Photo: Michael Garlick · CC BY-SA 2.0A Welsh-speaking town: 26% of Conwy’s residents speak Welsh
With a median age of 48.7, Conwy is older than 78% of UK towns. There were 7,174 households locally at the 2021 Census, home to 15,706 residents. Households with dependent children: 24% of the total. The average household has 2.2 people, against 2.3 across Wales’s towns.
What the Census says about Conwy’s people
A Welsh-speaking town
3,984 residents, 26% of those aged 3 and over, said they can speak Welsh in 2021, more than in 79% of Welsh towns. Welsh language ↓
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.
A +8% change since 2011: faster than 51% of UK towns
ONS mid-year estimates, each year indexed to mid-2011 = 100. Conwy’s figure is the small areas (2021 LSOAs) that make up the town.
People, mid-2011 = 100
Change by age, 2011 to 2024
About 14,700 people in 2011; 15,800 in 2024.
The 65 and over group saw the biggest change (+17%), the 16 to 29 group the smallest (−3%). In one year, mid-2014 to mid-2015, the population rose by 2,530, the most of any year.
Conwy: 27% of residents are 65 or over, above 81% of UK towns
Share of residents in each five-year age band, Census 2021.
The largest age band is 50–54: 7.3% of residents. The wider picture: 21% of residents are 65 or over across Wales’s towns. Compared with other places, residents aged 15 to 24 are scarce here: 8.8%, fewer than in four fifths of UK towns. In Penrhyn Bay, the oldest of Clwyd’s towns by this measure, it is 34%.
Median age of UK towns of 2,500+
■ Conwy, 48.7. The typical town is 44.4.
Broad ages · share of residents
Women and men · all residents
53% women, 47% men
About 90 men for every 100 women. Across Wales, 51% of residents are women. Women live longer than men, so towns with many older residents have more women.
Full-time students: 5%, a higher share than 57% 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 Wales’s towns, 29% of adults are in managerial and professional jobs and 27% in routine work; in Conwy, 34% and 24%. To put it in context, 8% of adults are full-time students across Wales’s towns. Locally, 8.5% of residents lived at another address a year earlier.
One-person homes: 33% of households in Conwy
Household make-up at the 2021 Census. Each square is 1% of households.
Against Clwyd’s towns and Wales’s towns
People per household
Wales’s towns.
In Conwy, 2.2% of households are unrelated adults sharing a home. For comparison, nearly a third of households are one person living alone across Wales’s towns.
Below 73% of UK towns: 15% of households live in a terraced house
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
Detached houses are home to 34% of households, against 24% across Wales’s towns. The wider picture: 29% of households live in a terraced house across Wales’s towns. On the census count, just over one in ten households live in a flat or apartment. Fewer households without a car or van than in 53% of UK towns: 15%.
A smaller share of residents born outside the UK than 71% of UK towns: 4.5%
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 10%
When those born abroad arrived
Main language · residents aged 3 and over
Most residents from abroad were born in EU countries (2.2%) or in the Middle East and Asia (0.9%). The usual figure: 7.4% of residents were born outside the UK across Wales’s towns. Higher than in two thirds of UK towns: 98% of residents have English as their main language. Arrivals from 2017 on account for 13% of residents born abroad, beside 23% across Wales’s towns.
Conwy’s residents: 26% speak Welsh
Welsh language skills, residents aged 3 and over, Census 2021.
Welsh language skills · residents aged 3 and over
Some 3,984 people here aged 3 and over said in 2021 that they can speak Welsh, 26% of the total, against 16% across Welsh towns: more than in 79% of them. In Clwyd, Llanfairfechan has the highest share (44%).
Residents who describe themselves as White British: 95%, a higher share than 74% 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: 95% of Conwy · Clwyd’s towns 92% · Wales’s towns 90%.
Religion · all residents
The groups that follow White British are Other White (2.8%), Mixed or multiple (0.9%) and Chinese (0.3%). Compared with other places, residents who describe themselves as Christian are common here: 51%, more than in 60% of UK towns. By way of comparison, nine in ten residents describe themselves as White British across Wales’s towns. Here just over two in five residents said they have no religion, where the figure across Wales’s towns is 47%.
