Photo: DS Pugh · CC BY-SA 2.0Only 11% of households live in a terraced house in Holywell
Where 24% of households live in a detached house across Wales’s towns, Holywell has 35%. The town had 7,741 residents in 3,366 households at the 2021 Census. On the census count, a third of households are one person living alone. Few places have so few married adults and civil partners: 43% here, fewer than in just over four fifths of UK towns.
Half of Holywell is under 43.1, younger than 61% of UK towns
Share of residents in each five-year age band, Census 2021.
Residents aged 65 and over: 20%, below 64% of UK towns. Compared with other places, residents aged 15 to 24 are common here: 11%, more than in 84% of UK towns. The largest age band is 50–54: 7.2% of residents.
Median age of UK towns of 2,500+
■ Holywell, 43.1. The typical town is 44.4.
Broad ages · share of residents
Women and men · all residents
50% women, 50% men
About an even split. Across Wales, 51% of residents are women.
5.5% of adults are full-time students, more than in 74% 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%.
7.8% of residents lived at another address a year earlier, against 9.1% across Wales’s towns. Full-time students make up 8% across Wales’s towns.
The Census was taken on 21 March 2021, in term time, so students were counted at their term addresses.
Shared households of unrelated adults make up 1.9% in Holywell, less than in 75% of UK towns
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.
Households with dependent children make up 28%, against 27% across Wales’s towns. A household here holds 2.3 people on average. Typically, 3.1% of households are unrelated adults sharing a home across Wales’s towns.
More households without a car or van than 73% of UK towns: 20%
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 Holywell, just over one in ten households live in a flat or apartment. Every 5th household or so has no car or van.
Fewer residents born outside the UK than 62% of UK towns: 5.2%
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
Arrivals from 2017 on account for 13% of residents born abroad, beside 23% across Wales’s towns. Residents born abroad were most often born in EU countries (3.3%), then in the Middle East and Asia (0.8%). At 97%, the share of residents whose main language is English is lower than in 64% of UK towns. On average, 7.4% of residents were born outside the UK across Wales’s towns.
Welsh speakers make up 14% of Holywell
Welsh language skills, residents aged 3 and over, Census 2021.
Welsh language skills · residents aged 3 and over
Welsh speakers number 1,042, or 14% of residents aged 3 and over, against 16% across Welsh towns: more than in 62% of them. In Clwyd, Llanfairfechan has the highest share (44%).
94% of residents describe themselves as White British, more than in 63% 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 Holywell · Clwyd’s towns 92% · Wales’s towns 90%.
Religion · all residents
By its share of residents with no religion (42%), Holywell is above 56% of UK towns. The largest groups after White British are Other White (3.7%), Mixed or multiple (1.2%) and Chinese (0.3%). This Clwyd town has more residents who describe themselves as Christian than 54% of UK towns, at 50%. Against that, 90% of residents describe themselves as White British across Wales’s towns.
Holywell: 11% of residents give unpaid care, above 92% 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
In Holywell, 37% of adults have never married or formed a civil partnership, beside 38% across Wales’s towns. The number giving 50 or more hours of unpaid care a week is 254. As a yardstick, one in ten residents give unpaid care across Wales’s towns.
Qualified to degree level: 27% of adults
Highest qualification, residents 16 and over, Census 2021.
Highest qualification · residents 16 and over
In Holywell, 27% of adults hold a degree-level qualification, against 31% across Wales’s towns, while 21% have no qualification at all (20%).
Ranked by age, 175th youngest of 538 UK towns this size
Median age, Census 2021. Hover a dot for its students and residents born abroad; click for its page.
The youngest is Red Lodge (30.9) and the oldest Barton on Sea (65.3). Nearest to Holywell in age: Runwell (43.1), Bagshot (43.1), Thornton (43.2) and Peasedown St John (43.2).
Holywell 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.
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.
- “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 Holywell’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 Holywell’s residents
What is the population of Holywell?
The 2021 Census counted 7,741 people in Holywell’s built-up area.
What is the average age in Holywell?
The median age was 43.1 at the 2021 Census, younger than 61% of UK towns. 11% of residents were 15 to 24 and 20% were 65 or over.
How diverse is Holywell?
94% of residents described themselves as White British in 2021, against 90% across Wales’s towns and 92% across Clwyd’s towns. 5.2% were born outside the UK.
What religion are people in Holywell?
42% said they had no religion and 50% that they were Christian at the 2021 Census; 0.5% were Muslim and 6.5% didn’t answer.
Is Holywell good for families?
28% of households had dependent children in 2021, against 27% across Wales’s towns. Schools are on Holywell’s schools page.
How many people speak Welsh in Holywell?
1,042 residents aged 3 and over, 14%, 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). 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.