Photo: Michael Robinson · CC BY-SA 2.0Burghfield Common sits above 93% of UK towns for households with dependent children (35%)
By its share of one-person households (24%), Burghfield Common is below 92% of UK towns. Across Burghfield Common, 45% of households live in a detached house. At 54%, the share of married adults and civil partners is higher than in 84% of UK towns. Census day 2021: 6,216 residents and 2,475 households in the town.
What the Census says about Burghfield Common’s people
A town of families
35% of Burghfield Common’s 2,475 households had dependent children in 2021, more than in 93% of UK towns. 20% of residents are under 15. Households ↓
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.
+7% since 2011: slower than 51% of UK towns
ONS mid-year estimates, each year indexed to mid-2011 = 100. Burghfield Common’s figure is the small areas (2021 LSOAs) that make up the town.
People, mid-2011 = 100
Change by age, 2011 to 2024
About 6,300 people in 2011; 6,800 in 2024.
No year added more people than mid-2012 to mid-2013: 150. Split by age, the 65 and over changed most (+26%) and the 30 to 44 least (−6%).
A median age of 42.8: Burghfield Common is younger than 63% of UK towns
Share of residents in each five-year age band, Census 2021.
Where just over one in ten residents are aged 15 to 24 across England’s towns, Burghfield Common has 10%. 18% of residents are 65 or over.
Median age of UK towns of 2,500+
■ Burghfield Common, 42.8. 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.
Burghfield Common sits above 74% of UK towns for full-time students (5.5%)
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 Burghfield Common’s adults are in managerial and professional jobs and 16% in routine and semi-routine work, against 33% and 24% across England’s towns. Across England’s towns, 7.9% of adults are full-time students. Residents who moved in within the year: 9.4% of the total.
The Census was taken on 21 March 2021, in term time, so students were counted at their term addresses.
2.5 people per household, more than in 89% of UK towns
Household make-up at the 2021 Census. Each square is 1% of households.
Against Berkshire’s towns and England’s towns
People per household
England’s towns.
Here 2.1% of households are unrelated adults sharing a home, where the figure across England’s towns is 4.3%.
9.5% of households have no car or van, below 85% 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
With households in terraced houses at 14%, Burghfield Common is behind nearly three quarters of UK towns on that count. Households without a car or van make up 24% across England’s towns. Across Burghfield Common, 10% of households live in a flat or apartment.
More residents born abroad than 75% of UK towns: 10% in Burghfield Common
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
97% of residents have English as their main language, against 90% across England’s towns. The comparison figure for residents born outside the UK is 18% across England’s towns. The two biggest birthplaces abroad are in EU countries (4.2%) and in Africa (2%).
A smaller share of residents who describe themselves as White British than 73% of UK towns: 87%
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: 87% of Burghfield Common · Berkshire’s towns 62% · England’s towns 73%.
Religion · all residents
Beyond White British, the biggest groups are Other White (5.3%), Mixed or multiple (2.7%) and African (1%). Burghfield Common has more residents with no religion than 67% of UK towns, at 43%. The share of residents who describe themselves as Christian trails just over three fifths of UK towns: 48%.
Burghfield Common sits below 72% of UK towns for adults who have never married (29%)
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
Burghfield Common sits close to the norm on unpaid carers: 8%, about the same as across England’s towns. The comparison figure for adults who have never married is 39% across England’s towns. 120 residents care, unpaid, for at least 50 hours a week.
Qualified to degree level: 39% of adults
Highest qualification, residents 16 and over, Census 2021.
Highest qualification · residents 16 and over
12% of Burghfield Common’s adults have no qualification (18% across England’s towns), and 39% have one at degree level (34%).
624 UK towns of 4,000 to 8,000 people: this is the 175th youngest
Median age, Census 2021. Hover a dot for its students and residents born abroad; click for its page.
Ages run from 18.9 in Bailrigg to 65.3 in Barton on Sea. Nearest to Burghfield Common in age: Cross Hands and Pen-y-groes (42.7), Stanton Hill and Skegby (42.8), Rudheath (42.9) and Rainworth (42.9).
Older than Burghfield Common: 2 of the 7 towns nearby
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Burghfield Common | 6,216 | — | 42.8 | 18% | 35% |
| Mortimer | 2,932 | 1.6 mi | 47.3 | 24% | 29% |
| Theale | 3,053 | 2.6 mi | 42.3 | 18% | 25% |
| Spencers Wood and Three Mile Cross | 7,612 | 4 mi | 35.2 | 11% | 39% |
| Tadley | 14,767 | 4.7 mi | 45.4 | 22% | 27% |
| Reading | 203,789 | 4.9 mi | 35.7 | 13% | 31% |
| Bramley | 4,730 | 5 mi | 39.2 | 14% | 37% |
| Shinfield | 5,417 | 5 mi | 35.3 | 9.9% | 45% |
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.
- “Berkshire’s towns” and “England’s towns” mean their built-up areas. Census comparisons pool every built-up area in Berkshire (or England), summed the same way as Burghfield Common’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. Burghfield Common’s trend uses the small areas (2021 LSOAs) with most of their people inside it: 6,608 people in 2021, against 6,216 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 Burghfield Common’s residents
What is the population of Burghfield Common?
The 2021 Census counted 6,216 people in Burghfield Common’s built-up area. The ONS estimates the same small areas held 6,800 people in mid-2024, 7% more than in 2011.
What is the average age in Burghfield Common?
The median age was 42.8 at the 2021 Census, younger than 63% of UK towns. 10% of residents were 15 to 24 and 18% were 65 or over.
How diverse is Burghfield Common?
87% of residents described themselves as White British in 2021, against 73% across England’s towns and 62% across Berkshire’s towns. 10% were born outside the UK.
What religion are people in Burghfield Common?
43% said they had no religion and 48% that they were Christian at the 2021 Census; 1.4% were Muslim and 5.5% didn’t answer.
Is Burghfield Common good for families?
35% of households had dependent children in 2021, against 29% across England’s towns. Schools are on Burghfield Common’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.