Photo: David Smith · CC BY-SA 2.0Cockwood is older than 99% of UK towns: a median age of 58.9
Just over one in ten households have dependent children, against 29% across England’s towns. The share of adults who have never married stands at 17%. More households in detached houses than in 97% of UK towns: 61%. In 2021, the Census found 328 residents in Cockwood, living in 160 households.
36% of residents are 65 or over, a share 97% of UK towns don’t reach
Share of residents in each five-year age band, Census 2021.
No age band is larger than 55–59: 13% of residents, 1.9 times the share across England’s towns. The share of residents aged 15 to 24 stands at 5.8%. Set beside that, 18% of residents are 65 or over across England’s towns.
Broad ages · share of residents
Women and men · all residents
50% women, 50% men
About an even split. Across England, 51% of residents are women.
Only 4.7% of adults are full-time students in Cockwood
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 Cockwood, 50% and 12%. Full-time students make up 7.9% across England’s towns. Census figures put residents who moved in within the year at 8.6% locally.
Smaller households than 96% of UK towns: 2.1 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.
Shared households of unrelated adults are about as common here as across England’s towns: 4.4%. The share of one-person households stands at 29%.
Households in flats: 5.7%, a lower share than 80% of UK towns
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
13% of households have no car or van (England’s towns: 24%). On top of that, households in terraced houses are rarer here than in 79% of UK towns. The comparison figure for households in flats is 23% across England’s towns.
Above 97% of UK towns: 99% of residents have English as their main language
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
The share of residents born outside the UK trails 66% of UK towns: 4.9%. On average, 90% of residents have English as their main language across England’s towns. Among residents born abroad, the largest groups were born in EU countries (2.1%) and in Africa (1.8%).
A larger share of residents who describe themselves as Christian than 91% of UK towns: 59%
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 Cockwood · Devon’s towns 91% · England’s towns 73%.
Religion · all residents
Residents who describe themselves as White British: 94% here and 73% across England’s towns. The census found that 35% of residents said they have no religion in Cockwood. The wider picture: 46% of residents describe themselves as Christian across England’s towns.
64% of adults are married or in a civil partnership, more than in 99% 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
3 residents care, unpaid, for at least 50 hours a week. On unpaid carers, Cockwood sits higher than 85% of UK towns: 11%. By way of comparison, 44% of adults are married or in a civil partnership across England’s towns.
Degree-level qualifications reach 45% of adults
Highest qualification, residents 16 and over, Census 2021.
Highest qualification · residents 16 and over
Cockwood’s adults: 45% with a degree-level qualification and 14% with none, against 34% and 18% across England’s towns.
The towns around Cockwood are all younger
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 Cockwood’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 Cockwood’s residents
What is the population of Cockwood?
The 2021 Census counted 328 people in Cockwood’s built-up area.
What is the average age in Cockwood?
The median age was 58.9 at the 2021 Census. 5.8% of residents were 15 to 24 and 36% were 65 or over.
How diverse is Cockwood?
94% of residents described themselves as White British in 2021, against 73% across England’s towns and 91% across Devon’s towns. 4.9% were born outside the UK.
What religion are people in Cockwood?
35% said they had no religion and 59% that they were Christian at the 2021 Census; 0% were Muslim and 5.5% didn’t answer.
Is Cockwood good for families?
12% of households had dependent children in 2021, against 29% across England’s towns. Schools are on Cockwood’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.