Photo: Dsgreat3 · CC BY-SA 3.0A median age of 57.4: Boscastle is older than 98% of UK towns
29% of households have dependent children across England’s towns, against 14% in Boscastle. There were 367 households here at the 2021 Census, home to 706 residents. Across Boscastle, 9.5% of households have no car or van. Few places have as many households in detached houses: 45% here, more than in 85% of UK towns.
In Boscastle, 34% of residents are 65 or over, more than in 96% of UK towns
Share of residents in each five-year age band, Census 2021.
More residents are 55–59 than any other five-year age: just over one in ten residents, 1.7 times the share across England’s towns. On residents aged 15 to 24, Boscastle sits lower than 99% of UK towns: 7.1%. As a reference point, 18% of residents are 65 or over across England’s towns.
Broad ages · share of residents
Women and men · all residents
52% women, 48% men
About 94 men for every 100 women. Across England, 51% of residents are women. Women live longer than men, so towns with many older residents have more women.
Fewer full-time students than 93% of UK towns: 3.6%
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%.
Residents who moved in within the year: 11%, near enough the figure across England’s towns. To put it in context, 7.9% of adults are full-time students across England’s towns.
Boscastle households average 1.9 people, smaller than in 99% of UK towns
Household make-up at the 2021 Census. Each square is 1% of households.
Against Cornwall’s towns and England’s towns
People per household
England’s towns.
Across England’s towns, 4.3% of households are unrelated adults sharing a home; in Boscastle, 2.5%. The share of one-person households stands at 36%.
Boscastle sits below 63% of UK towns for households in terraced houses (17%)
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, 11% of households live in a flat or apartment. Measured more widely, 24% of households live in a terraced house across England’s towns.
Boscastle sits below 72% of UK towns for residents born outside the UK (4.4%)
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 25%
Main language · residents aged 3 and over
Most residents from abroad were born in EU countries (2.4%) or in Africa (0.9%). Boscastle has more residents whose main language is English than 56% of UK towns, at 98%. As a reference point, 18% of residents were born outside the UK across England’s towns.
Boscastle: 94% of residents describe themselves as White British, above 64% 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 Boscastle · Cornwall’s towns 93% · England’s towns 73%.
Religion · all residents
The next-largest groups, after White British, are Other White (2.7%), Mixed or multiple (1.3%) and Pakistani (0.4%). Compared with other places, residents with no religion are scarce here: 39%, fewer than in 64% of UK towns. Elsewhere, 73% of residents describe themselves as White British across England’s towns. Here 51% of residents describe themselves as Christian, where the figure across England’s towns is 46%.
Adults who have never married: 25%, a lower share than 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
Unpaid carers are about as common here as across England’s towns: 8.6%. The share of married adults and civil partners stands at 50%. Typically, 39% of adults have never married or formed a civil partnership across England’s towns.
Adults qualified to degree level or above: 31%
Highest qualification, residents 16 and over, Census 2021.
Highest qualification · residents 16 and over
At degree level, Boscastle counts 31% of its adults, against 34% across England’s towns; at the other end, 15% have no qualification (18%).
Every nearby town is younger than Boscastle
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
- “Cornwall’s towns” and “England’s towns” mean their built-up areas. Census comparisons pool every built-up area in Cornwall (or England), summed the same way as Boscastle’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 Boscastle’s residents
What is the population of Boscastle?
The 2021 Census counted 706 people in Boscastle’s built-up area.
What is the average age in Boscastle?
The median age was 57.4 at the 2021 Census. 7.1% of residents were 15 to 24 and 34% were 65 or over.
How diverse is Boscastle?
94% of residents described themselves as White British in 2021, against 73% across England’s towns and 93% across Cornwall’s towns. 4.4% were born outside the UK.
What religion are people in Boscastle?
39% said they had no religion and 51% that they were Christian at the 2021 Census; 0.6% were Muslim and 7.2% didn’t answer.
Is Boscastle good for families?
14% of households had dependent children in 2021, against 29% across England’s towns. Schools are on Boscastle’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). 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.