Photo: Colin Smith · CC BY-SA 2.0Chatteris: 47% of residents said they have no religion, above 84% of UK towns
Across England’s towns, 23% of households live in a flat or apartment; in Chatteris, 7.4%. At the 2021 Census Chatteris was home to 11,022 people in 4,817 households. On the census count, 37% of households live in a detached house. Half of the town’s residents are under 42.8, younger than in 63% of UK towns.
Since 2011, Chatteris has changed by +6%, slower than 56% of UK towns
ONS mid-year estimates, each year indexed to mid-2011 = 100. Chatteris’s figure is the small areas (2021 LSOAs) that make up the town.
People, mid-2011 = 100
Change by age, 2011 to 2024
About 10,500 people in 2011; 11,200 in 2024.
The 65 and over group saw the biggest change (+19%), the 16 to 29 group the smallest (−3%). The biggest jump came in the year to mid-2015: 230 more people.
A lower share of residents aged 65 and over than 61% of UK towns, at 20%
Share of residents in each five-year age band, Census 2021.
More residents are 50–54 than any other five-year age: 7.6% of residents. By way of comparison, 18% of residents are 65 or over across England’s towns. In Buckden, the oldest of Cambridgeshire’s towns by this measure, it is 30%.
Median age of UK towns of 2,500+
■ Chatteris, 42.8. The typical town is 44.4.
Broad ages · share of residents
Women and men · all residents
51% women, 49% men
About an even split. Across England, 51% of residents are women.
A smaller share of full-time students than 81% of UK towns: 4.1%
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%.
By class, 27% of adults are in managerial and professional jobs and 30% in routine and semi-routine work (England’s towns: 33% and 24%). Across the comparison, 7.9% of adults are full-time students across England’s towns. Locally, 8.5% of residents lived at another address a year earlier.
In Chatteris, 2.9% of households are unrelated adults sharing a home, more than in 74% of UK towns
Household make-up at the 2021 Census. Each square is 1% of households.
Against Cambridgeshire’s towns and England’s towns
People per household
England’s towns.
Against a figure of 29% across England’s towns, the share of households with dependent children in Chatteris comes in at 26%. Shared households of unrelated adults: 4.3% across England’s towns, for comparison. On average, 2.3 people share a household.
Households without a car or van: 13%, a lower share than 65% 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
Households in terraced houses account for 21%. Measured more widely, nearly a quarter of households have no car or van across England’s towns.
94% of residents have English as their main language, fewer than in 83% 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 25%
When those born abroad arrived
Main language · residents aged 3 and over
Across England’s towns, the share of residents born outside the UK is 18%; Chatteris has 11%. The comparison figure for residents whose main language is English is 90% across England’s towns. Most residents from abroad were born in EU countries (7.5%) or in the Middle East and Asia (1.1%).
A lower White British share than 70% of UK towns: 88% of residents
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: 88% of Chatteris · Cambridgeshire’s towns 72% · England’s towns 73%.
Religion · all residents
Behind White British, the largest groups are Other White (7.8%), Mixed or multiple (1.5%) and African (0.5%). At 46%, the share of residents who describe themselves as Christian is lower than in 75% of UK towns. Typically, 73% of residents describe themselves as White British across England’s towns.
More adults who have never married than 60% of UK towns: 34%
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 carers giving 50 hours or more a week: 344. Adults who have never married: 39% across England’s towns, for comparison. 45% of adults are married or in a civil partnership, fewer than in 68% of UK towns. Little separates the share of unpaid carers here, 9.6%, from the figure across England’s towns.
The share of adults with a degree-level qualification: 22%
Highest qualification, residents 16 and over, Census 2021.
Highest qualification · residents 16 and over
Against 34% across England’s towns, 22% of adults here have a degree-level qualification, while 23% hold no qualification (18%).
139th lowest median age among 397 UK towns of 8,000 to 15,000
Median age, Census 2021. Hover a dot for its students and residents born abroad; click for its page.
Aberystwyth is the youngest (25); Sidmouth the oldest (60.4). Nearest to Chatteris in age: Houghton-le-Spring (42.8), Cheadle (42.8), Shildon (42.9) and Broughton Astley (42.9).
Of the 7 towns nearest Chatteris, 4 are older
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
- “Cambridgeshire’s towns” and “England’s towns” mean their built-up areas. Census comparisons pool every built-up area in Cambridgeshire (or England), summed the same way as Chatteris’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. Chatteris’s trend uses the small areas (2021 LSOAs) with most of their people inside it: 11,193 people in 2021, against 11,022 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 Chatteris’s residents
What is the population of Chatteris?
The 2021 Census counted 11,022 people in Chatteris’s built-up area. The ONS estimates the same small areas held 11,200 people in mid-2024, 6% more than in 2011.
What is the average age in Chatteris?
The median age was 42.8 at the 2021 Census, younger than 63% of UK towns. 9.8% of residents were 15 to 24 and 20% were 65 or over.
How diverse is Chatteris?
88% of residents described themselves as White British in 2021, against 73% across England’s towns and 72% across Cambridgeshire’s towns. 11% were born outside the UK.
What religion are people in Chatteris?
47% said they had no religion and 46% that they were Christian at the 2021 Census; 0.4% were Muslim and 5.7% didn’t answer.
Is Chatteris good for families?
26% of households had dependent children in 2021, against 29% across England’s towns. Schools are on Chatteris’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.