Photo: APB-CMX at English Wikipedia · Public domainA larger share of households with dependent children than 86% of UK towns: 33%
The share of one-person households is 27%, against 30% across England’s towns. Ampthill counted 8,825 residents and 3,685 households at the 2021 Census. Here, 38% of households live in a detached house. Compared with other places, residents with no religion are common here: 44%, more than in 72% of UK towns.
What the Census says about Ampthill’s people
Growing faster than most
ONS mid-year estimates put Ampthill at 7,200 in 2011 and 9,300 in 2024, up 29%, against 10% for England: faster growth than in 94% of UK towns. Since 2011 ↓
Written from the data on this page: ONS Census 2021 (output areas summed to the 2022 built-up area) and ONS mid-year population estimates.
Ampthill grew +29% from 2011 to 2024, faster than 94% of UK towns
ONS mid-year estimates, each year indexed to mid-2011 = 100. Ampthill’s figure is the small areas (2021 LSOAs) that make up the town.
People, mid-2011 = 100
Change by age, 2011 to 2024
About 7,200 people in 2011; 9,300 in 2024.
Change by age ran from +41% for the 65 and over to +17% for the 30 to 44. Between mid-2011 and mid-2012 the population rose by 300, its biggest one-year gain.
Younger than 62% of UK towns: half of Ampthill is under 43
Share of residents in each five-year age band, Census 2021.
The biggest five-year age group is 50–54, with 8% of residents. Few places have as many residents aged 15 to 24: 11% here, more than in 80% of UK towns. Residents aged 65 and over are about as common here as across England’s towns, at 18%.
Median age of UK towns of 2,500+
■ Ampthill, 43. The typical town is 44.4.
Broad ages · share of residents
Women and men · all residents
51% women, 49% men
About 96 men for every 100 women. Across England, 51% of residents are women.
Ampthill: 5.9% of adults are full-time students, above 83% of UK towns
What adults did at the 2021 Census (the ONS’s 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%.
The share of residents who moved in within the year is 9.2%, against 11% across England’s towns. Full-time students make up 7.9% across England’s towns.
The Census was taken on 21 March 2021, in term time, so students were counted at their term addresses.
Ampthill households average 2.4 people, larger than in 76% of UK towns
Household make-up at the 2021 Census. Each square is 1% of households.
Against Bedfordshire’s towns and England’s towns
People per household
England’s towns.
Where 4.3% of households are unrelated adults sharing a home across England’s towns, Ampthill has 1.9%.
Only 10% of households in Ampthill have no car or van
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
Locally, just over one in ten households live in a flat or apartment. A fifth of households live in a terraced house; across England’s towns the figure is 24%.
Ampthill: 99% of residents have English as their main language, above 77% of UK towns
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 30%
When those born abroad arrived
Main language · residents aged 3 and over
The newest arrivals, from 2017 or later, are 11% of those born abroad (against 21% across England’s towns). Residents whose main language is English make up 90% across England’s towns. Among residents born abroad, the largest groups were born in EU countries (3.2%) and in the Americas, Oceania and elsewhere (1.2%).
Below 59% of UK towns: 91% of residents describe themselves as White British
How residents described themselves at the 2021 Census. Lines join the lowest and highest of the three figures.
Ethnic groups other than White British · all residents
White British, not charted: 91% of Ampthill · Bedfordshire’s towns 61% · England’s towns 73%.
Religion · all residents
Set against 46% across England’s towns, nearly half of residents describe themselves as Christian in Ampthill. The share of residents who describe themselves as White British across England’s towns is 73%. Besides White British, the main groups are Other White (4.6%), Mixed or multiple (2.2%) and Indian (0.7%).
52% of adults are married or in a civil partnership, more than in 77% of UK towns
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
On unpaid carers, 8% here is much the same as across England’s towns. Across England’s towns, married adults and civil partners come to 44%. The census found that 30% of adults have never married or formed a civil partnership in Ampthill.
41% of adults have qualifications at degree level
Highest qualification, residents 16 and over, Census 2021.
Highest qualification · residents 16 and over
11% of Ampthill’s adults have no qualification (18% across England’s towns), and 41% have one at degree level (34%).
482 UK towns of 6,000 to 12,000 people: this is the 167th youngest
Median age, Census 2021. Hover a dot for its students and residents born abroad; click for its page.
Tidworth is the youngest (28.4); Barton on Sea the oldest (65.3). Nearest to Ampthill in age: Norton-on-Derwent (43), North Wingfield and Holmewood (43), Watton (43.1) and Earls Barton (43.1).
Ampthill sits below 5 of its 7 closest neighbours on median age
Nearby built-up areas coloured by median age, Census 2021. Tap a town for its page.
| Town | People | Away | Median age | 65+ | Homes with children |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ampthill | 8,825 | — | 43 | 18% | 33% |
| Maulden | 2,486 | 1.3 mi | 45.6 | 20% | 30% |
| Flitwick | 13,668 | 1.6 mi | 42 | 18% | 29% |
| Flitton | 1,531 | 2 mi | 46.2 | 19% | 34% |
| Houghton Conquest | 1,867 | 2.7 mi | 44.7 | 21% | 26% |
| Lidlington | 1,300 | 2.8 mi | 42.1 | 16% | 37% |
| Westoning | 2,097 | 3.1 mi | 45.9 | 21% | 30% |
| Clophill | 2,515 | 3.1 mi | 49.7 | 24% | 28% |
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.
- “Bedfordshire’s towns” and “England’s towns” mean their built-up areas. Census comparisons pool every built-up area in Bedfordshire (or England), summed the same way as Ampthill’s figures, so households in open countryside are left out. The population trend compares with the whole county and nation.
- Estimates since 2021 are modelled. The ONS builds mid-year estimates from the Census, births, deaths and migration records. Ampthill’s trend uses the small areas (2021 LSOAs) with most of their people inside it: 8,970 people in 2021, against 8,825 in the built-up area.
- Small counts are blurred. The ONS 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 Ampthill’s residents
What is the population of Ampthill?
The 2021 Census counted 8,825 people in Ampthill’s built-up area. The ONS estimates the same small areas held 9,300 people in mid-2024, 29% more than in 2011.
What is the average age in Ampthill?
The median age was 43 at the 2021 Census, younger than 62% of UK towns. 11% of residents were 15 to 24 and 18% were 65 or over.
How diverse is Ampthill?
91% of residents described themselves as White British in 2021, against 73% across England’s towns and 61% across Bedfordshire’s towns. 6.4% were born outside the UK.
What religion are people in Ampthill?
44% said they had no religion and 49% that they were Christian at the 2021 Census; 0.4% were Muslim and 5% didn’t answer.
Is Ampthill good for families?
33% of households had dependent children in 2021, against 29% across England’s towns. Schools are on Ampthill’s schools page.
Sources: ONS Census 2021, output areas summed to the ONS 2022 built-up area (TS002, TS003, TS004, TS007A, TS008, TS015, TS017, TS019, TS021, TS029, TS030, TS039, TS044, TS045, TS062, TS067) · ONS mid-year population estimates for 2021 LSOAs, mid-2011 to mid-2024. All under the 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.