Photo: Eva K. / Eva K. · CC BY-SA 2.5More residents with no religion than 94% of UK towns: 50%
Households in terraced houses: 32% here and 24% across England’s towns. On one-person households, Portreath sits lower than 72% of UK towns: 27%. Its 503 households held 1,218 residents at the 2021 Census. The share of households without a car or van stands at 10%.
What the Census says about Portreath’s people
More with no religion than most
50% of residents answered “no religion” in 2021 and 42% 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).
Residents aged 15 to 24: 8.5%, a lower share than 85% of UK towns
Share of residents in each five-year age band, Census 2021.
Set against 18% across England’s towns, 22% of residents are 65 or over in Portreath. Typically, 12% of residents are aged 15 to 24 across England’s towns. Half of the village’s residents are under 44.2, younger than in 52% of UK towns.
Broad ages · share of residents
Women and men · all residents
54% women, 46% men
About 86 men for every 100 women. Across England, 51% of residents are women.
Portreath sits above 69% of UK towns for full-time students (5.3%)
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%.
37% of Portreath’s adults are in managerial and professional jobs and 19% in routine and semi-routine work, against 33% and 24% across England’s towns. Across Portreath, just over one in ten residents lived at another address a year earlier. The wider picture: 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.
Portreath households average 2.4 people, larger than in 72% 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.
The figure for households with dependent children is 30% in Portreath and 29% across England’s towns. Compared with other places, shared households of unrelated adults are common here: 4.2%, more than in 93% of UK towns.
More households in flats than 79% of UK towns: 18%
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 census found that 29% of households live in a detached house in Portreath. For households in flats, the comparison across England’s towns is 23%.
In Portreath, 4.8% of residents were born outside the UK, fewer than in 67% 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 share of residents whose main language is English is 98%, against 90% across England’s towns. As a reference point, 18% of residents were born outside the UK across England’s towns. By birthplace, the largest groups from abroad were born in EU countries (2.1%) and in the Middle East and Asia (1%).
Fewer residents who describe themselves as Christian than 89% of UK towns: 42%
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 Portreath · Cornwall’s towns 93% · England’s towns 73%.
Religion · all residents
94% of residents describe themselves as White British, against 73% across England’s towns. Elsewhere, 46% of residents describe themselves as Christian across England’s towns. Other than White British, most residents describe themselves as Other White (2.4%), Mixed or multiple (1.4%) and African (0.3%).
Portreath sits below 62% of UK towns for adults who have never married (31%)
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
The share of married adults and civil partners trails 60% of UK towns: 46%. Adults who have never married make up 39% across England’s towns. Unpaid carers: a tenth of the total.
Adults qualified to degree level or above: 43%
Highest qualification, residents 16 and over, Census 2021.
Highest qualification · residents 16 and over
43% of Portreath’s adults have a degree-level qualification, against 34% across England’s towns; 11% have none (18%).
A younger town than 4 of the 7 around it: Portreath
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Portreath | 1,218 | — | 44.2 | 22% | 30% |
| Illogan | 1,096 | 1.6 mi | 43.8 | 23% | 29% |
| Tolvaddon | 1,107 | 1.9 mi | 47.9 | 26% | 21% |
| Pool and Illogan | 8,588 | 2.1 mi | 45.1 | 22% | 25% |
| Redruth | 15,455 | 3.1 mi | 42.2 | 20% | 27% |
| Camborne | 20,445 | 3.2 mi | 42 | 21% | 27% |
| Mount Hawke | 1,593 | 3.7 mi | 47.5 | 25% | 22% |
| Troon | 1,402 | 4.5 mi | 46.5 | 24% | 27% |
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 Portreath’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 Portreath’s residents
What is the population of Portreath?
The 2021 Census counted 1,218 people in Portreath’s built-up area.
What is the average age in Portreath?
The median age was 44.2 at the 2021 Census. 8.5% of residents were 15 to 24 and 22% were 65 or over.
How diverse is Portreath?
94% of residents described themselves as White British in 2021, against 73% across England’s towns and 93% across Cornwall’s towns. 4.8% were born outside the UK.
What religion are people in Portreath?
50% said they had no religion and 42% that they were Christian at the 2021 Census; 0.3% were Muslim and 5.6% didn’t answer.
Is Portreath good for families?
30% of households had dependent children in 2021, against 29% across England’s towns. Schools are on Portreath’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.