Photo: Fred James · CC BY-SA 2.0Older than 95% of UK towns: half of Playing Place is over 53.7
57% of adults are married or in a civil partnership (England’s towns: 44%). In Playing Place, 5.8% of households live in a terraced house. Compared with other places, households with dependent children are scarce here: 22%, fewer than in 88% of UK towns. The 2021 Census put the village’s population at 855, in 381 households.
Playing Place ranks above 97% of UK towns on residents aged 65 and over: 35%
Share of residents in each five-year age band, Census 2021.
No age band is larger than 70–74: nearly one in ten residents, 1.8 times the share across England’s towns. Set beside that, 18% of residents are 65 or over across England’s towns. Here, 8.1% of residents are aged 15 to 24.
Broad ages · share of residents
Women and men · all residents
52% women, 48% men
About 92 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.
4.1% of adults are full-time students, below 81% 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 England’s towns, a third of adults are in managerial and professional jobs and 24% in routine or semi-routine work; Playing Place has 40% and 19%. By way of comparison, 7.9% of adults are full-time students across England’s towns. In Playing Place, 13% of residents lived at another address a year earlier.
A smaller share of one-person households than 82% of UK towns: 26%
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.
At 2.2 people, the average household compares with 2.4 across England’s towns. Shared households of unrelated adults are more common here than in 51% of UK towns. Across the comparison, 30% of households are one person living alone across England’s towns.
Fewer households in flats than 99% of UK towns: 1.3%
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
The share of households in detached houses tops 98% of UK towns: 64%. At the same time, fewer households without a car or van than in 84% of UK towns: 9.7%. By way of comparison, nearly a quarter of households live in a flat or apartment across England’s towns.
Residents whose main language is English: 99%, a higher share than 95% 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%
Main language · residents aged 3 and over
The largest groups were born in the Middle East and Asia (2%) and in EU countries (1.5%). On average, nine in ten residents have English as their main language across England’s towns. Few places have so few residents born outside the UK: 5.5% here, fewer than in 59% of UK towns.
Residents who describe themselves as Christian make up 52% in Playing Place, more than in 62% 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: 93% of Playing Place · Cornwall’s towns 93% · England’s towns 73%.
Religion · all residents
Compared with 73% across England’s towns, 93% of residents describe themselves as White British here. Meanwhile, 40% of residents said they have no religion, fewer than in 54% of UK towns. To put it in context, 46% of residents describe themselves as Christian across England’s towns. Beyond White British, the biggest groups are Other White (2.7%), Mixed or multiple (1.6%) and African (0.5%).
25% of adults have never married or formed a civil partnership, fewer than in 93% 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
Some 18 people give 50 hours or more of unpaid care a week. Across England’s towns, adults who have never married come to 39%. At 9.5%, the share of unpaid carers is higher than in 55% of UK towns.
Degree-level qualifications: held by 37% of adults
Highest qualification, residents 16 and over, Census 2021.
Highest qualification · residents 16 and over
Degree-level qualifications cover 37% of adults in Playing Place, 34% across England’s towns; 15% have no qualification, against 18%.
Nearby, 2 of 7 towns have older populations than Playing Place
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Playing Place | 855 | — | 53.7 | 35% | 22% |
| Carnon Downs and Devoran | 2,129 | 1.4 mi | 55.7 | 36% | 20% |
| Truro | 23,060 | 2.1 mi | 42.9 | 22% | 25% |
| Perranarworthal | 1,305 | 2.8 mi | 53.4 | 33% | 23% |
| Threemilestone | 2,854 | 2.9 mi | 45.6 | 24% | 24% |
| Mylor Bridge | 1,534 | 3.3 mi | 61.1 | 44% | 15% |
| Shortlanesend | 1,427 | 3.8 mi | 36.2 | 13% | 38% |
| Penryn | 11,194 | 4.8 mi | 30.3 | 15% | 24% |
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 Playing Place’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 Playing Place’s residents
What is the population of Playing Place?
The 2021 Census counted 855 people in Playing Place’s built-up area.
What is the average age in Playing Place?
The median age was 53.7 at the 2021 Census. 8.1% of residents were 15 to 24 and 35% were 65 or over.
How diverse is Playing Place?
93% of residents described themselves as White British in 2021, against 73% across England’s towns and 93% across Cornwall’s towns. 5.5% were born outside the UK.
What religion are people in Playing Place?
40% said they had no religion and 52% that they were Christian at the 2021 Census; 0.7% were Muslim and 7.2% didn’t answer.
Is Playing Place good for families?
22% of households had dependent children in 2021, against 29% across England’s towns. Schools are on Playing Place’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.