Photo: Jaggery · CC BY-SA 2.0Half of Shaldon is over 60.7, older than 99% of UK towns
19% of adults have never married or formed a civil partnership, against 39% across England’s towns. Census day 2021: 1,717 residents and 819 households in Shaldon. For Shaldon, the census puts households with dependent children at 16%. Residents who describe themselves as Christian are more common here than in 87% of UK towns.
What the Census says about Shaldon’s people
Older than most towns
Half of Shaldon’s residents are under 60.7 and half over, against 44.4 in the typical UK town. 42% 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).
42% of residents are 65 or over, more than in 99% of UK towns
Share of residents in each five-year age band, Census 2021.
No age band is larger than 70–74: just over one in ten residents, 2.3 times the share across England’s towns. Residents aged 15 to 24 account for 5.8%. 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.
Shaldon ranks below 93% of UK towns on full-time students: 3.6%
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%.
Managerial and professional jobs account for 44% of Shaldon’s adults, routine and semi-routine work for 15%, against 33% and 24% across England’s towns. As a reference point, 7.9% of adults are full-time students across England’s towns. 8.6% of residents lived at another address a year earlier.
Shaldon households average 2.1 people, smaller than in 95% 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.
Here 2.8% of households are unrelated adults sharing a home, where the figure across England’s towns is 4.3%. What’s more, on one-person households, Shaldon sits higher than just over two thirds of UK towns: 32%.
A village of detached houses: 44% of households live in one
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
The figure for households without a car or van is 12% in Shaldon and 24% across England’s towns. Set beside that, just over a fifth of households live in a detached house across England’s towns. Households in flats account for 16%. On households in terraced houses, Shaldon sits higher than 60% of UK towns: 23%.
A larger share of residents whose main language is English than 62% of UK towns: 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
Across England’s towns, just over a fifth of those born abroad arrived in 2017 or later; here, 18%. At 6.5%, the share of residents born outside the UK is higher than in just over half of UK towns. For comparison, 90% of residents have English as their main language across England’s towns. Most residents from abroad were born in EU countries (2.6%) or in Africa (1.4%).
In Shaldon, 95% of residents describe themselves as White British, more than in 74% 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: 95% of Shaldon · Devon’s towns 91% · England’s towns 73%.
Religion · all residents
The groups that follow White British are Other White (3.3%), Mixed or multiple (1.1%) and African (0.1%). Residents with no religion are rarer here than in 78% of UK towns. Across England’s towns, the share of residents who describe themselves as White British is 73%.
59% of adults are married or in a civil partnership, more than in 97% 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
Against a figure of 8.7% across England’s towns, the share of unpaid carers in Shaldon comes in at 10%. By way of comparison, 44% of adults are married or in a civil partnership across England’s towns.
41% of adults have a degree-level qualification
Highest qualification, residents 16 and over, Census 2021.
Highest qualification · residents 16 and over
Against 34% across England’s towns, 41% of adults here have a degree-level qualification, while 13% hold no qualification (18%).
Median age: 1 of the 7 towns around Shaldon 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shaldon | 1,717 | — | 60.7 | 42% | 16% |
| Teignmouth | 15,314 | 1.1 mi | 51.8 | 30% | 21% |
| Bishopsteignton | 2,271 | 1.6 mi | 62 | 45% | 16% |
| Kingsteignton | 11,945 | 3.7 mi | 45.2 | 22% | 27% |
| Dawlish | 11,800 | 3.7 mi | 52 | 30% | 20% |
| Kingskerswell | 3,761 | 4 mi | 52.7 | 30% | 22% |
| Torquay | 52,034 | 4.3 mi | 46.9 | 24% | 23% |
| Newton Abbot | 29,650 | 4.4 mi | 43.2 | 21% | 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 Shaldon’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 Shaldon’s residents
What is the population of Shaldon?
The 2021 Census counted 1,717 people in Shaldon’s built-up area.
What is the average age in Shaldon?
The median age was 60.7 at the 2021 Census. 5.8% of residents were 15 to 24 and 42% were 65 or over.
How diverse is Shaldon?
95% of residents described themselves as White British in 2021, against 73% across England’s towns and 91% across Devon’s towns. 6.5% were born outside the UK.
What religion are people in Shaldon?
36% said they had no religion and 57% that they were Christian at the 2021 Census; 0.1% were Muslim and 5.7% didn’t answer.
Is Shaldon good for families?
16% of households had dependent children in 2021, against 29% across England’s towns. Schools are on Shaldon’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.