Photo: Jonathan Thacker · CC BY-SA 2.0Above 89% of UK towns: 96% of residents describe themselves as White British
29% of households have dependent children across England’s towns, against 24% in Ripley. Census day 2021: 20,191 residents and 9,159 households here. Shared households of unrelated adults account for 1.9%. With a median age of 46.5, Ripley is older than nearly two thirds of UK towns.
What the Census says about Ripley’s people
More with no religion than most
48% of residents answered “no religion” in 2021 and 45% Christian, against 37% and 46% across England’s towns. Ethnicity & religion ↓
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.
Ripley’s population moved +6% on 2011, less than in 59% of UK towns
ONS mid-year estimates, each year indexed to mid-2011 = 100. Ripley’s figure is the small areas (2021 LSOAs) that make up the town.
People, mid-2011 = 100
Change by age, 2011 to 2024
About 19,600 people in 2011; 20,700 in 2024.
The largest rise in a single year came from mid-2022 to mid-2023: 390 people. Split by age, the 65 and over changed most (+26%) and the 16 to 29 least (−4%).
A higher share of residents aged 65 and over than 63% of UK towns, at 23%
Share of residents in each five-year age band, Census 2021.
Young people aged 15 to 24 make up one in ten residents, against 12% across England’s towns. The biggest five-year age group is 50–54, with 7.7% of residents. On average, 18% of residents are 65 or over across England’s towns.
Median age of UK towns of 2,500+
■ Ripley, 46.5. The typical town is 44.4.
Broad ages · share of residents
Women and men · all residents
51% women, 49% men
About 96 men for every 100 women. Across England, 51% of residents are women.
A smaller share of full-time students than 83% of UK towns: 4%
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 Ripley, 27% of adults work in managerial and professional jobs and 32% in routine and semi-routine work, against 33% and 24% across England’s towns. Elsewhere, 7.9% of adults are full-time students across England’s towns. For Ripley, the census puts residents who moved in within the year at 8.2%.
Smaller households than 79% of UK towns: 2.2 people on average
Household make-up at the 2021 Census. Each square is 1% of households.
Against Derbyshire’s towns and England’s towns
People per household
England’s towns.
The share of one-person households tops 71% of UK towns: 33%.
Fewer flats than 71% of UK towns: 7.1% 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
35% of households live in a detached house, against 21% across England’s towns. For comparison, 23% of households live in a flat or apartment across England’s towns. Locally, nearly a fifth of households have no car or van. On households in terraced houses, Ripley sits lower than half of UK towns: 20%.
Ripley sits below 94% of UK towns for residents born outside the UK (2.8%)
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
Where nine in ten residents have English as their main language across England’s towns, Ripley has 99%. Against that, 18% of residents were born outside the UK across England’s towns. By birthplace, the largest groups from abroad were born in EU countries (1.3%) and in the Middle East and Asia (0.6%).
48% of residents said they have no religion, a share 89% 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: 96% of Ripley · Derbyshire’s towns 86% · England’s towns 73%.
Religion · all residents
Residents who describe themselves as Christian make up 45%, against 46% across England’s towns. Across England’s towns, the share of residents with no religion is 37%. Leading the other groups after White British: Other White (1.6%), Mixed or multiple (1.2%) and Indian (0.3%).
Ripley sits above 80% of UK towns for unpaid carers (11%)
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
In Ripley, 46% of adults are married or in a civil partnership, beside 44% across England’s towns. Compared with other places, adults who have never married are common here: 33%, more than in 55% of UK towns. The share of unpaid carers across England’s towns is 8.7%. Some 590 people give 50 hours or more of unpaid care a week.
Degree level: the highest qualification of 23% of adults
Highest qualification, residents 16 and over, Census 2021.
Highest qualification · residents 16 and over
Degree-level qualifications are held by 23% of Ripley’s adults, against 34% across England’s towns; 22% have no qualification (18%).
From a median age of 44 in Ripley South & Loscoe to 52 in Ripley West
The town’s 3 neighbourhoods (ONS middle-layer areas with 500+ residents inside it, named by the House of Commons Library), youngest first. Census 2021.
Ripley West is the oldest area, with 31% aged 65 or over; Ripley South & Loscoe the youngest (median age 44). Families with children are most common in Ripley South & Loscoe (26% of households).
Among 310 UK towns of 14,000 to 27,000 people, the 71st 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 Aberystwyth (25), the youngest, and South Hayling (57.2), the oldest. Nearest to Ripley in age: Ripon (46.5), Penwortham (46.5), Taverham and Drayton (46.6) and Ramsbottom (46.7).
Nearby, 3 of 7 towns have older populations than Ripley
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ripley | 20,191 | — | 46.5 | 23% | 24% |
| Somercotes and Swanwick | 15,105 | 2.1 mi | 44.9 | 21% | 26% |
| Heage | 2,584 | 2.1 mi | 52.7 | 29% | 21% |
| Ironville | 1,824 | 2.3 mi | 42.4 | 20% | 26% |
| Denby Bottles | 1,756 | 2.6 mi | 38.4 | 15% | 32% |
| Jacksdale and Westwood | 2,758 | 3 mi | 48 | 23% | 24% |
| Ambergate | 1,566 | 3 mi | 49.6 | 23% | 25% |
| Heanor | 24,264 | 3.1 mi | 42.5 | 19% | 26% |
Health, work and homes have their own pages
What this data can and can’t tell you
- “Derbyshire’s towns” and “England’s towns” mean their built-up areas. Census comparisons pool every built-up area in Derbyshire (or England), summed the same way as Ripley’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. Ripley’s trend uses the small areas (2021 LSOAs) with most of their people inside it: 19,676 people in 2021, against 20,191 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 Ripley’s residents
What is the population of Ripley?
The 2021 Census counted 20,191 people in Ripley’s built-up area. The ONS estimates the same small areas held 20,700 people in mid-2024, 6% more than in 2011.
What is the average age in Ripley?
The median age was 46.5 at the 2021 Census, older than 65% of UK towns. 9.6% of residents were 15 to 24 and 23% were 65 or over.
How diverse is Ripley?
96% of residents described themselves as White British in 2021, against 73% across England’s towns and 86% across Derbyshire’s towns. 2.8% were born outside the UK.
What religion are people in Ripley?
48% said they had no religion and 45% that they were Christian at the 2021 Census; 0.3% were Muslim and 5.5% didn’t answer.
Is Ripley good for families?
24% of households had dependent children in 2021, against 29% across England’s towns. Families are most common in Ripley South & Loscoe (26% of households). Schools are on Ripley’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 · House of Commons Library MSOA names. 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.