Photo: Own work · Public domainA median age of 50.3: Exmouth is older than 86% of UK towns
Across England’s towns, households average 2.4 people; in Exmouth, 2.2. The 2021 Census put the town’s population at 35,502, in 15,977 households. The share of households with dependent children stands at 22%. This Devon town has more residents who describe themselves as White British than 71% of UK towns, at 94%.
What the Census says about Exmouth’s people
Older than most towns
Half of Exmouth’s residents are under 50.3 and half over, against 44.4 in the typical UK town. 29% 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) and ONS mid-year population estimates.
Slower growth than 62% of UK towns: Exmouth changed by +5% since 2011
ONS mid-year estimates, each year indexed to mid-2011 = 100. Exmouth’s figure is the small areas (2021 LSOAs) that make up the town.
People, mid-2011 = 100
Change by age, 2011 to 2024
About 34,500 people in 2011; 36,200 in 2024.
Of the age groups, 65 and over changed most (+29%) and 16 to 29 least (−14%). In one year, mid-2020 to mid-2021, the population rose by 400, the most of any year.
Exmouth: 29% of residents are 65 or over, above 88% of UK towns
Share of residents in each five-year age band, Census 2021.
More residents are 70–74 than any other five-year age: 7.6% of residents, 1.6 times the share across England’s towns. On average, 18% of residents are 65 or over across England’s towns. Residents aged 15 to 24 account for 9%.
Median age of UK towns of 2,500+
■ Exmouth, 50.3. The typical town is 44.4.
Broad ages · share of residents
Women and men · all residents
52% women, 48% men
About 91 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.
Full-time students make up 3.8% in Exmouth, less than in 89% 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%.
Where 11% of residents lived at another address a year earlier across England’s towns, Exmouth has 10%. Full-time students make up 7.9% across England’s towns.
Exmouth sits above 70% of UK towns for one-person households (32%)
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.
Nothing unusual on shared households of unrelated adults: 3.5%, close to the figure across England’s towns. Across the comparison, 30% of households are one person living alone across England’s towns.
19% of households have no car or van, a share 68% 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
Households in detached houses: 26%, below 58% of UK towns. For comparison, nearly a quarter of households have no car or van across England’s towns. Locally, 23% of households live in a terraced house.
6% of residents were born outside the UK, fewer than in 53% 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
Nine in ten residents have English as their main language across England’s towns, against 98% in Exmouth. By way of comparison, 18% of residents were born outside the UK across England’s towns. The largest groups were born in EU countries (3.2%) and in the Middle East and Asia (1.1%).
In Exmouth, 43% of residents said they have no religion, more than in 65% 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 Exmouth · Devon’s towns 91% · England’s towns 73%.
Religion · all residents
Residents who describe themselves as Christian: 49% here and 46% across England’s towns. For residents with no religion, the comparison across England’s towns is 37%. The largest groups after White British are Other White (3.3%), Mixed or multiple (0.9%) and Chinese (0.3%).
Exmouth sits below 72% of UK towns for adults who have never married (29%)
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
Against a figure of 8.7% across England’s towns, the share of unpaid carers in Exmouth comes in at 10%. Measured more widely, nearly two in five adults have never married or formed a civil partnership across England’s towns. 1,101 people care, unpaid, for 50 hours or more a week. More married adults and civil partners than in 54% of UK towns: 49%.
30% of adults have a degree-level qualification
Highest qualification, residents 16 and over, Census 2021.
Highest qualification · residents 16 and over
Degree-level qualifications cover 30% of adults in Exmouth, 34% across England’s towns; 17% have no qualification, against 18%.
From a median age of 45 in Exmouth Town to 58 in Exmouth Littleham
The town’s 5 neighbourhoods (ONS middle-layer areas with 500+ residents inside it, named by the House of Commons Library), youngest first. Census 2021.
Exmouth Littleham is the oldest area, with 40% aged 65 or over; Exmouth Town the youngest (median age 45). Families with children are most common in Exmouth Withycombe Raleigh (27% of households).
8th highest median age among 192 UK towns of 25,000 to 48,000
Median age, Census 2021. Hover a dot for its students and residents born abroad; click for its page.
The youngest is Hatfield (30.3) and the oldest Rustington (56.2). Nearest to Exmouth in age: Great Malvern (49), Deal (50.3), Broadstairs (50.4) and Whitstable (51.3).
Exmouth and its 7 nearest towns: 3 of them are older
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Exmouth | 35,502 | — | 50.3 | 29% | 22% |
| Lympstone | 1,838 | 1.9 mi | 47.2 | 26% | 28% |
| Starcross | 1,687 | 2.2 mi | 49.9 | 26% | 21% |
| Exton | 1,287 | 2.9 mi | 26 | 16% | 21% |
| Dawlish Warren | 1,191 | 3.1 mi | 58 | 36% | 17% |
| Budleigh Salterton | 5,237 | 3.2 mi | 62 | 46% | 16% |
| Woodbury | 1,749 | 3.2 mi | 49.4 | 27% | 26% |
| Dawlish | 11,800 | 4.3 mi | 52 | 30% | 20% |
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 Exmouth’s figures, so households in open countryside are left out. The population trend compares with the whole county and nation.
- Estimates since 2021 are modelled. The ONS builds mid-year estimates from the Census, births, deaths and migration records. Exmouth’s trend uses the small areas (2021 LSOAs) with most of their people inside it: 35,502 people in 2021, against 35,502 in the built-up area.
- 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 Exmouth’s residents
What is the population of Exmouth?
The 2021 Census counted 35,502 people in Exmouth’s built-up area. The ONS estimates the same small areas held 36,200 people in mid-2024, 5% more than in 2011.
What is the average age in Exmouth?
The median age was 50.3 at the 2021 Census, older than 86% of UK towns. 9% of residents were 15 to 24 and 29% were 65 or over.
How diverse is Exmouth?
94% of residents described themselves as White British in 2021, against 73% across England’s towns and 91% across Devon’s towns. 6% were born outside the UK.
What religion are people in Exmouth?
43% said they had no religion and 49% that they were Christian at the 2021 Census; 0.3% were Muslim and 6.3% didn’t answer.
Is Exmouth good for families?
22% of households had dependent children in 2021, against 29% across England’s towns. Families are most common in Exmouth Withycombe Raleigh (27% of households). Schools are on Exmouth’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) · ONS mid-year population estimates for 2021 LSOAs, mid-2011 to mid-2024 · House of Commons Library MSOA names. 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.