Below 56% of UK towns: 31% of adults have never married or formed a civil partnership
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
There is little gap on unpaid carers: 10%, about the same as across Wales’s towns. On average, 38% of adults have never married or formed a civil partnership across Wales’s towns. 551 people care, unpaid, for 50 hours or more a week. At 47%, the share of married adults and civil partners is lower than in 55% of UK towns.
Degree-level qualifications: held by 35% of adults
Highest qualification, residents 16 and over, Census 2021.
Highest qualification · residents 16 and over
Conwy’s adults: 35% with a degree-level qualification and 16% with none, against 31% and 20% across Wales’s towns.
From a median age of 39 in Llandudno Junction South & Llasanffraid Glan Conwy to 52 in Llandudno Junction North & Deganwy
The town’s 3 neighbourhoods (ONS middle-layer areas with 500+ residents inside it, named by the House of Commons Library), youngest first. Census 2021.
Llandudno Junction North & Deganwy is the oldest area, with 31% aged 65 or over; Llandudno Junction South & Llasanffraid Glan Conwy the youngest (median age 39). Families with children are most common in Llandudno Junction South & Llasanffraid Glan Conwy (31% of households).
Among 354 UK towns of 11,000 to 21,000 people, the 52nd oldest
Median age, Census 2021. Hover a dot for its students and residents born abroad; click for its page.
At the ends of the range sit Aberystwyth (25), the youngest, and Sidmouth (60.4), the oldest. Nearest to Conwy in age: Knaresborough (48.6), Wimborne Minster (48.6), Thornton (48.8) and Bramhall (48.9).
Of the 7 towns nearest Conwy, 4 are older
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Conwy | 15,706 | — | 48.7 | 27% | 24% |
| Llansanffraid Glan Conwy | 1,663 | 1.9 mi | 51.9 | 29% | 20% |
| Llandudno | 14,699 | 2 mi | 50.4 | 28% | 20% |
| Penrhyn Bay | 4,201 | 2.6 mi | 54.6 | 34% | 21% |
| Dwygyfylchi | 1,403 | 3.3 mi | 50.6 | 26% | 23% |
| Colwyn Bay | 29,273 | 3.8 mi | 47.3 | 26% | 25% |
| Penmaenmawr | 2,762 | 4.6 mi | 46.6 | 23% | 24% |
| Mynydd Marian | 1,351 | 6.8 mi | 39.8 | 15% | 34% |
Health, work and homes have their own pages
What this data can and can’t tell you
- “Clwyd’s towns” and “Wales’s towns” mean their built-up areas. Census comparisons pool every built-up area in Clwyd (or Wales), summed the same way as Conwy’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. Conwy’s trend uses the small areas (2021 LSOAs) with most of their people inside it: 15,706 people in 2021, against 15,706 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 Conwy’s residents
What is the population of Conwy?
The 2021 Census counted 15,706 people in Conwy’s built-up area. The ONS estimates the same small areas held 15,800 people in mid-2024, 8% more than in 2011.
What is the average age in Conwy?
The median age was 48.7 at the 2021 Census, older than 78% of UK towns. 8.8% of residents were 15 to 24 and 27% were 65 or over.
How diverse is Conwy?
95% of residents described themselves as White British in 2021, against 90% across Wales’s towns and 92% across Clwyd’s towns. 4.5% were born outside the UK.
What religion are people in Conwy?
41% said they had no religion and 51% that they were Christian at the 2021 Census; 0.5% were Muslim and 6.2% didn’t answer.
Is Conwy good for families?
24% of households had dependent children in 2021, against 27% across Wales’s towns. Families are most common in Llandudno Junction South & Llasanffraid Glan Conwy (31% of households). Schools are on Conwy’s schools page.
How many people speak Welsh in Conwy?
3,984 residents aged 3 and over, 26%, said they can speak Welsh at the 2021 Census, against 16% across Welsh towns.
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, TS032) · 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.