Photo: Mike Crowe · CC BY-SA 2.0A median age of 37.5: Heathfield is younger than 91% of UK towns
Households in detached houses: 16%, below just over four fifths of UK towns. At the 2021 Census Heathfield was home to 1,496 people in 649 households. Here, 36% of households live in a terraced house. The village has more adults who have never married than 93% of UK towns, at 42%.
What the Census says about Heathfield’s people
More with no religion than most
54% of residents answered “no religion” in 2021 and 40% Christian, against 37% and 46% across England’s towns. Ethnicity & religion ↓
Younger than most towns
Half of Heathfield’s residents are under 37.5 and half over, against 44.4 in the typical UK town. 11% are 15 to 24 and 11% are 65 or over. Ages ↓
Written from the data on this page: ONS Census 2021 (output areas summed to the 2022 built-up area).
Residents aged 65 and over make up 11% in Heathfield, less than in 96% of UK towns
Share of residents in each five-year age band, Census 2021.
No age band is larger than 25–29: nearly one in ten residents, 1.4 times the share across England’s towns. Typically, 18% of residents are 65 or over across England’s towns. For Heathfield, the census puts residents aged 15 to 24 at 11%.
Broad ages · share of residents
Women and men · all residents
51% women, 49% men
About 95 men for every 100 women. Across England, 51% of residents are women.
Full-time students make up 4.2% in Heathfield, less than in 78% 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%.
In Heathfield, 24% of adults work in managerial and professional jobs and 37% in routine and semi-routine work, against 33% and 24% across England’s towns. Across England’s towns, 7.9% of adults are full-time students. Nearly one in ten residents lived at another address a year earlier.
1.9% of households are unrelated adults sharing a home, fewer than in 77% 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.
28% of households are one person living alone, against 30% across England’s towns. Households with dependent children are more common here than in 71% of UK towns. As a yardstick, 4.3% of households are unrelated adults sharing a home across England’s towns.
Below 82% of UK towns: 9.9% of households have no car or van
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
Where 23% of households live in a flat or apartment across England’s towns, Heathfield has 7.7%. The wider picture: 24% of households have no car or van across England’s towns.
Residents born outside the UK: 4.5%, a lower share than 71% 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%
Main language · residents aged 3 and over
Compared with 90% across England’s towns, 98% of residents have English as their main language here. Residents born outside the UK: 18% across England’s towns, for comparison. The two biggest birthplaces abroad are in EU countries (2.5%) and in Africa (0.7%).
A higher share of residents with no religion than 97% of UK towns, at 54%
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: 95% of Heathfield · Devon’s towns 91% · England’s towns 73%.
Religion · all residents
Other than White British, most residents describe themselves as Other White (4%), Mixed or multiple (0.5%) and African (0.3%). Lower than in 92% of UK towns: 40% of residents describe themselves as Christian. Across England’s towns, 37% of residents said they have no religion. The share of residents who describe themselves as White British is 95%, against 73% across England’s towns.
Married adults and civil partners: 40%, a lower share than 91% 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
At 8.6%, the share of unpaid carers is in line with the figure across England’s towns. Measured more widely, 44% of adults are married or in a civil partnership across England’s towns. Some 36 people give 50 hours or more of unpaid care a week.
Degree-level qualifications reach 22% of adults
Highest qualification, residents 16 and over, Census 2021.
Highest qualification · residents 16 and over
17% of Heathfield’s adults have no qualification (18% across England’s towns), and 22% have one at degree level (34%).
Heathfield is younger than every town around it
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Heathfield | 1,496 | — | 37.5 | 11% | 30% |
| Coldeast | 1,186 | 1 mi | 56.4 | 35% | 18% |
| Chudleigh Knighton | 1,168 | 1.6 mi | 49.5 | 28% | 22% |
| Bovey Tracey | 6,241 | 1.9 mi | 54.4 | 35% | 21% |
| Kingsteignton | 11,945 | 2.9 mi | 45.2 | 22% | 27% |
| Newton Abbot | 29,650 | 3.3 mi | 43.2 | 21% | 27% |
| Chudleigh | 4,372 | 3.4 mi | 44.8 | 21% | 29% |
| Denbury | 1,482 | 4.2 mi | 42.5 | 19% | 27% |
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 Heathfield’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 Heathfield’s residents
What is the population of Heathfield?
The 2021 Census counted 1,496 people in Heathfield’s built-up area.
What is the average age in Heathfield?
The median age was 37.5 at the 2021 Census. 11% of residents were 15 to 24 and 11% were 65 or over.
How diverse is Heathfield?
95% of residents described themselves as White British in 2021, against 73% across England’s towns and 91% across Devon’s towns. 4.5% were born outside the UK.
What religion are people in Heathfield?
54% said they had no religion and 40% that they were Christian at the 2021 Census; 0.1% were Muslim and 5% didn’t answer.
Is Heathfield good for families?
30% of households had dependent children in 2021, against 29% across England’s towns. Schools are on Heathfield’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.