Photo: Christopher Hilton · CC BY-SA 2.0A median age of 55: Fowey is older than 97% of UK towns
Across England’s towns, 29% of households have dependent children; in Fowey, 20%. There were 957 households in the village at the 2021 Census, home to 2,027 residents. Locally, 37% of households live in a detached house. Married adults and civil partners are more common here than in 69% of UK towns.
What the Census says about Fowey’s people
Older than most towns
Half of Fowey’s residents are under 55 and half over, against 44.4 in the typical UK town. 33% are 65 or over, against 18% across England’s towns. Ages ↓
Written from the data on this page: ONS Census 2021 (output areas summed to the 2022 built-up area).
33% of Fowey is 65 or over, a higher share than 96% of UK towns
Share of residents in each five-year age band, Census 2021.
70–74 is the most common age band: 9.1% of residents, 1.9 times the share across England’s towns. For Fowey, the census puts residents aged 15 to 24 at 9.6%. Elsewhere, 18% of residents are 65 or over across England’s towns.
Broad ages · share of residents
Women and men · all residents
53% women, 47% men
About 90 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.
7.9% of residents lived at another address a year earlier, below 67% 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%.
By class, 36% of adults are in managerial and professional jobs and 21% in routine and semi-routine work (England’s towns: 33% and 24%). In Fowey, 4.8% of adults are full-time students. The wider picture: 11% of residents lived at another address a year earlier across England’s towns.
Fowey households average 2.1 people, smaller than in 90% 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.
One-person households: 33%, above 71% of UK towns. At 3.6%, the share of shared households of unrelated adults is higher than in 87% of UK towns.
Fowey: 14% of households live in a flat or apartment, above 66% of UK towns
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
24% of households have no car or van across England’s towns, against 14% in Fowey. At the same time, households in terraced houses are more common here than in just over two thirds of UK towns. The share of households in flats across England’s towns is 23%.
Fowey: 99% of residents have English as their main language, above 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 25%
When those born abroad arrived
Main language · residents aged 3 and over
5.2% of residents were born outside the UK (England’s towns: 18%). Across the comparison, 90% of residents have English as their main language across England’s towns. Most residents from abroad were born in EU countries (3.1%) or in the Middle East and Asia (1%).
94% of residents describe themselves as White British, more than in 66% 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 Fowey · Cornwall’s towns 93% · England’s towns 73%.
Religion · all residents
After White British, the most common groups are Other White (3.6%), Mixed or multiple (0.8%) and Indian (0.1%). Elsewhere, 73% of residents describe themselves as White British across England’s towns. 52% of residents describe themselves as Christian, a higher share than in 64% of UK towns. Compared with 37% across England’s towns, nearly two in five residents said they have no religion here.
Below 79% of UK towns: 28% of adults have never married or formed a civil partnership
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
73 people give 50 hours or more of unpaid care a week. Unpaid carers are more common here than in 67% of UK towns. Typically, nearly two in five adults have never married or formed a civil partnership across England’s towns.
A degree-level qualification for 37% of adults
Highest qualification, residents 16 and over, Census 2021.
Highest qualification · residents 16 and over
Fowey’s adults: 37% with a degree-level qualification and 13% with none, against 34% and 18% across England’s towns.
Older than Fowey: 3 of the 7 towns nearby
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fowey | 2,027 | — | 55 | 33% | 20% |
| Tywardreath | 2,589 | 2.7 mi | 55.7 | 35% | 20% |
| St Blazey | 6,569 | 3.5 mi | 44.2 | 22% | 29% |
| Carlyon Bay | 1,174 | 4.6 mi | 62.8 | 47% | 16% |
| Lostwithiel | 3,067 | 5 mi | 51.6 | 29% | 21% |
| Pelynt | 1,144 | 5.4 mi | 55.9 | 36% | 20% |
| St Austell | 24,361 | 6 mi | 45 | 23% | 26% |
| Penwithick | 1,706 | 6.4 mi | 36.7 | 16% | 39% |
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 Fowey’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 Fowey’s residents
What is the population of Fowey?
The 2021 Census counted 2,027 people in Fowey’s built-up area.
What is the average age in Fowey?
The median age was 55 at the 2021 Census. 9.6% of residents were 15 to 24 and 33% were 65 or over.
How diverse is Fowey?
94% of residents described themselves as White British in 2021, against 73% across England’s towns and 93% across Cornwall’s towns. 5.2% were born outside the UK.
What religion are people in Fowey?
39% said they had no religion and 52% that they were Christian at the 2021 Census; 0.1% were Muslim and 6.6% didn’t answer.
Is Fowey good for families?
20% of households had dependent children in 2021, against 29% across England’s towns. Schools are on Fowey’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.