Wesleyan Methodist Church · Photo: Derek Harper · CC BY-SA 2.0Torpoint grew -4% from 2011 to 2024, more slowly than most UK towns
Torpoint had 7,163 residents and 3,299 households at the 2021 Census, with a median age of 48.6 (older than 77% of UK towns). The ONS estimates 7,500 people lived here in mid-2024, 4% fewer than in 2011. 4.6% were born outside the UK.
What the Census says about Torpoint’s people
Fewer people than in 2011
ONS mid-year estimates put Torpoint at 7,800 in 2011 and 7,500 in 2024, down 4%, against 10% for England: slower growth than in 96% of UK towns. Since 2011 ↓
Written from the data on this page: ONS Census 2021 (output areas summed to the 2022 built-up area) and ONS mid-year population estimates.
Torpoint has 4% fewer people than in 2011
ONS mid-year estimates, each year indexed to mid-2011 = 100. Torpoint’s figure is the small areas (2021 LSOAs) that make up the town.
People, mid-2011 = 100
Change by age, 2011 to 2024
About 7,800 people in 2011; 7,500 in 2024.
The 65 and over age group changed most (+42%) and the 16 to 29 least (−20%).
Older than 77% of UK towns: a median age of 48.6
Share of residents in each five-year age band, Census 2021.
The largest age band is 60–64: 8.8% of residents, 1.6 times the share across England’s towns. 25% of Torpoint is 65 or over, against 24% across Cornwall’s towns and 18% across England’s towns. In Tywardreath, the oldest of Cornwall’s towns by this measure, it is 35%.
Median age of UK towns of 2,500+
■ Torpoint, 48.6. The typical town is 44.4.
Broad ages · share of residents
Women and men · all residents
52% women, 48% men
About 94 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.
28% of adults work in managerial and professional jobs
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%.
28% of Torpoint’s adults are in managerial and professional jobs and 30% in routine and semi-routine work, against 33% and 24% across England’s towns. 8.4% of residents had moved in within the year before the Census, fewer than the 11% across England’s towns.
3,299 households: one in 3 is one person living alone
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.
Families with dependent children are 22% of households (England’s towns 29%), and 17% are someone 66 or over living alone (Cornwall’s towns 16%). Households average 2.1 people.
The most common home: a terraced house, for 34% of households
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
17% of households live in a flat, more than in 76% of UK towns; 14% in a detached house, against 21% across England’s towns. One household in 5 has no car or van.
4.6% born outside the UK
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%
When those born abroad arrived
Main language · residents aged 3 and over
4.6% of residents were born outside the UK, against 5.5% across Cornwall’s towns and 18% across England’s towns. The largest groups were born in EU countries (2.4%) and in the Americas, Oceania and elsewhere (0.9%). 13% of those born abroad arrived in 2017 or later, against 21% across England’s towns. 99% of residents have English as their main language.
50% said they are Christian and 42% that they have no religion
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 Torpoint · Cornwall’s towns 93% · England’s towns 73%.
Religion · all residents
96% of residents describe themselves as White British, against 93% across Cornwall’s towns and 73% across England’s towns. The largest groups after White British are Other White (2.3%), Mixed or multiple (1.1%) and Chinese (0.2%).
On religion, 42% answered “no religion” and 50% Christian, against 37% and 46% across England’s towns.
47% of adults are married or in a civil partnership
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
30% of Torpoint’s adults have never married or formed a civil partnership and 47% are married, against 39% and 44% across England’s towns. 222 people give 50 hours or more of unpaid care a week.
25% of adults have a degree-level qualification
Highest qualification, residents 16 and over, Census 2021.
Highest qualification · residents 16 and over
25% of Torpoint’s adults have a degree-level qualification, against 34% across England’s towns; 16% have none (18%).
136th oldest of 538 UK towns of 5,000 to 10,000 people
Median age, Census 2021. Hover a dot for its students and residents born abroad; click for its page.
The youngest is Red Lodge (30.9) and the oldest Barton on Sea (65.3). Nearest to Torpoint in age: Annesley Woodhouse (48.6), Beccles (48.6), Newbiggin-by-the-Sea (48.7) and Stakeford (48.7).
3 of the 7 nearest towns are older than Torpoint
Nearby built-up areas coloured by median age, Census 2021. Tap a town for its page.
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 Torpoint’s figures, so households in open countryside are left out. The population trend compares with the whole county and nation.
- Estimates since 2021 are modelled. The ONS builds mid-year estimates from the Census, births, deaths and migration records. Torpoint’s trend uses the small areas (2021 LSOAs) with most of their people inside it: 7,445 people in 2021, against 7,163 in the built-up area.
- 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 Torpoint’s residents
What is the population of Torpoint?
The 2021 Census counted 7,163 people in Torpoint’s built-up area. The ONS estimates the same small areas held 7,500 people in mid-2024, 4% fewer than in 2011.
What is the average age in Torpoint?
The median age was 48.6 at the 2021 Census, older than 77% of UK towns. 9.3% of residents were 15 to 24 and 25% were 65 or over.
How diverse is Torpoint?
96% of residents described themselves as White British in 2021, against 73% across England’s towns and 93% across Cornwall’s towns. 4.6% were born outside the UK.
What religion are people in Torpoint?
42% said they had no religion and 50% that they were Christian at the 2021 Census; 0.1% were Muslim and 6.2% didn’t answer.
Is Torpoint good for families?
22% of households had dependent children in 2021, against 29% across England’s towns. Schools are on Torpoint’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) · ONS mid-year population estimates for 2021 LSOAs, mid-2011 to mid-2024. 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.