Photo: Derek Harper · CC BY-SA 2.0Fewer flats than 94% of UK towns: 2.7% of households
Residents who describe themselves as White British make up 95%, against 90% across Wales’s towns. Just over one in ten households live in a terraced house, a lower share than in 82% of UK towns. Llay had 4,666 residents in 1,970 households at the 2021 Census. Census figures put households with dependent children at 29% here.
A growing town: +11% since 2011, faster than 66% of UK towns
ONS mid-year estimates, each year indexed to mid-2011 = 100. Llay’s figure is the small areas (2021 LSOAs) that make up the town.
People, mid-2011 = 100
Change by age, 2011 to 2024
About 4,800 people in 2011; 5,400 in 2024.
The 65 and over age group changed most (+28%) and the 45 to 64 least (−10%). Between mid-2023 and mid-2024 the population rose by 230, its biggest one-year gain.
Llay is younger than 62% of UK towns: a median age of 43
Share of residents in each five-year age band, Census 2021.
More residents are 10–14 than any other five-year age: 7% of residents. Residents aged 15 to 24 are more common here than in 67% 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+
■ Llay, 43. 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.
Full-time students make up 6.2% in Llay, 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%.
Managerial and professional jobs take in 26% of adults here, routine and semi-routine work 32% (Wales’s towns: 29% and 27%). In Llay, 8% of residents lived at another address a year earlier.
The Census was taken on 21 March 2021, in term time, so students were counted at their term addresses.
2.4 people per household, more than in 70% 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.
Here 2% of households are unrelated adults sharing a home, where the figure across Wales’s towns is 3.1%. Locally, 28% of households are one person living alone.
Llay ranks below 53% of UK towns on households in detached houses: 28%
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
On the census count, 15% of households have no car or van. 2.7% of households live in a flat, less than in 94% of UK towns; 28% in a detached house, against 24% across Wales’s towns.
Llay sits below 85% of UK towns for residents born outside the UK (3.4%)
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
The largest groups were born in EU countries (2%) and in the Middle East and Asia (0.9%). Residents born outside the UK: 7.4% across Wales’s towns, for comparison. Compared with other places, residents whose main language is English are common here: 98%, more than in just over three fifths of UK towns. Recent arrivals (2017 or later) make up 7.5% of those born abroad (Wales’s towns: 23%).
10% of Llay’s residents say they can speak Welsh
Welsh language skills, residents aged 3 and over, Census 2021.
Welsh language skills · residents aged 3 and over
Some 472 people here aged 3 and over said in 2021 that they can speak Welsh, 10% of the total, against 16% across Welsh towns: fewer than in 67% of them. Within Clwyd, Llanfairfechan has the largest share, 44%.
Above 57% of UK towns: 42% of residents said they have no religion
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 Llay · Clwyd’s towns 92% · Wales’s towns 90%.
Religion · all residents
Besides White British, the main groups are Other White (2.3%), Mixed or multiple (0.8%) and Indian (0.4%). To put it in context, 47% of residents said they have no religion across Wales’s towns. Compared with other places, residents who describe themselves as Christian are scarce here: 49%, fewer than in 54% of UK towns.
Llay: 34% of adults have never married or formed a civil partnership, above 62% 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
Unpaid carers are about as common here as across Wales’s towns, at 10%. The usual figure: 38% of adults have never married or formed a civil partnership across Wales’s towns. 184 residents care, unpaid, for at least 50 hours a week. Married adults and civil partners are rarer here than in 57% of UK towns.
26% of adults are qualified to degree level
Highest qualification, residents 16 and over, Census 2021.
Highest qualification · residents 16 and over
Across Wales’s towns, 31% of adults have a degree-level qualification; in Llay, 26%, and 21% have none, against 20%. A levels top the qualifications of 16%, many of them students on the way to a degree.
170th lowest median age among 695 UK towns of 3,000 to 6,000
Median age, Census 2021. Hover a dot for its students and residents born abroad; click for its page.
Ages run from 18.9 in Bailrigg to 64.7 in Sutton on Sea and Trusthorpe. Nearest to Llay in age: Fenstanton (43), Potton (43), Treherbert (43) and Blidworth (43.1).
4 of the 7 nearest towns are older than Llay
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 Llay’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. Llay’s trend uses the small areas (2021 LSOAs) with most of their people inside it: 4,789 people in 2021, against 4,666 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 Llay’s residents
What is the population of Llay?
The 2021 Census counted 4,666 people in Llay’s built-up area. The ONS estimates the same small areas held 5,400 people in mid-2024, 11% more than in 2011.
What is the average age in Llay?
The median age was 43 at the 2021 Census, younger than 62% of UK towns. 10% of residents were 15 to 24 and 22% were 65 or over.
How diverse is Llay?
95% of residents described themselves as White British in 2021, against 90% across Wales’s towns and 92% across Clwyd’s towns. 3.4% were born outside the UK.
What religion are people in Llay?
42% said they had no religion and 49% that they were Christian at the 2021 Census; 0.5% were Muslim and 7.5% didn’t answer.
Is Llay good for families?
29% of households had dependent children in 2021, against 27% across Wales’s towns. Schools are on Llay’s schools page.
How many people speak Welsh in Llay?
472 residents aged 3 and over, 10%, 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.