Photo: Lewis Clarke · CC BY-SA 2.0Ashford is older than 98% of UK towns: a median age of 57.9
Detached houses are home to 78% of households, against 21% across England’s towns. Lower than in 97% of UK towns: 6.2% of households live in a terraced house. At the 2021 Census Ashford was home to 297 people in 132 households. Across Ashford, 64% of adults are married or in a civil partnership.
Ashford ranks above 99% of UK towns on residents aged 65 and over: 39%
Share of residents in each five-year age band, Census 2021.
7.4% of residents are aged 15 to 24 (England’s towns: 12%). By way of comparison, 18% of residents are 65 or over across England’s towns.
Broad ages · share of residents
Women and men · all residents
51% women, 49% men
About 95 men for every 100 women. Across England, 51% of residents are women.
Residents who moved in within the year make up 11% in Ashford, more than in 83% 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%.
Across England’s towns, a third of adults are in managerial and professional jobs and 24% in routine work; in Ashford, 42% and 13%. On the census count, 4.7% of adults are full-time students.
Ashford sits below 93% of UK towns for households with dependent children (20%)
Household make-up at the 2021 Census. Each square is 1% of households.
Against Devon’s towns and England’s towns
People per household
England’s towns.
At 2.3 people, the average household compares with 2.4 across England’s towns. One-person households are rarer here than in 86% of UK towns. On average, 29% of households have dependent children across England’s towns.
Fewer flats than 96% of UK towns: 2.3% 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
6.9% of households have no car or van; across England’s towns the figure is 24%. Against that, nearly a quarter of households live in a flat or apartment across England’s towns.
A larger share of residents whose main language is English than 63% 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%
Main language · residents aged 3 and over
With residents born outside the UK at 6.1%, Ashford is behind 53% of UK towns on that count. The share of residents whose main language is English across England’s towns is 90%. Among residents born abroad, the largest groups were born in the Middle East and Asia (2.4%) and in Africa (1.4%).
55% of residents describe themselves as Christian, a share 82% 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: 94% of Ashford · Devon’s towns 91% · England’s towns 73%.
Religion · all residents
Next after White British come Mixed or multiple (3.4%), Other White (1.7%) and Chinese (0.3%). Compared with other places, residents with no religion are scarce here: 39%, fewer than in 65% of UK towns. To put it in context, 46% of residents describe themselves as Christian across England’s towns. 73% of residents describe themselves as White British across England’s towns, against 94% in Ashford.
Only 18% of adults have never married or formed a civil partnership in Ashford
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
Set against 8.7% across England’s towns, 13% of residents give unpaid care in Ashford. Across the comparison, 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 5 residents.
43% of adults are qualified to degree level
Highest qualification, residents 16 and over, Census 2021.
Highest qualification · residents 16 and over
In Ashford, 43% of adults hold a degree-level qualification, against 34% across England’s towns, while 13% have no qualification at all (18%).
No nearby town is as old as Ashford
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ashford | 297 | — | 57.9 | 39% | 20% |
| Bickington | 2,105 | 1.7 mi | 52.3 | 30% | 21% |
| Chivenor and Wrafton | 1,953 | 1.9 mi | 31.9 | 9.8% | 41% |
| Barnstaple | 31,271 | 2.3 mi | 43.1 | 22% | 26% |
| Fremington | 5,229 | 2.5 mi | 53.6 | 33% | 23% |
| Braunton | 6,610 | 3 mi | 50.6 | 30% | 24% |
| Landkey | 2,001 | 4.8 mi | 46 | 24% | 28% |
| Appledore | 1,711 | 5.3 mi | 56.6 | 34% | 17% |
Health, work and homes have their own pages
What this data can and can’t tell you
- “Devon’s towns” and “England’s towns” mean their built-up areas. Census comparisons pool every built-up area in Devon (or England), summed the same way as Ashford’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 Ashford’s residents
What is the population of Ashford?
The 2021 Census counted 297 people in Ashford’s built-up area.
What is the average age in Ashford?
The median age was 57.9 at the 2021 Census. 7.4% of residents were 15 to 24 and 39% were 65 or over.
How diverse is Ashford?
94% of residents described themselves as White British in 2021, against 73% across England’s towns and 91% across Devon’s towns. 6.1% were born outside the UK.
What religion are people in Ashford?
39% said they had no religion and 55% that they were Christian at the 2021 Census; 0% were Muslim and 4.4% didn’t answer.
Is Ashford good for families?
20% of households had dependent children in 2021, against 29% across England’s towns. Schools are on Ashford’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.