Photo: Rose and Trev Clough · CC BY-SA 2.0A median age of 53.3: Scotby is older than 94% of UK towns
The share of households in terraced houses is 7.5%, against 24% across England’s towns. In 2021, the Census found 1,830 residents in Scotby, living in 812 households. For Scotby, the census puts residents who describe themselves as Christian at 63%. Compared with other places, households in detached houses are common here: 49%, more than in 89% of UK towns.
What the Census says about Scotby’s people
Older than most towns
Half of Scotby’s residents are under 53.3 and half over, against 44.4 in the typical UK town. 32% 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).
Residents aged 15 to 24 make up 6.8% in Scotby, less than in 99% of UK towns
Share of residents in each five-year age band, Census 2021.
The biggest five-year age group is 70–74, with 8.6% of residents, 1.8 times the share across England’s towns. Census figures put residents aged 65 and over at 32% in Scotby. Across the comparison, 12% of residents are aged 15 to 24 across England’s towns.
Broad ages · share of residents
Women and men · all residents
52% women, 48% men
About 92 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.
Only 3.6% of adults are full-time students in Scotby
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 44% of Scotby’s adults, routine and semi-routine work for 16%, against 33% and 24% across England’s towns. For full-time students, the comparison across England’s towns is 7.9%. 13% of residents lived at another address a year earlier.
Scotby sits below 84% of UK towns for households with dependent children (23%)
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.
Households in Scotby hold 2.2 people on average (England’s towns: 2.4). Across England’s towns, households with dependent children come to 29%. Shared households of unrelated adults: 2% of the total. The village has more one-person households than 56% of UK towns, at 30%.
Only 9.1% of households have no car or van in Scotby
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
Set against 23% across England’s towns, 8% of households live in a flat or apartment in Scotby. Measured more widely, 24% of households have no car or van across England’s towns.
In Scotby, 4.8% of residents were born outside the UK, fewer than in 66% 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
Among residents born abroad, the largest groups were born in EU countries (2.9%) and in the Middle East and Asia (1%). Few places have as many residents whose main language is English: 98% here, more than in 50% of UK towns. As a yardstick, 18% of residents were born outside the UK across England’s towns.
30% of residents said they have no religion, fewer than in 93% 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: 95% of Scotby · Cumbria’s towns 95% · England’s towns 73%.
Religion · all residents
95% of residents describe themselves as White British, against 73% across England’s towns. The groups that follow White British are Other White (3.6%), Indian (0.4%) and Pakistani (0.3%). The benchmark for residents with no religion across England’s towns: 37%.
Scotby ranks below 98% of UK towns on adults who have never married: 23%
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: 58% here and 44% across England’s towns. Unpaid carers are more common here than in 59% of UK towns. Adults who have never married: 39% across England’s towns, for comparison.
Qualified to degree level: 43% of adults
Highest qualification, residents 16 and over, Census 2021.
Highest qualification · residents 16 and over
With 43% of its adults qualified to degree level, Scotby compares with 34% across England’s towns; another 14% hold no qualification (18%).
Of the 7 towns nearest Scotby, 1 are older
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
- “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 Scotby’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 Scotby’s residents
What is the population of Scotby?
The 2021 Census counted 1,830 people in Scotby’s built-up area.
What is the average age in Scotby?
The median age was 53.3 at the 2021 Census. 6.8% of residents were 15 to 24 and 32% were 65 or over.
How diverse is Scotby?
95% of residents described themselves as White British in 2021, against 73% across England’s towns and 95% across Cumbria’s towns. 4.8% were born outside the UK.
What religion are people in Scotby?
30% said they had no religion and 63% that they were Christian at the 2021 Census; 0.2% were Muslim and 5.2% didn’t answer.
Is Scotby good for families?
23% of households had dependent children in 2021, against 29% across England’s towns. Schools are on Scotby’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.