Photo: Derek Harper · CC BY-SA 2.0Half of Coldeast is over 56.4, older than 98% of UK towns
3.3% of households live in a terraced house, against 24% across England’s towns. Locally, 97% of residents describe themselves as White British. At 21%, the share of adults who have never married is lower than in 99% of UK towns. In 2021, the Census found 1,186 residents in Coldeast, living in 541 households.
What the Census says about Coldeast’s people
Older than most towns
Half of Coldeast’s residents are under 56.4 and half over, against 44.4 in the typical UK town. 35% are 65 or over, against 18% across England’s towns. Ages ↓
Written from the data on this page: ONS Census 2021 (output areas summed to the 2022 built-up area).
Coldeast ranks above 97% of UK towns on residents aged 65 and over: 35%
Share of residents in each five-year age band, Census 2021.
8.2% of residents are aged 15 to 24, against 12% across England’s towns. As a reference point, 18% of residents are 65 or over across England’s towns.
Broad ages · share of residents
Women and men · all residents
53% women, 47% men
About 88 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.
Below 87% of UK towns: 6.9% of residents lived at another address a year earlier
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 Coldeast, 35% of adults work in managerial and professional jobs and 20% in routine and semi-routine work, against 33% and 24% across England’s towns. Residents who moved in within the year: 11% across England’s towns, for comparison. On the census count, 4.8% of adults are full-time students.
Only 18% of households in Coldeast have dependent children
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.
The typical household size is 2.2 people, against 2.4 across England’s towns. The benchmark for households with dependent children across England’s towns: 29%. Here, 1.5% of households are unrelated adults sharing a home. One-person households are rarer here than in 63% of UK towns.
69% of households live in a detached house, more than in 99% 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
Households in flats make up 1.5%, against 23% across England’s towns. The comparison figure for households in detached houses is 21% across England’s towns. The census found that 7.2% of households have no car or van in Coldeast.
More residents whose main language is English than 96% of UK towns: 99%
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
By birthplace, the largest groups from abroad were born in EU countries (2.2%) and in Africa (1.2%). Elsewhere, 90% of residents have English as their main language across England’s towns. Residents born outside the UK are rarer here than in nearly two thirds of UK towns.
In Coldeast, 58% of residents describe themselves as Christian, more than in 91% 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 Coldeast · Devon’s towns 91% · England’s towns 73%.
Religion · all residents
Where 37% of residents said they have no religion across England’s towns, Coldeast has 35%. Across the comparison, 46% of residents describe themselves as Christian across England’s towns.
Married adults and civil partners: 58%, a higher share than 94% 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
Across England’s towns, the share of unpaid carers is 8.7%; Coldeast has 11%. Against that, 44% of adults are married or in a civil partnership across England’s towns. 43 residents give 50 hours or more of unpaid care each week.
30% of adults hold a degree-level qualification
Highest qualification, residents 16 and over, Census 2021.
Highest qualification · residents 16 and over
In Coldeast, 30% of adults hold a degree-level qualification, against 34% across England’s towns, while 19% have no qualification at all (18%).
Every neighbour of Coldeast has a younger population
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coldeast | 1,186 | — | 56.4 | 35% | 18% |
| Heathfield | 1,496 | 1 mi | 37.5 | 11% | 30% |
| Bovey Tracey | 6,241 | 2.1 mi | 54.4 | 35% | 21% |
| Chudleigh Knighton | 1,168 | 2.5 mi | 49.5 | 28% | 22% |
| Newton Abbot | 29,650 | 3.4 mi | 43.2 | 21% | 27% |
| Kingsteignton | 11,945 | 3.5 mi | 45.2 | 22% | 27% |
| Denbury | 1,482 | 3.7 mi | 42.5 | 19% | 27% |
| Chudleigh | 4,372 | 4.3 mi | 44.8 | 21% | 29% |
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 Coldeast’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 Coldeast’s residents
What is the population of Coldeast?
The 2021 Census counted 1,186 people in Coldeast’s built-up area.
What is the average age in Coldeast?
The median age was 56.4 at the 2021 Census. 8.2% of residents were 15 to 24 and 35% were 65 or over.
How diverse is Coldeast?
97% of residents described themselves as White British in 2021, against 73% across England’s towns and 91% across Devon’s towns. 5% were born outside the UK.
What religion are people in Coldeast?
35% said they had no religion and 58% that they were Christian at the 2021 Census; 0.1% were Muslim and 6.4% didn’t answer.
Is Coldeast good for families?
18% of households had dependent children in 2021, against 29% across England’s towns. Schools are on Coldeast’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.