Photo: Reading Tom from Reading, UK · CC BY 2.0A Welsh-speaking town: 44% of Llanfairfechan’s residents speak Welsh
With residents aged 15 to 24 at 8.8%, Llanfairfechan is behind four fifths of UK towns on that count. Locally, 37% of households are one person living alone. More residents with no religion than in 94% of UK towns: 50%. The town counted 3,547 residents and 1,655 households at the 2021 Census.
What the Census says about Llanfairfechan’s people
A Welsh-speaking town
1,516 residents, 44% of those aged 3 and over, said they can speak Welsh in 2021, more than in 89% of Welsh towns. Welsh language ↓
Fewer people than in 2011
ONS mid-year estimates put Llanfairfechan at 3,700 in 2011 and 3,400 in 2024, down 6%, against 4% for Wales: slower growth than in 98% of UK towns. Since 2011 ↓
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.
Slower than most: −6% since 2011, behind 98% of UK towns
ONS mid-year estimates, each year indexed to mid-2011 = 100. Llanfairfechan’s figure is the small areas (2021 LSOAs) that make up the town.
People, mid-2011 = 100
Change by age, 2011 to 2024
About 3,700 people in 2011; 3,400 in 2024.
Growth was strongest among the 65 and over (+19%) and weakest among the 16 to 29 (−24%).
Older than 81% of UK towns: half of Llanfairfechan is over 49.2
Share of residents in each five-year age band, Census 2021.
No age band is larger than 55–59: nearly one in ten residents, 1.4 times the share across Wales’s towns. Compared with other places, residents aged 65 and over are common here: 24%, more than in just over two thirds of UK towns.
Median age of UK towns of 2,500+
■ Llanfairfechan, 49.2. 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 Wales, 51% of residents are women.
6.2% of adults are full-time students, more than in 86% 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 Llanfairfechan, 34% and 27%. Residents who moved in within the year are rarer here than in 71% of UK towns. As a reference point, 8% of adults are full-time students across Wales’s towns.
The Census was taken on 21 March 2021, in term time, so students were counted at their term addresses.
2.1 people per household, fewer than in 89% 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.
In Llanfairfechan, 1.8% of households are unrelated adults sharing a home, beside 3.1% across Wales’s towns. Census figures put households with dependent children at 24% locally.
Llanfairfechan sits above 73% of UK towns for households in flats (16%)
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
With households without a car or van at 18%, Llanfairfechan is ahead of 62% of UK towns on that count. At the same time, at 20%, the share of households in terraced houses is lower than in 52% of UK towns. Across Wales’s towns, the share of households in flats is 14%. In Llanfairfechan, 30% of households live in a detached house.
3.9% of residents were born outside the UK, fewer than in 79% 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 10%
When those born abroad arrived
Main language · residents aged 3 and over
Recent arrivals (2017 or later) make up just over a tenth of those born abroad (Wales’s towns: 23%). On the census count, 99% of residents have English as their main language. For residents born outside the UK, the comparison across Wales’s towns is 7.4%.
In Llanfairfechan, 44% of residents can speak Welsh
Welsh language skills, residents aged 3 and over, Census 2021.
Welsh language skills · residents aged 3 and over
Welsh speakers number 1,516, or 44% of residents aged 3 and over, against 16% across Welsh towns: more than in 89% of them. It is the highest share of Clwyd’s 39 towns of 2,500+.
A larger share of residents who describe themselves as White British than 81% of UK towns: 95%
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 Llanfairfechan · Clwyd’s towns 92% · Wales’s towns 90%.
Religion · all residents
Nothing unusual on residents who describe themselves as Christian: 43%, close to the figure across Wales’s towns. Elsewhere, 90% of residents describe themselves as White British across Wales’s towns. Beyond White British, the biggest groups are Other White (2.4%), Mixed or multiple (1.2%) and Chinese (0.4%).
A larger share of adults who have never married than 58% of UK towns: 34%
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 110. 44% of adults are married or in a civil partnership, a lower share than in 74% of UK towns. On average, 38% of adults have never married or formed a civil partnership across Wales’s towns. At 10%, the share of unpaid carers is in line with the figure across Wales’s towns.
Degree-level qualifications: 38% of adults
Highest qualification, residents 16 and over, Census 2021.
Highest qualification · residents 16 and over
17% of Llanfairfechan’s adults have no qualification (20% across Wales’s towns), and 38% have one at degree level (31%). Students still working towards a degree help explain why A levels are the highest qualification of 16%.
221st highest median age among 749 UK towns of 2,500 to 5,000
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 Bailrigg (18.9), the youngest, and Milford on Sea (64.6), the oldest. Nearest to Llanfairfechan in age: Petworth (49.2), Southbourne (49.2), Newton and Blackwell (49.3) and Kingsbury (49.3).
Median age: 2 of the 7 towns around Llanfairfechan 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Llanfairfechan | 3,547 | — | 49.2 | 24% | 24% |
| Penmaenmawr | 2,762 | 2.4 mi | 46.6 | 23% | 24% |
| Dwygyfylchi | 1,403 | 3.6 mi | 50.6 | 26% | 23% |
| Beaumaris | 1,120 | 5.1 mi | 58.1 | 39% | 17% |
| Bethesda | 3,757 | 6.1 mi | 39.8 | 17% | 29% |
| Tregarth | 1,252 | 6.5 mi | 43.8 | 20% | 30% |
| Conwy | 15,706 | 6.9 mi | 48.7 | 27% | 24% |
| Bangor | 16,994 | 7.1 mi | 26.4 | 12% | 26% |
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 Llanfairfechan’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. Llanfairfechan’s trend uses the small areas (2021 LSOAs) with most of their people inside it: 3,547 people in 2021, against 3,547 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 Llanfairfechan’s residents
What is the population of Llanfairfechan?
The 2021 Census counted 3,547 people in Llanfairfechan’s built-up area. The ONS estimates the same small areas held 3,400 people in mid-2024, 6% fewer than in 2011.
What is the average age in Llanfairfechan?
The median age was 49.2 at the 2021 Census, older than 81% of UK towns. 8.8% of residents were 15 to 24 and 24% were 65 or over.
How diverse is Llanfairfechan?
95% of residents described themselves as White British in 2021, against 90% across Wales’s towns and 92% across Clwyd’s towns. 3.9% were born outside the UK.
What religion are people in Llanfairfechan?
50% said they had no religion and 43% that they were Christian at the 2021 Census; 0.1% were Muslim and 5.1% didn’t answer.
Is Llanfairfechan good for families?
24% of households had dependent children in 2021, against 27% across Wales’s towns. Schools are on Llanfairfechan’s schools page.
How many people speak Welsh in Llanfairfechan?
1,516 residents aged 3 and over, 44%, 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. 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.