Photo: Richard Webb · CC BY-SA 2.0A larger share of one-person households than 98% of UK towns: 39%
96% of residents describe themselves as White British; across England’s towns the figure is 73%. Compared with other places, households with dependent children are scarce here: 21%, fewer than in 93% of UK towns. Kirkby Stephen’s 900 households held 1,895 residents at the 2021 Census. Here, 36% of households live in a terraced house.
What the Census says about Kirkby Stephen’s people
Many older residents
29% of residents were 65 or over in 2021, more than in 89% of UK towns; 20% of households are someone 66 or over living alone. Ages ↓
Written from the data on this page: ONS Census 2021 (output areas summed to the 2022 built-up area).
A median age of 50: Kirkby Stephen is older than 84% of UK towns
Share of residents in each five-year age band, Census 2021.
Here nearly one in ten residents are aged 15 to 24, where the figure across England’s towns is 12%. Residents aged 65 and over: 29% of the total.
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.
Only 3.6% of adults are full-time students in Kirkby Stephen
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%.
7.9% of residents lived at another address a year earlier; across England’s towns the figure is 11%. Managerial and professional jobs account for a quarter of Kirkby Stephen’s adults, routine and semi-routine work for 29%, against 33% and 24% across England’s towns.
Smaller households than 95% of UK towns: 2.1 people on average
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.
Shared households of unrelated adults: 1.6%, below 90% of UK towns.
Households without a car or van make up 20% in Kirkby Stephen, more than in 73% 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
Across England’s towns, the share of households in flats is 23%; Kirkby Stephen has 13%. The wider picture: nearly a quarter of households have no car or van across England’s towns. The census found that 25% of households live in a detached house locally.
Kirkby Stephen ranks below 77% of UK towns on residents born outside the UK: 4.1%
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
Where nine in ten residents have English as their main language across England’s towns, Kirkby Stephen has 99%. Residents born outside the UK make up 18% across England’s towns. Among residents born abroad, the largest groups were born in EU countries (2%) and in the Middle East and Asia (1.1%).
A larger share of residents who describe themselves as Christian than 78% of UK towns: 55%
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 Kirkby Stephen · Cumbria’s towns 95% · England’s towns 73%.
Religion · all residents
Residents with no religion are about as common here as across England’s towns: 37%. Against that, 46% of residents describe themselves as Christian across England’s towns. Behind White British, the largest groups are Other White (1.9%), Mixed or multiple (0.6%) and Chinese (0.4%).
31% of adults have never married or formed a civil partnership, below 61% 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
By its share of unpaid carers (10%), Kirkby Stephen is above 71% of UK towns. As a yardstick, nearly two in five adults have never married or formed a civil partnership across England’s towns. Heavy unpaid care, 50 hours a week or more, falls to 74 residents.
The share of adults with a degree-level qualification: 28%
Highest qualification, residents 16 and over, Census 2021.
Highest qualification · residents 16 and over
28% of Kirkby Stephen’s adults have a degree-level qualification, against 34% across England’s towns; 24% have none (18%).
The places around Kirkby Stephen
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kirkby Stephen | 1,895 | — | 50 | 29% | 21% |
| Appleby-in-Westmorland | 3,233 | 9.3 mi | 51.1 | 29% | 20% |
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 Kirkby Stephen’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 Kirkby Stephen’s residents
What is the population of Kirkby Stephen?
The 2021 Census counted 1,895 people in Kirkby Stephen’s built-up area.
What is the average age in Kirkby Stephen?
The median age was 50 at the 2021 Census. 8.5% of residents were 15 to 24 and 29% were 65 or over.
How diverse is Kirkby Stephen?
96% of residents described themselves as White British in 2021, against 73% across England’s towns and 95% across Cumbria’s towns. 4.1% were born outside the UK.
What religion are people in Kirkby Stephen?
37% said they had no religion and 55% that they were Christian at the 2021 Census; 0.4% were Muslim and 7.2% didn’t answer.
Is Kirkby Stephen good for families?
21% of households had dependent children in 2021, against 29% across England’s towns. Schools are on Kirkby Stephen’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.