Photo: Roger Cornfoot · CC BY-SA 2.0Older than 99% of UK towns: half of Mary Tavy is over 58.1
Where 30% of households are one person living alone across England’s towns, Mary Tavy has 24%. Census figures put households in terraced houses at 8.1% in the village. At 59%, the share of households in detached houses is higher than in 96% of UK towns. The village is home to 540 residents in 225 households, by the 2021 Census.
A larger share of residents aged 65 and over than 98% of UK towns: 38%
Share of residents in each five-year age band, Census 2021.
The biggest five-year age group is 70–74, with one in ten residents, 2.1 times the share across England’s towns. As a reference point, 18% of residents are 65 or over across England’s towns. Residents aged 15 to 24 account for 7.8%.
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.
In Mary Tavy, 3.4% of adults are full-time students, fewer than in 96% 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%.
11% of residents lived at another address a year earlier across England’s towns, against 7.8% in Mary Tavy. By way of comparison, 7.9% of adults are full-time students across England’s towns.
Below 95% of UK towns: 20% of households 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.
Nothing unusual on shared households of unrelated adults: 4%, close to the figure across England’s towns. The benchmark for households with dependent children across England’s towns: 29%. Each household has 2.3 people on average.
Only 4.9% of households live in a flat or apartment in Mary Tavy
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 without a car or van make up 11%, against 24% across England’s towns. By way of comparison, 23% of households live in a flat or apartment across England’s towns.
100% of residents have English as their main language, a share 99% of UK towns don’t reach
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
In Mary Tavy, 3.5% of residents were born outside the UK, beside 18% across England’s towns. Across the comparison, nine in ten residents have English as their main language across England’s towns. Most residents from abroad were born in EU countries (1.3%) or in Africa (1.1%).
Mary Tavy ranks above 99% of UK towns on residents who describe themselves as White British: 99%
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: 99% of Mary Tavy · Devon’s towns 91% · England’s towns 73%.
Religion · all residents
Just over two in five residents said they have no religion (England’s towns: 37%). The comparison figure for residents who describe themselves as White British is 73% across England’s towns. The share of residents who describe themselves as Christian stands at 50%.
A lower share of adults who have never married than 99% of UK towns, at 21%
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
9 residents give 50 hours or more of unpaid care each week. For comparison, nearly two in five adults have never married or formed a civil partnership across England’s towns. On married adults and civil partners, Mary Tavy sits higher than 91% of UK towns: 56%. Unpaid carers: 8.4%, near enough the figure across England’s towns.
Degree-level qualifications reach 40% of adults
Highest qualification, residents 16 and over, Census 2021.
Highest qualification · residents 16 and over
Across England’s towns, 18% of adults have no qualification; in Mary Tavy, 18%, while 40% hold one at degree level (34%).
No nearby town is as old as Mary Tavy
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mary Tavy | 540 | — | 58.1 | 38% | 20% |
| Tavistock | 12,676 | 3.8 mi | 51.7 | 30% | 22% |
| Horrabridge | 1,875 | 6.2 mi | 51.5 | 28% | 24% |
| Princetown | 1,442 | 6.4 mi | 42.7 | 17% | 25% |
| Gunnislake and St Ann's Chapel | 3,506 | 6.9 mi | 50.5 | 27% | 23% |
| Yelverton | 1,856 | 7.3 mi | 57.8 | 39% | 18% |
| Bere Alston | 2,259 | 8.6 mi | 52.6 | 31% | 20% |
| Kelly Bray | 1,137 | 10.1 mi | 44.9 | 23% | 28% |
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 Mary Tavy’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 Mary Tavy’s residents
What is the population of Mary Tavy?
The 2021 Census counted 540 people in Mary Tavy’s built-up area.
What is the average age in Mary Tavy?
The median age was 58.1 at the 2021 Census. 7.8% of residents were 15 to 24 and 38% were 65 or over.
How diverse is Mary Tavy?
99% of residents described themselves as White British in 2021, against 73% across England’s towns and 91% across Devon’s towns. 3.5% were born outside the UK.
What religion are people in Mary Tavy?
42% said they had no religion and 50% that they were Christian at the 2021 Census; 0.2% were Muslim and 6.1% didn’t answer.
Is Mary Tavy good for families?
20% of households had dependent children in 2021, against 29% across England’s towns. Schools are on Mary Tavy’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.