Photo: Bernt Rostad from Oslo, Norway · CC BY 2.0Macclesfield: 35% of households are one person living alone, above 88% of UK towns
24% of households live in a terraced house across England’s towns, against 32% in Macclesfield. There were 25,003 households here at the 2021 Census, home to 54,352 residents. Census figures put households without a car or van at 19% in the town. Fewer households with dependent children than in 69% of UK towns: 25%.
A change of +6% since 2011 leaves Macclesfield behind 59% of UK towns
ONS mid-year estimates, each year indexed to mid-2011 = 100. Macclesfield’s figure is the small areas (2021 LSOAs) that make up the town.
People, mid-2011 = 100
Change by age, 2011 to 2024
About 52,300 people in 2011; 55,200 in 2024.
No year added more people than mid-2023 to mid-2024: 970. Change by age ran from +31% for the 65 and over to −8% for the 16 to 29.
Below 68% of UK towns: 9.2% of residents are aged 15 to 24
Share of residents in each five-year age band, Census 2021.
Against a figure of 18% across England’s towns, the share of residents aged 65 and over in Macclesfield comes in at 20%. What’s more, half of the town’s residents are under 44.1, younger than in 53% of UK towns. Measured more widely, 12% of residents are aged 15 to 24 across England’s towns. The biggest five-year age group is 50–54, with 7.7% of residents.
Median age of UK towns of 2,500+
■ Macclesfield, 44.1. The typical town is 44.4.
Broad ages · share of residents
Women and men · all residents
51% women, 49% men
About 95 men for every 100 women. Across England, 51% of residents are women.
A lower share of full-time students than 60% of UK towns, at 4.6%
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, 33% of adults are in managerial and professional jobs and 24% in routine work; in Macclesfield, 39% and 23%. This Cheshire town has more residents who moved in within the year than 74% of UK towns, at 10%. Measured more widely, 7.9% of adults are full-time students across England’s towns.
Smaller households than 85% of UK towns: 2.2 people on average
Household make-up at the 2021 Census. Each square is 1% of households.
Against Cheshire’s towns and England’s towns
People per household
England’s towns.
Compared with 4.3% across England’s towns, 2.2% of households are unrelated adults sharing a home here.
More flats than 72% of UK towns: 16% of households in Macclesfield
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
Across England’s towns, the share of households in detached houses is 21%; Macclesfield has 24%. On average, nearly a quarter of households live in a flat or apartment across England’s towns.
Fewer residents whose main language is English than 69% of UK towns: 96%
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
Among residents born abroad, the largest groups were born in EU countries (3.4%) and in the Middle East and Asia (2.4%). More residents born outside the UK than in 64% of UK towns: 8.1%. Residents whose main language is English make up 90% across England’s towns. Recent arrivals (2017 or later) make up 22% of those born abroad (England’s towns: 21%).
Macclesfield ranks below 64% of UK towns on residents who describe themselves as White British: 90%
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: 90% of Macclesfield · Cheshire’s towns 90% · England’s towns 73%.
Religion · all residents
Just over two in five residents said they have no religion, against 37% across England’s towns. For comparison, 73% of residents describe themselves as White British across England’s towns. Leading the other groups after White British: Other White (4.1%), Mixed or multiple (1.7%) and Indian (1%). Compared with other places, residents who describe themselves as Christian are common here: 50%, more than in 52% of UK towns.
Adults who have never married make up 35% in Macclesfield, more than in 69% 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
Some 1,295 people give 50 hours or more of unpaid care a week. Few places have so few married adults and civil partners: 45% here, fewer than in 71% of UK towns. On average, 39% of adults have never married or formed a civil partnership across England’s towns. Unpaid carers are about as common here as across England’s towns, at 8.9%.
Adults with a degree-level qualification: 37%
Highest qualification, residents 16 and over, Census 2021.
Highest qualification · residents 16 and over
With 37% of its adults qualified to degree level, Macclesfield compares with 34% across England’s towns; another 15% hold no qualification (18%).
From a median age of 40 in Macclesfield South & Lyme Green to 52 in Gawsworth & Macclesfield Forest
The town’s 8 neighbourhoods (ONS middle-layer areas with 500+ residents inside it, named by the House of Commons Library), youngest first. Census 2021.
Gawsworth & Macclesfield Forest is the oldest area, with 32% aged 65 or over; Macclesfield South & Lyme Green the youngest (median age 40). Families with children are most common in Macclesfield Upton Priory & Greenside (31% of households).
Among 123 UK towns of 38,000 to 73,000 people, the 23rd oldest
Median age, Census 2021. Hover a dot for its students and residents born abroad; click for its page.
The youngest is Canterbury (27.5) and the oldest Lytham St Anne's (54.4). Nearest to Macclesfield in age: Salisbury (43.8), Prescot (43.9), Margate (44.1) and Tynemouth (44.3).
Macclesfield is younger than 5 of its 7 nearest neighbours
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Macclesfield | 54,352 | — | 44.1 | 20% | 25% |
| Prestbury | 2,629 | 2.2 mi | 54.6 | 33% | 25% |
| Bollington | 7,236 | 2.8 mi | 48.1 | 24% | 25% |
| Alderley Edge | 4,496 | 5 mi | 50.7 | 29% | 22% |
| Woodford | 2,241 | 5.7 mi | 40.9 | 18% | 36% |
| Chelford | 1,377 | 6.1 mi | 48.2 | 29% | 21% |
| Poynton | 13,015 | 6.2 mi | 50.7 | 30% | 26% |
| Wilmslow | 25,716 | 6.3 mi | 44.1 | 20% | 29% |
Health, work and homes have their own pages
What this data can and can’t tell you
- “Cheshire’s towns” and “England’s towns” mean their built-up areas. Census comparisons pool every built-up area in Cheshire (or England), summed the same way as Macclesfield’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. Macclesfield’s trend uses the small areas (2021 LSOAs) with most of their people inside it: 53,169 people in 2021, against 54,352 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 Macclesfield’s residents
What is the population of Macclesfield?
The 2021 Census counted 54,352 people in Macclesfield’s built-up area. The ONS estimates the same small areas held 55,200 people in mid-2024, 6% more than in 2011.
What is the average age in Macclesfield?
The median age was 44.1 at the 2021 Census, younger than 53% of UK towns. 9.2% of residents were 15 to 24 and 20% were 65 or over.
How diverse is Macclesfield?
90% of residents described themselves as White British in 2021, against 73% across England’s towns and 90% across Cheshire’s towns. 8.1% were born outside the UK.
What religion are people in Macclesfield?
42% said they had no religion and 50% that they were Christian at the 2021 Census; 0.9% were Muslim and 5.3% didn’t answer.
Is Macclesfield good for families?
25% of households had dependent children in 2021, against 29% across England’s towns. Families are most common in Macclesfield Upton Priory & Greenside (31% of households). Schools are on Macclesfield’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 · House of Commons Library MSOA names. 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.