Photo: Brian Clift · CC BY-SA 2.0Grange-over-Sands is older than 99% of UK towns: a median age of 63
Set against 29% across England’s towns, just over one in ten households have dependent children in Grange-over-Sands. One-person households: two fifths of the total. Households in terraced houses are rarer here than in 86% of UK towns. In 2021, the Census found 4,047 residents in the town, living in 2,120 households.
What the Census says about Grange-over-Sands’s people
Older than most towns
Half of Grange-over-Sands’s residents are under 63 and half over, against 44.4 in the typical UK town. 47% are 65 or over, against 18% across England’s towns. Ages ↓
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.
A +3% change since 2011: slower than 72% of UK towns
ONS mid-year estimates, each year indexed to mid-2011 = 100. Grange-over-Sands’s figure is the small areas (2021 LSOAs) that make up the town.
People, mid-2011 = 100
Change by age, 2011 to 2024
About 4,100 people in 2011; 4,200 in 2024.
The biggest jump came in the year to mid-2018: 100 more people. Change by age ran from +14% for the 30 to 44 to −12% for the 45 to 64.
Residents aged 65 and over make up 47% in Grange-over-Sands, more than in 99% of UK towns
Share of residents in each five-year age band, Census 2021.
In Grange-over-Sands, 5.6% of residents are aged 15 to 24, beside 12% across England’s towns. As a reference point, 18% of residents are 65 or over across England’s towns.
Median age of UK towns of 2,500+
■ Grange-over-Sands, 63. The typical town is 44.4.
Broad ages · share of residents
Women and men · all residents
54% women, 46% men
About 87 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.
2.3% of adults are full-time students, fewer than in 99% 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%.
Managerial and professional jobs account for 42% of Grange-over-Sands’s adults, routine and semi-routine work for 18%, against 33% and 24% across England’s towns. Compared with other places, residents who moved in within the year are common here: 9.7%, more than in 69% of UK towns. On average, 7.9% of adults are full-time students across England’s towns.
Households here average 1.9 people, below 99% of UK towns
Household make-up at the 2021 Census. Each square is 1% of households.
Against Cumbria’s towns and England’s towns
People per household
England’s towns.
Here 2.5% of households are unrelated adults sharing a home, where the figure across England’s towns is 4.3%.
Households in flats make up 27% in Grange-over-Sands, more than in 93% of UK towns
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
Households in detached houses make up 41%, against 21% across England’s towns. By way of comparison, nearly a quarter of households live in a flat or apartment across England’s towns. 17% of households have no car or van.
A larger share of residents whose main language is English than 52% of UK towns: 98%
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
The newest arrivals, from 2017 or later, are just over a fifth of those born abroad (against 21% across England’s towns). By way of comparison, nine in ten residents have English as their main language across England’s towns. The two biggest birthplaces abroad are in EU countries (3.6%) and in the Americas, Oceania and elsewhere (1.2%).
Grange-over-Sands sits above 93% of UK towns for residents who describe themselves as Christian (59%)
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 Grange-over-Sands · Cumbria’s towns 95% · England’s towns 73%.
Religion · all residents
Across England’s towns, 73% of residents describe themselves as White British; in Grange-over-Sands, 94%. The benchmark for residents who describe themselves as Christian across England’s towns: 46%. Residents with no religion account for 33%.
21% of adults have never married or formed a civil partnership, below 99% 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
115 residents care, unpaid, for at least 50 hours a week. Set beside that, nearly two in five adults have never married or formed a civil partnership across England’s towns. On married adults and civil partners, Grange-over-Sands sits higher than 85% of UK towns: 54%. What’s more, in Grange-over-Sands, 9.8% of residents give unpaid care, beside 8.7% across England’s towns.
Among adults, 44% hold a degree-level qualification
Highest qualification, residents 16 and over, Census 2021.
Highest qualification · residents 16 and over
Degree-level qualifications cover 44% of adults in Grange-over-Sands, 34% across England’s towns; 13% have no qualification, against 18%.
Among 530 UK towns of 3,000 to 5,000 people, the 3rd oldest
Median age, Census 2021. Hover a dot for its students and residents born abroad; click for its page.
At the ends of the range sit Bailrigg (18.9), the youngest, and Milford on Sea (64.6), the oldest. Nearest to Grange-over-Sands in age: Frinton-on-Sea (62.6), Bembridge (62.6), West Chiltington (63.1) and Milford on Sea (64.6).
Grange-over-Sands is older 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grange-over-Sands | 4,047 | — | 63 | 47% | 11% |
| Allithwaite | 1,171 | 1.1 mi | 55.7 | 32% | 22% |
| Arnside | 2,231 | 3.4 mi | 62.4 | 45% | 14% |
| Silverdale | 1,056 | 4 mi | 61.5 | 43% | 14% |
| Milnthorpe | 1,871 | 6.5 mi | 45.9 | 25% | 26% |
| Warton (Lancaster) | 1,801 | 6.7 mi | 54.5 | 31% | 19% |
| Ulverston | 11,219 | 7.1 mi | 49.1 | 26% | 21% |
| Carnforth | 5,852 | 7.2 mi | 46 | 23% | 26% |
Health, work and homes have their own pages
What this data can and can’t tell you
- “Cumbria’s towns” and “England’s towns” mean their built-up areas. Census comparisons pool every built-up area in Cumbria (or England), summed the same way as Grange-over-Sands’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. Grange-over-Sands’s trend uses the small areas (2021 LSOAs) with most of their people inside it: 4,279 people in 2021, against 4,047 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 Grange-over-Sands’s residents
What is the population of Grange-over-Sands?
The 2021 Census counted 4,047 people in Grange-over-Sands’s built-up area. The ONS estimates the same small areas held 4,200 people in mid-2024, 3% more than in 2011.
What is the average age in Grange-over-Sands?
The median age was 63 at the 2021 Census, older than 99% of UK towns. 5.6% of residents were 15 to 24 and 47% were 65 or over.
How diverse is Grange-over-Sands?
94% of residents described themselves as White British in 2021, against 73% across England’s towns and 95% across Cumbria’s towns. 6.5% were born outside the UK.
What religion are people in Grange-over-Sands?
33% said they had no religion and 59% that they were Christian at the 2021 Census; 0.3% were Muslim and 6.2% didn’t answer.
Is Grange-over-Sands good for families?
11% of households had dependent children in 2021, against 29% across England’s towns. Schools are on Grange-over-Sands’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.