Photo: Manfred Heyde · CC BY-SA 4.0Older than 87% of UK towns: half of Bude is over 50.5
Just over a fifth of households have dependent children (England’s towns: 29%). Bude’s 3,454 households held 7,347 residents at the 2021 Census. For Bude, the census puts one-person households at 36%. Adults who have never married are rarer here than in 73% of UK towns.
What the Census says about Bude’s people
Older than most towns
Half of Bude’s residents are under 50.5 and half over, against 44.4 in the typical UK town. 30% are 65 or over, against 18% across England’s towns. Ages ↓
More with no religion than most
48% of residents answered “no religion” in 2021 and 45% Christian, against 37% and 46% across England’s towns. Ethnicity & religion ↓
Written from the data on this page: ONS Census 2021 (output areas summed to the 2022 built-up area).
A larger share of residents aged 65 and over than 90% of UK towns: 30%
Share of residents in each five-year age band, Census 2021.
The largest age band is 70–74: 8% of residents, 1.7 times the share across England’s towns. In Bude, 8.6% of residents are aged 15 to 24. By way of comparison, 18% of residents are 65 or over across England’s towns.
Median age of UK towns of 2,500+
■ Bude, 50.5. The typical town is 44.4.
Broad ages · share of residents
Women and men · all residents
52% women, 48% men
About 91 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.
A lower share of full-time students than 84% of UK towns, at 4%
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%.
One in ten residents lived at another address a year earlier, against 11% across England’s towns. Elsewhere, 7.9% of adults are full-time students across England’s towns.
Smaller households than 90% of UK towns: 2.1 people on average
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.
Against a figure of 4.3% across England’s towns, the share of shared households of unrelated adults in Bude comes in at 3.2%.
Bude ranks above 74% of UK towns on households without a car or van: 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
In Bude, 37% of households live in a detached house, beside 21% across England’s towns. Add to that, households in flats are more common here than in 85% of UK towns. The comparison figure for households without a car or van is 24% across England’s towns. Census figures put households in terraced houses at 16% locally.
Only 4.2% of residents were born outside the UK in Bude
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%
When those born abroad arrived
Main language · residents aged 3 and over
Among those born abroad, the share arriving in 2017 or later is 21% (England’s towns: 21%). More residents whose main language is English than in 79% of UK towns: 99%. Typically, 18% of residents were born outside the UK across England’s towns. Most residents from abroad were born in EU countries (1.7%) or in the Middle East and Asia (1.1%).
Bude: 48% of residents said they have no religion, above 88% 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 Bude · Cornwall’s towns 93% · England’s towns 73%.
Religion · all residents
In Bude, 95% of residents describe themselves as White British, beside 73% across England’s towns. Census figures put residents who describe themselves as Christian at 45% in the town. The benchmark for residents with no religion across England’s towns: 37%.
In Bude, 10% of residents give unpaid care, more than in 74% 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
Across England’s towns, 44% of adults are married or in a civil partnership; in Bude, 47%. As a yardstick, 8.7% of residents give unpaid care across England’s towns. 271 people care, unpaid, for 50 hours or more a week.
Degree level: the highest qualification of 27% of adults
Highest qualification, residents 16 and over, Census 2021.
Highest qualification · residents 16 and over
At degree level, Bude counts 27% of its adults, against 34% across England’s towns; at the other end, 18% have no qualification (18%).
Among 538 UK towns of 5,000 to 10,000 people, the 66th oldest
Median age, Census 2021. Hover a dot for its students and residents born abroad; click for its page.
Ages run from 30.9 in Red Lodge to 65.3 in Barton on Sea. Nearest to Bude in age: Alcester (50.5), Oakley (50.5), Danbury (50.6) and Glastonbury (50.6).
Every nearby town is younger than Bude
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bude | 7,347 | — | 50.5 | 30% | 22% |
| Stratton | 1,928 | 0.8 mi | 40.7 | 20% | 34% |
| Holsworthy | 3,472 | 8 mi | 43.6 | 25% | 25% |
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 Bude’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 Bude’s residents
What is the population of Bude?
The 2021 Census counted 7,347 people in Bude’s built-up area.
What is the average age in Bude?
The median age was 50.5 at the 2021 Census, older than 87% of UK towns. 8.6% of residents were 15 to 24 and 30% were 65 or over.
How diverse is Bude?
95% of residents described themselves as White British in 2021, against 73% across England’s towns and 93% across Cornwall’s towns. 4.2% were born outside the UK.
What religion are people in Bude?
48% said they had no religion and 45% that they were Christian at the 2021 Census; 0.5% were Muslim and 5.8% didn’t answer.
Is Bude good for families?
22% of households had dependent children in 2021, against 29% across England’s towns. Schools are on Bude’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.