Photo: Oliver White · CC BY-SA 2.0A smaller share of households in flats than 96% of UK towns: 2.4%
56% of adults are married or in a civil partnership (England’s towns: 44%). Compared with other places, residents aged 15 to 24 are scarce here: 7.7%, fewer than in 95% of UK towns. Cople is home to 781 residents in 327 households, by the 2021 Census. Census figures put one-person households at 25% here.
A median age of 49: Cople is older than 80% of UK towns
Share of residents in each five-year age band, Census 2021.
Set against 18% across England’s towns, 24% of residents are 65 or over in Cople. 55–59 is the most common age band: 11% of residents, 1.6 times the share across England’s towns.
Broad ages · share of residents
Women and men · all residents
50% women, 50% men
About an even split. Across England, 51% of residents are women.
Cople ranks below 97% of UK towns on full-time students: 3.3%
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%.
In Cople, 45% of adults work in managerial and professional jobs and 15% in routine and semi-routine work, against 33% and 24% across England’s towns. The benchmark for full-time students across England’s towns: 7.9%. 7.5% of residents lived at another address a year earlier.
Households with dependent children: 26%, a lower share than 65% 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.
Across England’s towns, households average 2.4 people; in Cople, 2.3. Against that, 29% of households have dependent children across England’s towns. Shared households of unrelated adults account for 2.5%.
In Cople, 10% of households have no car or van, fewer than in 81% of UK towns
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
Set against 24% across England’s towns, nearly a quarter of households live in a terraced house in Cople. Just over a third of households live in a detached house.
Cople sits above 69% of UK towns for residents born outside the UK (8.9%)
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%
Main language · residents aged 3 and over
Residents whose main language is English make up 97%, against 90% across England’s towns. By birthplace, the largest groups from abroad were born in EU countries (4.2%) and in the Americas, Oceania and elsewhere (1.7%). The comparison figure for residents born outside the UK is 18% across England’s towns.
89% of residents describe themselves as White British, fewer than in 68% of UK towns
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: 89% of Cople · Bedfordshire’s towns 61% · England’s towns 73%.
Religion · all residents
Across England’s towns, 46% of residents describe themselves as Christian; in Cople, 52%. For Cople, the census puts residents with no religion at 40%. Set beside that, 73% of residents describe themselves as White British across England’s towns.
26% of adults have never married or formed a civil partnership, fewer than in 89% 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
15 residents care, unpaid, for at least 50 hours a week. The share of adults who have never married across England’s towns is 39%. At 9%, the share of unpaid carers is in line with the figure across England’s towns.
38% of adults have a degree-level qualification
Highest qualification, residents 16 and over, Census 2021.
Highest qualification · residents 16 and over
Degree-level qualifications cover 38% of adults in Cople, 34% across England’s towns; 14% have no qualification, against 18%.
1 of the 7 nearest towns are older than Cople
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cople | 781 | — | 49 | 24% | 26% |
| Shortstown | 4,837 | 2 mi | 32.9 | 6.7% | 42% |
| Great Barford | 2,254 | 2.6 mi | 44.7 | 20% | 33% |
| Bedford | 97,226 | 3 mi | 38.4 | 15% | 31% |
| Blunham | 1,391 | 3.2 mi | 44.7 | 23% | 30% |
| Wilstead | 2,404 | 4 mi | 53.2 | 32% | 22% |
| Sandy | 11,375 | 4.3 mi | 41.9 | 18% | 30% |
| Wixams | 6,044 | 4.3 mi | 31.2 | 8% | 49% |
Health, work and homes have their own pages
What this data can and can’t tell you
- “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 Cople’s figures, so households in open countryside are left out.
- 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 Cople’s residents
What is the population of Cople?
The 2021 Census counted 781 people in Cople’s built-up area.
What is the average age in Cople?
The median age was 49 at the 2021 Census. 7.7% of residents were 15 to 24 and 24% were 65 or over.
How diverse is Cople?
89% of residents described themselves as White British in 2021, against 73% across England’s towns and 61% across Bedfordshire’s towns. 8.9% were born outside the UK.
What religion are people in Cople?
40% said they had no religion and 52% that they were Christian at the 2021 Census; 0.1% were Muslim and 5.9% didn’t answer.
Is Cople good for families?
26% of households had dependent children in 2021, against 29% across England’s towns. Schools are on Cople’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). 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.