Photo: Lewis Clarke · CC BY-SA 2.0Residents with no religion make up 45% in Ottery St Mary, more than in 76% of UK towns
Where 39% of adults have never married or formed a civil partnership across England’s towns, Ottery St Mary has 29%. The median age here is 46.3, higher than in 64% of UK towns. Its 2,604 households held 6,043 residents at the 2021 Census. Just over a third of households live in a detached house.
What the Census says about Ottery St Mary’s people
Growing faster than most
ONS mid-year estimates put Ottery St Mary at 4,900 in 2011 and 6,100 in 2024, up 25%, against 10% for England: faster growth than in 91% of UK towns. Since 2011 ↓
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.
Faster growth than 91% of UK towns: Ottery St Mary changed by +25% since 2011
ONS mid-year estimates, each year indexed to mid-2011 = 100. Ottery St Mary’s figure is the small areas (2021 LSOAs) that make up the town.
People, mid-2011 = 100
Change by age, 2011 to 2024
About 4,900 people in 2011; 6,100 in 2024.
The largest rise in a single year came from mid-2020 to mid-2021: 220 people. The 65 and over group saw the biggest change (+41%), the 30 to 44 group the smallest (+16%).
Ottery St Mary: 25% of residents are 65 or over, above 70% of UK towns
Share of residents in each five-year age band, Census 2021.
The largest age band is 45–49: 7.4% of residents. As a reference point, 18% of residents are 65 or over across England’s towns. Compared with other places, residents aged 15 to 24 are common here: 9.8%, more than in 51% of UK towns. In Budleigh Salterton, the oldest of Devon’s towns by this measure, it is 46%.
Median age of UK towns of 2,500+
■ Ottery St Mary, 46.3. The typical town is 44.4.
Broad ages · share of residents
Women and men · all residents
53% women, 47% men
About 90 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 Ottery St Mary, 5% of adults are full-time students, more than in 57% 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%.
By class, 37% of adults are in managerial and professional jobs and 22% in routine and semi-routine work (England’s towns: 33% and 24%). Ottery St Mary has more residents who moved in within the year than just over four fifths of UK towns, at 11%. As a yardstick, 7.9% of adults are full-time students across England’s towns.
Larger households than 59% of UK towns: 2.3 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.
Households with dependent children are about as common here as across England’s towns, at 29%. On the census count, 2.4% of households are unrelated adults sharing a home. One-person households are rarer here than in 56% of UK towns.
Households without a car or van: 13%, a lower share than 62% 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
Compared with 24% across England’s towns, nearly a quarter of households live in a terraced house here. Across Ottery St Mary, nearly one in ten households live in a flat or apartment.
Ottery St Mary ranks above 62% of UK towns on residents whose main language is English: 98%
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
Against a figure of 18% across England’s towns, the share of residents born outside the UK in Ottery St Mary comes in at 5.9%. The comparison figure for residents whose main language is English is 90% across England’s towns. By birthplace, the largest groups from abroad were born in EU countries (2.5%) and in the Americas, Oceania and elsewhere (1.3%).
A higher share of residents who describe themselves as White British than 65% of UK towns, at 94%
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 Ottery St Mary · Devon’s towns 91% · England’s towns 73%.
Religion · all residents
Beyond White British, the biggest groups are Other White (3.2%), Mixed or multiple (1.6%) and Indian (0.2%). The usual figure: 73% of residents describe themselves as White British across England’s towns. At 47%, the share of residents who describe themselves as Christian is lower than in nearly two thirds of UK towns.
In Ottery St Mary, 50% of adults are married or in a civil partnership, more than in 62% 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
Locally, nearly one in ten residents give unpaid care. 29% of Ottery St Mary’s adults have never married or formed a civil partnership and 50% are married, against 39% and 44% across England’s towns.
35% of adults hold a degree-level qualification
Highest qualification, residents 16 and over, Census 2021.
Highest qualification · residents 16 and over
Degree-level qualifications are held by 35% of adults in Ottery St Mary (England’s towns: 34%), and no qualification by 14% (England’s towns: 18%).
291st highest median age among 624 UK towns of 4,000 to 8,000
Median age, Census 2021. Hover a dot for its students and residents born abroad; click for its page.
Ages run from 18.9 in Bailrigg to 65.3 in Barton on Sea. Nearest to Ottery St Mary in age: Redbourn (46.3), Rownhams and Nursling (46.3), Millom (46.4) and Kirkburton (46.4).
A younger town than 5 of the 7 around it: Ottery St Mary
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 Ottery St Mary’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. Ottery St Mary’s trend uses the small areas (2021 LSOAs) with most of their people inside it: 6,043 people in 2021, against 6,043 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 Ottery St Mary’s residents
What is the population of Ottery St Mary?
The 2021 Census counted 6,043 people in Ottery St Mary’s built-up area. The ONS estimates the same small areas held 6,100 people in mid-2024, 25% more than in 2011.
What is the average age in Ottery St Mary?
The median age was 46.3 at the 2021 Census, older than 64% of UK towns. 9.8% of residents were 15 to 24 and 25% were 65 or over.
How diverse is Ottery St Mary?
94% of residents described themselves as White British in 2021, against 73% across England’s towns and 91% across Devon’s towns. 5.9% were born outside the UK.
What religion are people in Ottery St Mary?
45% said they had no religion and 47% that they were Christian at the 2021 Census; 0.5% were Muslim and 6.4% didn’t answer.
Is Ottery St Mary good for families?
29% of households had dependent children in 2021, against 29% across England’s towns. Schools are on Ottery St Mary’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. 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.