Photo: Niki Walton · CC BY-SA 2.0Porthtowan sits above 97% of UK towns for residents with no religion (53%)
Households with dependent children: 32% here and 29% across England’s towns. Compared with other places, households in terraced houses are scarce here: 12%, fewer than in 85% of UK towns. The 2021 Census counted 894 residents in 381 households. In Porthtowan, 46% of households live in a detached house.
Porthtowan ranks below 86% of UK towns on residents aged 15 to 24: 8.5%
Share of residents in each five-year age band, Census 2021.
The biggest five-year age group is 55–59, with nearly one in ten residents, 1.4 times the share across England’s towns. On the census count, 17% of residents are 65 or over. With a median age of 41.7, Porthtowan is younger than 71% of UK towns. By way of comparison, 12% of residents are aged 15 to 24 across England’s towns.
Broad ages · share of residents
Women and men · all residents
54% women, 46% men
About 84 men for every 100 women. Across England, 51% of residents are women.
A student village: 5.4% of adults study full-time
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%.
The figure for residents who moved in within the year is 9.2% in Porthtowan and 11% across England’s towns. For comparison, 7.9% of adults are full-time students across England’s towns.
The Census was taken on 21 March 2021, in term time, so students were counted at their term addresses.
Bigger households than 67% of UK towns: 2.4 people each 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.
3.9% of households are unrelated adults sharing a home, about the same as across England’s towns. On one-person households, Porthtowan sits lower than 57% of UK towns: 29%.
Below 71% of UK towns: 12% of households have no car or van
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
13% of households live in a flat or apartment, against 23% across England’s towns. Set beside that, nearly a quarter of households have no car or van across England’s towns.
Porthtowan ranks above 90% of UK towns on residents whose main language is English: 99%
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
By its share of residents born outside the UK (5.3%), Porthtowan is below just over three fifths of UK towns. The two biggest birthplaces abroad are in EU countries (2.4%) and in Africa (1.2%).
Below 96% of UK towns: 37% of residents describe themselves as Christian
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 Porthtowan · Cornwall’s towns 93% · England’s towns 73%.
Religion · all residents
Residents who describe themselves as White British make up 95%, against 73% across England’s towns. Against that, 46% of residents describe themselves as Christian across England’s towns.
36% of adults have never married or formed a civil partnership, a share 74% of UK towns don’t reach
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
43% of adults are married or in a civil partnership (England’s towns: 44%). On unpaid carers, Porthtowan sits lower than 57% of UK towns: 9.1%. Typically, 39% of adults have never married or formed a civil partnership across England’s towns. Unpaid care takes 50 hours a week or more for 24 people.
44% of adults hold a degree-level qualification
Highest qualification, residents 16 and over, Census 2021.
Highest qualification · residents 16 and over
Degree-level qualifications are held by 44% of Porthtowan’s adults, against 34% across England’s towns; 13% have no qualification (18%).
Porthtowan is younger than every town around it
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Porthtowan | 894 | — | 41.7 | 17% | 32% |
| Mount Hawke | 1,593 | 1.4 mi | 47.5 | 25% | 22% |
| St Agnes | 3,253 | 2.3 mi | 45.9 | 25% | 27% |
| Portreath | 1,218 | 2.7 mi | 44.2 | 22% | 30% |
| Redruth | 15,455 | 3.6 mi | 42.2 | 20% | 27% |
| Illogan | 1,096 | 3.6 mi | 43.8 | 23% | 29% |
| Pool and Illogan | 8,588 | 3.9 mi | 45.1 | 22% | 25% |
| St Day | 1,432 | 4.1 mi | 48.5 | 25% | 23% |
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.
- “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 Porthtowan’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 Porthtowan’s residents
What is the population of Porthtowan?
The 2021 Census counted 894 people in Porthtowan’s built-up area.
What is the average age in Porthtowan?
The median age was 41.7 at the 2021 Census. 8.5% of residents were 15 to 24 and 17% were 65 or over.
How diverse is Porthtowan?
95% of residents described themselves as White British in 2021, against 73% across England’s towns and 93% across Cornwall’s towns. 5.3% were born outside the UK.
What religion are people in Porthtowan?
53% said they had no religion and 37% that they were Christian at the 2021 Census; 0% were Muslim and 7.3% didn’t answer.
Is Porthtowan good for families?
32% of households had dependent children in 2021, against 29% across England’s towns. Schools are on Porthtowan’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.