldest of Ards and North Down’s towns by this measure, it is 27%.
Median age of towns in England and Wales of 2,500+
■ Bangor, 43.8. The typical town is 44.4.
Broad ages · share of residents
Women and men · all residents
51% women, 49% men
About 95 men for every 100 women. Across Northern Ireland, 51% of residents are women.
6% of adults are full-time students, more than in 84% of towns in England and Wales
What adults did at the 2021 Census (the NS-SEC classes), and where residents lived a year earlier.
Adults by occupation class · residents 16 and over
Address a year before the Census
Residents who lived somewhere else a year earlier. The bar runs to 25%.
In Bangor, 36% of adults work in managerial and professional jobs and 23% in routine and semi-routine work, against 29% and 27% across Northern Ireland’s towns. Full-time students: 8.3% across Northern Ireland’s towns, for comparison. For Bangor, the census puts residents who moved in within the year at 8.4%.
The Census was taken on 21 March 2021, in term time, so students were counted at their term addresses.
2.3 people per household, fewer than in 57% of towns in England and Wales
Household make-up at the 2021 Census. Each square is 1% of households.
Against Ards and North Down’s towns and Northern Ireland’s towns
People per household
Northern Ireland’s towns.
Locally, 27% of households have dependent children.
A larger share of households in detached houses than 58% of towns in England and Wales: 32%
Accommodation type and cars or vans per household, Census 2021. Owning and renting are on Cost of living.
Type of home
Cars or vans · share of households
Across Northern Ireland’s towns, 25% of households have no car or van; in Bangor, 17%. By way of comparison, 24% of households live in a detached house across Northern Ireland’s towns. Households in flats: 13% of the total.
Residents whose main language is English make up 97% in Bangor, less than in 55% of towns in England and Wales
Country of birth, year of arrival and main language, Census 2021.
Born outside the UK, by region · share of all residents; the bar runs to 15%
Main language · residents aged 3 and over
Residents born abroad were most often born in EU countries (3.6%), then in the Middle East and Asia (1.3%). Across the comparison, 94% of residents have English as their main language across Northern Ireland’s towns. The figure for residents born outside the UK is 6.7% in Bangor and 10% across Northern Ireland’s towns.
63% of residents describe themselves as Christian, more than in 97% of towns in England and Wales
How residents described themselves at the 2021 Census. Lines join the lowest and highest of the three figures.
Ethnic groups other than White · all residents
White, not charted: 97% of Bangor · Ards and North Down’s towns 97% · Northern Ireland’s towns 96%.
Religion · all residents
Asked about religion, 34% answered none, against 21% across Northern Ireland’s towns. As a reference point, just over three quarters of residents describe themselves as Christian across Northern Ireland’s towns.
Bangor sits above 60% of towns in England and Wales for married adults and civil partners (49%)
Legal partnership status (residents 16 and over) and unpaid care (residents 5 and over), Census 2021.
Partnership status · residents 16 and over
Unpaid care given · share of residents 5 and over
Unpaid care takes 50 hours a week or more for 2,311 people. The usual figure: just over two in five adults are married or in a civil partnership across Northern Ireland’s towns.
36% of adults have a degree-level qualification
Highest qualification, residents 16 and over, Census 2021.
Highest qualification · residents 16 and over
At degree level, Bangor counts 36% of its adults, against 32% across Northern Ireland’s towns; at the other end, 17% have no qualification (25%).
20th oldest of 115 UK towns of 45,000 to 87,000 people
Median age, Census 2021. Hover a dot for its students and residents born abroad; click for its page.
The youngest is Canterbury (27.5) and the oldest Christchurch (51.7). Nearest to Bangor in age: Horsham (43.8), Salisbury (43.8), Macclesfield (44.1) and Margate (44.1).
Around Bangor, 5 of 7 towns have a higher median age
Nearby towns coloured by median age, Census 2021. Tap a town for its page.
| Town | People | Away | Median age | 65+ | Homes with children |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bangor | 64,596 | — | 43.8 | 22% | 27% |
| Newtownards | 29,677 | 4 mi | 42.5 | 20% | 28% |
| Donaghadee | 7,325 | 5 mi | 49.2 | 27% | 23% |
| Holywood | 10,757 | 6.7 mi | 47.7 | 25% | 26% |
| Whitehead | 3,537 | 7.4 mi | 50.2 | 26% | 22% |
| Comber | 9,529 | 7.8 mi | 46.1 | 24% | 25% |
| Carrickfergus | 28,141 | 7.8 mi | 44.5 | 20% | 27% |
| Greenisland | 5,383 | 8.8 mi | 40 | 16% | 29% |
Health, work and homes have their own pages
What this data can and can’t tell you
- The Census was taken in a lockdown, in term time. 21 March 2021 fell in term time, and students were asked to give their term-time address, so most were counted where they study. Some may have been living with family that day.
- “Ards and North Down’s towns” and “Northern Ireland’s towns” mean their settlements. Census comparisons pool every town in Ards and North Down (or Northern Ireland), summed the same way as Bangor’s figures, so households in open countryside are left out.
- Small counts are blurred. NISRA adds small random changes to Census counts to protect privacy, so the same total differs a little between tables, and the shares of a small town can move by a point or two.
Questions about Bangor’s residents
What is the population of Bangor?
The 2021 Census counted 64,596 people in Bangor’s settlement.
What is the average age in Bangor?
The median age was 43.8 at the 2021 Census, younger than 55% of towns in England and Wales. 9.8% of residents were 15 to 24 and 22% were 65 or over.
How diverse is Bangor?
97% of residents described themselves as White in 2021, against 96% across Northern Ireland’s towns and 97% across Ards and North Down’s towns. 6.7% were born outside the UK.
What religion are people in Bangor?
34% said they had no religion and 63% that they were Christian at the 2021 Census; 0.4% were Muslim and 1.4% didn’t answer.
Is Bangor good for families?
27% of households had dependent children in 2021, against 29% across Northern Ireland’s towns. Schools are on Bangor’s schools page.
Sources: NISRA Census 2021 (Flexible Table Builder), data zones summed to NISRA’s Settlement Development Limits 2015 (household composition by super data zone; women and men from whole data zones, which approximate the town’s boundary). Open Government Licence v3.0.
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Contains HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright and database right 2026. Contains OS data © Crown copyright and database right 2026 (ONS boundaries). Northern Ireland: Source: NISRA; contains Land & Property Services data and Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland information, © Crown copyright, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Scotland: contains National Records of Scotland data, Registers of Scotland data and SEPA data, © Crown copyright / © SEPA 2025, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.