Photo: Martin Tester · CC BY-SA 2.0Half of Portscatho is over 60.1, older than 99% of UK towns
Across England’s towns, households average 2.4 people; in Portscatho, 1.9. Fewer adults who have never married than in 89% of UK towns: 26%. At the 2021 Census, 588 people lived in the village, in 297 households. Here, 42% of households are one person living alone.
Above 99% of UK towns: 41% of residents are 65 or over
Share of residents in each five-year age band, Census 2021.
7% of residents are aged 15 to 24, against 12% across England’s towns. For comparison, 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.
Portscatho ranks below 99% of UK towns on full-time students: 2.1%
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%.
Residents who moved in within the year are about as common here as across England’s towns: 11%. For comparison, 7.9% of adults are full-time students across England’s towns.
Households with dependent children: 16%, a lower share than 99% 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.
2% of households are unrelated adults sharing a home; across England’s towns the figure is 4.3%. For comparison, 29% of households have dependent children across England’s towns.
37% of households live in a detached house, a share 71% of UK towns don’t reach
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
Nearly a quarter of households live in a terraced house (England’s towns: 24%). The wider picture: just over a fifth of households live in a detached house across England’s towns. In Portscatho, 9.1% of households live in a flat or apartment. On households without a car or van, Portscatho sits lower than 53% of UK towns: 15%.
In Portscatho, 99% of residents have English as their main language, more than in 91% 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
Compared with 18% across England’s towns, 4.8% of residents were born outside the UK here. Against that, nine in ten residents have English as their main language across England’s towns. By birthplace, the largest groups from abroad were born in EU countries (1.7%) and in the Americas, Oceania and elsewhere (1.5%).
In Portscatho, 96% of residents describe themselves as White British, more than in 83% 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: 96% of Portscatho · Cornwall’s towns 93% · England’s towns 73%.
Religion · all residents
Residents who describe themselves as Christian make up 48%, against 46% across England’s towns. Compared with other places, residents with no religion are common here: 41%, more than in 51% of UK towns. Measured more widely, 73% of residents describe themselves as White British across England’s towns. Beyond White British, the biggest groups are Other White (2.4%), Mixed or multiple (0.9%) and Caribbean (0.2%).
Portscatho sits below 55% of UK towns for married adults and civil partners (47%)
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 19 people give 50 hours or more of unpaid care a week. Set beside that, 44% of adults are married or in a civil partnership across England’s towns. Fewer unpaid carers than in 68% of UK towns: 8.7%.
40% of adults hold a degree-level qualification
Highest qualification, residents 16 and over, Census 2021.
Highest qualification · residents 16 and over
Across England’s towns, 34% of adults have a degree-level qualification; in Portscatho, 40%, and 16% have none, against 18%.
Median age: 1 of the 7 towns around Portscatho are older
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Portscatho | 588 | — | 60.1 | 41% | 16% |
| Mylor Bridge | 1,534 | 4.4 mi | 61.1 | 44% | 15% |
| Falmouth | 24,066 | 4.8 mi | 38.6 | 21% | 21% |
| Carnon Downs and Devoran | 2,129 | 5.7 mi | 55.7 | 36% | 20% |
| Penryn | 11,194 | 6 mi | 30.3 | 15% | 24% |
| Perranarworthal | 1,305 | 6.6 mi | 53.4 | 33% | 23% |
| Truro | 23,060 | 6.8 mi | 42.9 | 22% | 25% |
| Mawnan Smith | 1,001 | 7.3 mi | 57.7 | 39% | 23% |
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 Portscatho’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 Portscatho’s residents
What is the population of Portscatho?
The 2021 Census counted 588 people in Portscatho’s built-up area.
What is the average age in Portscatho?
The median age was 60.1 at the 2021 Census. 7% of residents were 15 to 24 and 41% were 65 or over.
How diverse is Portscatho?
96% 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 Portscatho?
41% said they had no religion and 48% that they were Christian at the 2021 Census; 0% were Muslim and 9.7% didn’t answer.
Is Portscatho good for families?
16% of households had dependent children in 2021, against 29% across England’s towns. Schools are on Portscatho’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.