Photo: Sealman · Public domainOne-person households: 35%, a higher share than 86% of UK towns
By its share of households with dependent children (24%), Axminster is below 82% of UK towns. At 27%, the share of residents aged 65 and over is higher than in 80% of UK towns. Census day 2021: 6,094 residents and 2,783 households here. The census found that 45% of residents said they have no religion in the town.
Older than 67% of UK towns: half of Axminster is over 46.8
Share of residents in each five-year age band, Census 2021.
No age band is larger than 50–54: 7.2% of residents. 9.5% of residents are aged 15 to 24, fewer than in 60% of UK towns. In Budleigh Salterton, the oldest of Devon’s towns by this measure, it is 46%.
Median age of UK towns of 2,500+
■ Axminster, 46.8. The typical town is 44.4.
Broad ages · share of residents
Women and men · all residents
53% women, 47% men
About 90 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.
A lower share of full-time students than 90% of UK towns, at 3.8%
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 Axminster, 26% of adults work in managerial and professional jobs and 30% in routine and semi-routine work, against 33% and 24% across England’s towns. Full-time students: 7.9% across England’s towns, for comparison. For Axminster, the census puts residents who moved in within the year at 11%.
Smaller households than 85% of UK towns: 2.2 people on average
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.
Compared with 4.3% across England’s towns, 2.7% of households are unrelated adults sharing a home here.
A larger share of households in flats than 78% of UK towns: 18%
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, nearly a quarter of households live in a terraced house; in Axminster, 27%. Nearly a fifth of households have no car or van, a higher share than in 68% of UK towns. The wider picture: 23% of households live in a flat or apartment across England’s towns. On the census count, 22% of households live in a detached house.
In Axminster, 6.9% of residents were born outside the UK, more than in 55% 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%
When those born abroad arrived
Main language · residents aged 3 and over
Among residents born abroad, the largest groups were born in EU countries (3%) and in the Middle East and Asia (1.8%). To put it in context, 18% of residents were born outside the UK across England’s towns. Few places have so few residents whose main language is English: 98% here, fewer than in just over half of UK towns. Since 2017: 17% of those born abroad, against 21% across England’s towns.
94% of residents describe themselves as White British, more than in 62% 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: 94% of Axminster · Devon’s towns 91% · England’s towns 73%.
Religion · all residents
The largest groups after White British are Other White (3%), Mixed or multiple (1.3%) and Chinese (0.5%). Few places have so few residents who describe themselves as Christian: 46% here, fewer than in 72% of UK towns. Across England’s towns, 73% of residents describe themselves as White British.
Fewer adults who have never married than 51% of UK towns: 32%
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
At 44%, married adults and civil partners sit close to the figure across England’s towns. Set beside that, 39% of adults have never married or formed a civil partnership across England’s towns. 180 people care, unpaid, for 50 hours or more a week. Fewer unpaid carers than in 57% of UK towns: 9.1%.
The share of adults with a degree-level qualification: 26%
Highest qualification, residents 16 and over, Census 2021.
Highest qualification · residents 16 and over
With 26% of its adults qualified to degree level, Axminster compares with 34% across England’s towns; another 19% hold no qualification (18%).
Among 624 UK towns of 4,000 to 8,000 people, the 260th oldest
Median age, Census 2021. Hover a dot for its students and residents born abroad; click for its page.
The youngest is Bailrigg (18.9) and the oldest Barton on Sea (65.3). Nearest to Axminster in age: Tetbury (46.8), Overton (46.8), Gowerton (46.8) and Brotton (46.9).
Axminster is younger than 6 of its 7 nearest neighbours
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
- “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 Axminster’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 Axminster’s residents
What is the population of Axminster?
The 2021 Census counted 6,094 people in Axminster’s built-up area.
What is the average age in Axminster?
The median age was 46.8 at the 2021 Census, older than 67% of UK towns. 9.5% of residents were 15 to 24 and 27% were 65 or over.
How diverse is Axminster?
94% of residents described themselves as White British in 2021, against 73% across England’s towns and 91% across Devon’s towns. 6.9% were born outside the UK.
What religion are people in Axminster?
45% said they had no religion and 46% that they were Christian at the 2021 Census; 0.1% were Muslim and 7.1% didn’t answer.
Is Axminster good for families?
24% of households had dependent children in 2021, against 29% across England’s towns. Schools are on Axminster’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.