Photo: Lewis Clarke · CC BY-SA 2.0Older than 95% of UK towns: half of The Towans is over 54.1
Households without a car or van make up 4.3%, against 24% across England’s towns. Few places have so few households with dependent children: 22% here, fewer than in 90% of UK towns. In 2021, the Census found 259 residents in The Towans, living in 115 households. The share of households in detached houses stands at 48%.
30% of The Towans is 65 or over, a higher share than 91% of UK towns
Share of residents in each five-year age band, Census 2021.
Residents aged 15 to 24 make up 8%, against 12% across England’s towns. By way of comparison, 18% of residents are 65 or over across England’s towns.
Broad ages · share of residents
Women and men · all residents
51% women, 49% men
About an even split. Across England, 51% of residents are women.
Full-time students make up 4% in The Towans, less than in 84% 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%.
In The Towans, 39% of adults work in managerial and professional jobs and 14% in routine and semi-routine work, against 33% and 24% across England’s towns. At 9.3%, the share of residents who moved in within the year is higher than in 63% of UK towns. Typically, 7.9% of adults are full-time students across England’s towns.
2.2 people per household, fewer than in 73% 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.
Against a figure of 30% across England’s towns, the share of one-person households in The Towans comes in at 32%. More shared households of unrelated adults than in 94% of UK towns: 4.4%.
Fewer households in terraced houses than 83% of UK towns: 12%
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 Towans has fewer households in flats than just over half of UK towns, at 11%. For households in terraced houses, the comparison across England’s towns is 24%.
The Towans: 100% of residents have English as their main language, above 99% 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
Nearly one in ten residents were born outside the UK, against 18% across England’s towns. The share of residents whose main language is English across England’s towns is 90%. The two biggest birthplaces abroad are in the Americas, Oceania and elsewhere (4.6%) and in EU countries (1.5%).
47% of residents said they have no religion, a share 84% of UK towns don’t reach
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: 90% of The Towans · Cornwall’s towns 93% · England’s towns 73%.
Religion · all residents
Across England’s towns, the share of residents who describe themselves as Christian is 46%; The Towans has 45%. Residents with no religion make up 37% across England’s towns. For The Towans, the census puts residents who describe themselves as White British at 90%.
Adults who have never married: 26%, a lower share than 90% 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
Married adults and civil partners make up 54%, against 44% across England’s towns. The wider picture: nearly two in five adults have never married or formed a civil partnership across England’s towns. The census found that 11% of residents give unpaid care in The Towans.
A degree-level qualification for 38% of adults
Highest qualification, residents 16 and over, Census 2021.
Highest qualification · residents 16 and over
At degree level, The Towans counts 38% of its adults, against 34% across England’s towns; at the other end, 14% have no qualification (18%).
The towns around The Towans are all younger
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Towans | 259 | — | 54.1 | 30% | 22% |
| Hayle | 9,040 | 0.8 mi | 45.7 | 24% | 26% |
| Carbis Bay | 3,967 | 2 mi | 53.3 | 32% | 21% |
| St Erth | 1,128 | 2.1 mi | 46.4 | 23% | 29% |
| Connor Downs | 1,482 | 2.5 mi | 46.6 | 26% | 30% |
| St Ives | 5,413 | 2.9 mi | 50.4 | 28% | 20% |
| Reawla | 1,117 | 3.3 mi | 45.1 | 20% | 28% |
| Crowlas | 1,054 | 4.2 mi | 49.7 | 28% | 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 The Towans’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 The Towans’s residents
What is the population of The Towans?
The 2021 Census counted 259 people in The Towans’s built-up area.
What is the average age in The Towans?
The median age was 54.1 at the 2021 Census. 8% of residents were 15 to 24 and 30% were 65 or over.
How diverse is The Towans?
90% of residents described themselves as White British in 2021, against 73% across England’s towns and 93% across Cornwall’s towns. 8.9% were born outside the UK.
What religion are people in The Towans?
47% said they had no religion and 45% that they were Christian at the 2021 Census; 0% were Muslim and 7.3% didn’t answer.
Is The Towans good for families?
22% of households had dependent children in 2021, against 29% across England’s towns. Schools are on The Towans’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.