Photo: Peter I. Vardy · Public domainWidnes sits above 98% of UK towns for residents who describe themselves as Christian (65%)
Shared households of unrelated adults: 1.9% here and 4.3% across England’s towns. Across Widnes, 32% of households live in a terraced house. The median age in the town is 41.5, lower than in 72% of UK towns. The 2021 Census put the town’s population at 59,938, in 25,776 households.
Widnes changed by +6% from 2011 to 2024, behind 59% of UK towns
ONS mid-year estimates, each year indexed to mid-2011 = 100. Widnes’s figure is the small areas (2021 LSOAs) that make up the town.
People, mid-2011 = 100
Change by age, 2011 to 2024
About 58,100 people in 2011; 61,300 in 2024.
Mid-2013 to mid-2014 brought the biggest yearly rise, 500 people. Of the age groups, 65 and over changed most (+29%) and 16 to 29 least (−10%).
11% of residents are aged 15 to 24, a share 80% of UK towns don’t reach
Share of residents in each five-year age band, Census 2021.
The largest age band is 50–54: 7.3% of residents. Against that, 12% of residents are aged 15 to 24 across England’s towns. Lower than in 75% of UK towns: 18% of residents are 65 or over. In Prestbury, the oldest of Cheshire’s towns by this measure, it is 33%.
Median age of UK towns of 2,500+
■ Widnes, 41.5. 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.
Widnes sits below 85% of UK towns for residents who moved in within the year (7%)
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%.
Full-time students: 5.6%, above 77% of UK towns. Set beside that, 11% of residents lived at another address a year earlier across England’s towns.
The Census was taken on 21 March 2021, in term time, so students were counted at their term addresses.
Bigger households than 55% of UK towns: 2.3 people each 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.
One-person households: 31% here and 30% across England’s towns. The census found that 29% of households have dependent children in Widnes.
Above 84% of UK towns: 23% of households have no car or van
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
Where just over a fifth of households live in a detached house across England’s towns, Widnes has 22%. As a reference point, nearly a quarter of households have no car or van across England’s towns. The census found that 11% of households live in a flat or apartment in the town.
In Widnes, 4.6% of residents were born outside the UK, fewer than in 69% 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
Against a figure of 90% across England’s towns, the share of residents whose main language is English in Widnes comes in at 97%. The usual figure: 18% of residents were born outside the UK across England’s towns. Residents born abroad were most often born in EU countries (2.5%), then in the Middle East and Asia (1%).
In Widnes, 29% of residents said they have no religion, fewer than in 94% 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: 94% of Widnes · Cheshire’s towns 90% · England’s towns 73%.
Religion · all residents
Across England’s towns, 73% of residents describe themselves as White British; in Widnes, 94%. Measured more widely, 37% of residents said they have no religion across England’s towns. The next-largest groups, after White British, are Other White (2.8%), Mixed or multiple (1.3%) and Chinese (0.4%).
Unpaid carers: 11%, a higher share than 82% 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
Married adults and civil partners: 43% here and 44% across England’s towns. Unpaid carers make up 8.7% across England’s towns. On the census count, 39% of adults have never married or formed a civil partnership.
25% of adults hold a degree-level qualification
Highest qualification, residents 16 and over, Census 2021.
Highest qualification · residents 16 and over
Across England’s towns, 18% of adults have no qualification; in Widnes, 21%, while 25% hold one at degree level (34%).
From a median age of 36 in Widnes Riverside to 47 in Hale Bank
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.
Hale Bank is the oldest area, with 25% aged 65 or over; Widnes Riverside the youngest (median age 36). Families with children are most common in Hough Green (32% of households).
44th oldest of 119 UK towns of 42,000 to 81,000 people
Median age, Census 2021. Hover a dot for its students and residents born abroad; click for its page.
Ages run from 27.5 in Canterbury to 54.4 in Lytham St Anne's. Nearest to Widnes in age: Beeston (41.4), Trowbridge (41.4), Sale (41.6) and Grantham (41.6).
Widnes and its 7 nearest towns: 5 of them 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
- 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.
- “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 Widnes’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. Widnes’s trend uses the small areas (2021 LSOAs) with most of their people inside it: 60,257 people in 2021, against 59,938 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 Widnes’s residents
What is the population of Widnes?
The 2021 Census counted 59,938 people in Widnes’s built-up area. The ONS estimates the same small areas held 61,300 people in mid-2024, 6% more than in 2011.
What is the average age in Widnes?
The median age was 41.5 at the 2021 Census, younger than 72% of UK towns. 11% of residents were 15 to 24 and 18% were 65 or over.
How diverse is Widnes?
94% of residents described themselves as White British in 2021, against 73% across England’s towns and 90% across Cheshire’s towns. 4.6% were born outside the UK.
What religion are people in Widnes?
29% said they had no religion and 65% that they were Christian at the 2021 Census; 0.6% were Muslim and 4.7% didn’t answer.
Is Widnes good for families?
29% of households had dependent children in 2021, against 29% across England’s towns. Families are most common in Hough Green (32% of households). Schools are on Widnes’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.