Church of St Mary (Buckfast Abbey) · Photo: Necrothesp · CC BY-SA 3.0Buckfast is older than 98% of UK towns: a median age of 57.7
Residents who describe themselves as White British: 97% here and 73% across England’s towns. Buckfast’s 132 households held 283 residents at the 2021 Census. Across Buckfast, 17% of households have dependent children. Higher than in 82% of UK towns: 53% of adults are married or in a civil partnership.
Only 4.3% of residents are aged 15 to 24 in Buckfast
Share of residents in each five-year age band, Census 2021.
60–64 is the most common age band: 11% of residents, 2 times the share across England’s towns. On the census count, 33% of residents are 65 or over. 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
46% women, 54% men
About 115 men for every 100 women. Across England, 51% of residents are women.
Buckfast sits below 99% of UK towns for full-time students (2%)
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%.
By class, 26% of adults are in managerial and professional jobs and 28% in routine and semi-routine work (England’s towns: 33% and 24%). Across England’s towns, the share of full-time students is 7.9%. On the census count, just over one in ten residents lived at another address a year earlier.
Households here average 2.1 people, below 95% of UK towns
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.
Little separates the share of shared households of unrelated adults here, 3.8%, from the figure across England’s towns. Across Buckfast, 30% of households are one person living alone.
27% of households live in a terraced house, a share 77% of UK towns don’t reach
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
Compared with 23% across England’s towns, 7.4% of households live in a flat or apartment here. As a yardstick, 24% of households live in a terraced house across England’s towns. For Buckfast, the census puts households in detached houses at 40%. Few places have so few households without a car or van: 15% here, fewer than in just over half of UK towns.
A smaller share of residents born outside the UK than 99% of UK towns: 1.8%
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%
Main language · residents aged 3 and over
90% of residents have English as their main language across England’s towns, against 100% in Buckfast. Elsewhere, 18% of residents were born outside the UK across England’s towns. The two biggest birthplaces abroad are in the Middle East and Asia (0.7%) and in Africa (0.7%).
29% of residents said they have no religion, below 94% 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: 97% of Buckfast · Devon’s towns 91% · England’s towns 73%.
Religion · all residents
With residents who describe themselves as Christian at 60%, Buckfast is ahead of 94% of UK towns on that count. Next after White British come Other White (1.1%), Indian (0.7%) and African (0.7%). On average, 37% of residents said they have no religion across England’s towns.
Adults who have never married make up 31% in Buckfast, less than in 62% 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
Unpaid carers are more common here than in 54% of UK towns. Elsewhere, 39% of adults have never married or formed a civil partnership across England’s towns.
Degree-level qualifications: 31% of adults
Highest qualification, residents 16 and over, Census 2021.
Highest qualification · residents 16 and over
Buckfast’s adults: 31% with a degree-level qualification and 21% with none, against 34% and 18% across England’s towns.
The towns around Buckfast are all younger
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Buckfast | 283 | — | 57.7 | 33% | 17% |
| Buckfastleigh | 2,720 | 0.8 mi | 45.5 | 22% | 28% |
| Ashburton | 3,368 | 2.2 mi | 48.6 | 25% | 26% |
| South Brent | 2,643 | 5 mi | 53.2 | 31% | 22% |
| Denbury | 1,482 | 5.3 mi | 42.5 | 19% | 27% |
| Totnes | 9,217 | 5.9 mi | 49.7 | 27% | 23% |
| Ipplepen | 2,150 | 6.1 mi | 54.4 | 34% | 21% |
| Coldeast | 1,186 | 6.7 mi | 56.4 | 35% | 18% |
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 Buckfast’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 Buckfast’s residents
What is the population of Buckfast?
The 2021 Census counted 283 people in Buckfast’s built-up area.
What is the average age in Buckfast?
The median age was 57.7 at the 2021 Census. 4.3% of residents were 15 to 24 and 33% were 65 or over.
How diverse is Buckfast?
97% of residents described themselves as White British in 2021, against 73% across England’s towns and 91% across Devon’s towns. 1.8% were born outside the UK.
What religion are people in Buckfast?
29% said they had no religion and 60% that they were Christian at the 2021 Census; 0% were Muslim and 9.2% didn’t answer.
Is Buckfast good for families?
17% of households had dependent children in 2021, against 29% across England’s towns. Schools are on Buckfast’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.