Photo: Unknown author · Public domainSharnbrook is older than 86% of UK towns: a median age of 50.3
Households without a car or van make up 8.4%, against 24% across England’s towns. Lower than in just over four fifths of UK towns: 26% of households are one person living alone. Sharnbrook’s 727 households held 1,744 residents at the 2021 Census. Here, 55% of adults are married or in a civil partnership.
What the Census says about Sharnbrook’s people
Older than most towns
Half of Sharnbrook’s residents are under 50.3 and half over, against 44.4 in the typical UK town. 28% are 65 or over, against 18% across England’s towns. Ages ↓
Written from the data on this page: ONS Census 2021 (output areas summed to the 2022 built-up area).
Above 86% of UK towns: 28% of residents are 65 or over
Share of residents in each five-year age band, Census 2021.
The largest age band is 50–54: nearly one in ten residents. At 11%, the share of residents aged 15 to 24 is higher than in 85% of UK towns. By way of comparison, 18% of residents are 65 or over across England’s towns.
Broad ages · share of residents
Women and men · all residents
52% women, 48% men
About 93 men for every 100 women. Across England, 51% of residents are women. Women live longer than men, so towns with many older residents have more women.
A higher share of full-time students than 91% of UK towns, at 6.9%
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%.
47% of Sharnbrook’s adults are in managerial and professional jobs and 16% in routine and semi-routine work, against 33% and 24% across England’s towns. More residents who moved in within the year than in 74% of UK towns: 10%. Measured more widely, 7.9% of adults are full-time students across England’s towns.
The Census was taken on 21 March 2021, in term time, so students were counted at their term addresses.
Below 81% of UK towns: 1.8% of households are unrelated adults sharing a home
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 29% of households have dependent children across England’s towns, Sharnbrook has 28%. On average, 4.3% of households are unrelated adults sharing a home across England’s towns. Average household size: 2.4 people.
Fewer households in flats than 86% of UK towns: 4.3%
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
Against a figure of 24% across England’s towns, the share of households in terraced houses in Sharnbrook comes in at 19%. The wider picture: 23% of households live in a flat or apartment across England’s towns. For Sharnbrook, the census puts households in detached houses at 43%.
9% born outside the UK, more than in 70% 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 share of residents whose main language is English tops just over three fifths of UK towns: 98%. The largest groups were born in EU countries (2.9%) and in Africa (2.1%). The usual figure: 18% of residents were born outside the UK across England’s towns.
In Sharnbrook, 53% of residents describe themselves as Christian, more than in 69% 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 Sharnbrook · Bedfordshire’s towns 61% · England’s towns 73%.
Religion · all residents
The share of residents who describe themselves as White British trails nearly two thirds of UK towns: 89%. Typically, 46% of residents describe themselves as Christian across England’s towns. Leading the other groups after White British: Other White (4.1%), Mixed or multiple (2.8%) and Indian (1.2%).
Below 85% of UK towns: 27% of adults have never married or formed a civil partnership
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 43 people. Adults who have never married make up 39% across England’s towns. Sharnbrook sits close to the norm on unpaid carers: 9.2%, about the same as across England’s towns.
Among adults, 42% hold a degree-level qualification
Highest qualification, residents 16 and over, Census 2021.
Highest qualification · residents 16 and over
Across England’s towns, 34% of adults have a degree-level qualification; in Sharnbrook, 42%, and 11% have none, against 18%. A levels are the highest qualification of 17%, many of them students still working towards a degree.
Every nearby town is younger than Sharnbrook
Nearby built-up areas coloured by median age, Census 2021. Tap a town for its page.
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 Sharnbrook’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 Sharnbrook’s residents
What is the population of Sharnbrook?
The 2021 Census counted 1,744 people in Sharnbrook’s built-up area.
What is the average age in Sharnbrook?
The median age was 50.3 at the 2021 Census. 11% of residents were 15 to 24 and 28% were 65 or over.
How diverse is Sharnbrook?
89% of residents described themselves as White British in 2021, against 73% across England’s towns and 61% across Bedfordshire’s towns. 9% were born outside the UK.
What religion are people in Sharnbrook?
40% said they had no religion and 53% that they were Christian at the 2021 Census; 0.6% were Muslim and 4.2% didn’t answer.
Is Sharnbrook good for families?
28% of households had dependent children in 2021, against 29% across England’s towns. Schools are on Sharnbrook’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.