Photo: John Sutton · CC BY-SA 2.0Half of Soham is under 38.9, younger than 86% of UK towns
By its share of households with dependent children (32%), Soham is above 82% of UK towns. The 2021 Census put the town’s population at 10,609, in 4,488 households. Households in flats: 14% of the total. At 83%, the share of residents who describe themselves as White British is lower than in just over four fifths of UK towns.
What the Census says about Soham’s people
Younger than most towns
Half of Soham’s residents are under 38.9 and half over, against 44.4 in the typical UK town. 9.3% are 15 to 24 and 17% are 65 or over. Ages ↓
Written from the data on this page: ONS Census 2021 (output areas summed to the 2022 built-up area).
Residents aged 15 to 24: 9.3%, a lower share than 65% of UK towns
Share of residents in each five-year age band, Census 2021.
The biggest five-year age group is 30–34, with nearly one in ten residents. At 17%, the share of residents aged 65 and over is lower than in 83% of UK towns. Measured more widely, 12% of residents are aged 15 to 24 across England’s towns.
Median age of UK towns of 2,500+
■ Soham, 38.9. 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.
4.3% of adults are full-time students, fewer than in 73% 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%.
Across England’s towns, a third of adults are in managerial and professional jobs and 24% in routine or semi-routine work; Soham has 31% and 29%. Nearly one in ten residents had moved in within the year before the Census, fewer than the 11% across England’s towns. As a yardstick, 7.9% of adults are full-time students across England’s towns.
Bigger households than 66% of UK towns: 2.3 people each on average
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.
The figure for shared households of unrelated adults is 2.6% in Soham and 4.3% across England’s towns. Census figures put one-person households at 30% in the town.
14% of households have no car or van, below 60% 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
Just over a fifth of households live in a terraced house (England’s towns: 24%). In Soham, 28% of households live in a detached house. Every 7th household or so has no car or van.
Soham: 15% of residents were born outside the UK, above 87% 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
Just over a fifth of the town’s residents born abroad came in 2017 or later, set against 21% across England’s towns. Residents whose main language is English: 91% of the total. To put it in context, 18% of residents were born outside the UK across England’s towns.
More residents with no religion than 66% of UK towns: 43%
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: 83% of Soham · Cambridgeshire’s towns 72% · England’s towns 73%.
Religion · all residents
Leading the other groups after White British: Other White (11%), Mixed or multiple (2%) and African (0.8%). The comparison figure for residents with no religion is 37% across England’s towns. At 48%, the share of residents who describe themselves as Christian is lower than in nearly two thirds of UK towns.
35% of adults have never married or formed a civil partnership, a share 64% of UK towns don’t reach
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
The number giving 50 or more hours of unpaid care a week is 203. Soham has fewer unpaid carers than 89% of UK towns, at 7.7%. Across England’s towns, the share of adults who have never married is 39%. 46% of adults are married or in a civil partnership; across England’s towns the figure is 44%.
28% of adults hold a degree-level qualification
Highest qualification, residents 16 and over, Census 2021.
Highest qualification · residents 16 and over
With 28% of its adults qualified to degree level, Soham compares with 34% across England’s towns; another 20% hold no qualification (18%).
40th lowest median age among 455 UK towns of 7,000 to 14,000
Median age, Census 2021. Hover a dot for its students and residents born abroad; click for its page.
Stoke Gifford is the youngest (27.8); Seaton the oldest (61). Nearest to Soham in age: Knottingley (38.7), Platt Bridge and Abram (38.7), Southwater (38.9) and Sherburn in Elmet (39.1).
Every neighbour of Soham has an older population
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 Soham’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 Soham’s residents
What is the population of Soham?
The 2021 Census counted 10,609 people in Soham’s built-up area.
What is the average age in Soham?
The median age was 38.9 at the 2021 Census, younger than 86% of UK towns. 9.3% of residents were 15 to 24 and 17% were 65 or over.
How diverse is Soham?
83% of residents described themselves as White British in 2021, against 73% across England’s towns and 72% across Cambridgeshire’s towns. 15% were born outside the UK.
What religion are people in Soham?
43% said they had no religion and 48% that they were Christian at the 2021 Census; 0.3% were Muslim and 7.3% didn’t answer.
Is Soham good for families?
32% of households had dependent children in 2021, against 29% across England’s towns. Schools are on Soham’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.