Photo: Raimond Spekking · CC BY-SA 4.0Topsham is older than 97% of UK towns: a median age of 55
17% of households have dependent children, against 29% across England’s towns. There were 2,193 households in Topsham at the 2021 Census, home to 4,193 residents. One-person households: 42% of the total. More households in terraced houses than in 83% of UK towns: 30%.
What the Census says about Topsham’s people
Older than most towns
Half of Topsham’s residents are under 55 and half over, against 44.4 in the typical UK town. 37% 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).
In Topsham, 37% of residents are 65 or over, more than in 98% of UK towns
Share of residents in each five-year age band, Census 2021.
Where 12% of residents are aged 15 to 24 across England’s towns, Topsham has 7.2%. As a yardstick, 18% of residents are 65 or over across England’s towns.
Median age of UK towns of 2,500+
■ Topsham, 55. The typical town is 44.4.
Broad ages · share of residents
Women and men · all residents
55% women, 45% men
About 83 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.
4% of adults are full-time students, fewer than in 85% 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%.
Managerial and professional jobs take in 48% of adults here, routine and semi-routine work 17% (England’s towns: 33% and 24%). On the census count, 11% of residents lived at another address a year earlier. Across England’s towns, the share of full-time students is 7.9%.
Households here average 1.9 people, below 99% 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.
Across England’s towns, 4.3% of households are unrelated adults sharing a home; in Topsham, 2.5%.
Topsham: 19% of households live in a flat or apartment, above 81% 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
Households in detached houses are about as common here as across England’s towns, at 21%. A fifth of households have no car or van, more than in 74% of UK towns. The wider picture: 23% of households live in a flat or apartment across England’s towns.
8.8% of residents were born outside the UK, a share 68% 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%
When those born abroad arrived
Main language · residents aged 3 and over
98% of residents have English as their main language, against 90% across England’s towns. Elsewhere, 18% of residents were born outside the UK across England’s towns. The largest groups were born in EU countries (3.8%) and in the Middle East and Asia (1.8%).
51% describe themselves as Christian, more than in 60% 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: 92% of Topsham · Devon’s towns 91% · England’s towns 73%.
Religion · all residents
The next-largest groups, after White British, are Other White (4.6%), Mixed or multiple (1.1%) and Bangladeshi (0.4%). The comparison figure for residents who describe themselves as Christian is 46% across England’s towns. 92% of residents describe themselves as White British, a lower share than in 52% of UK towns. Across England’s towns, 37% of residents said they have no religion; in Topsham, 41%.
Below 86% of UK towns: 27% of adults have never married or formed a civil partnership
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
Unpaid carers: 11%, above 85% of UK towns. Topsham has more married adults and civil partners than 52% of UK towns, at 48%. The wider picture: nearly two in five adults have never married or formed a civil partnership across England’s towns.
49% of adults hold a degree-level qualification
Highest qualification, residents 16 and over, Census 2021.
Highest qualification · residents 16 and over
At degree level, Topsham counts 49% of its adults, against 34% across England’s towns; at the other end, 12% have no qualification (18%).
37th oldest of 695 UK towns of 3,000 to 6,000 people
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 64.7 in Sutton on Sea and Trusthorpe. Nearest to Topsham in age: Bulkington (55), Kessingland (55), Brockenhurst (55.1) and Tickhill (55.3).
Every nearby town is younger than Topsham
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Topsham | 4,193 | — | 55 | 37% | 17% |
| Exminster | 4,388 | 1.3 mi | 42.2 | 21% | 31% |
| Clyst St Mary | 1,193 | 1.6 mi | 46.2 | 25% | 32% |
| Exton | 1,287 | 2.1 mi | 26 | 16% | 21% |
| Woodbury | 1,749 | 3.1 mi | 49.4 | 27% | 26% |
| Lympstone | 1,838 | 3.1 mi | 47.2 | 26% | 28% |
| Exeter | 126,181 | 3.2 mi | 35.1 | 16% | 24% |
| Clyst Honiton | 1,030 | 3.4 mi | 31.2 | 7.6% | 37% |
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 Topsham’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 Topsham’s residents
What is the population of Topsham?
The 2021 Census counted 4,193 people in Topsham’s built-up area.
What is the average age in Topsham?
The median age was 55 at the 2021 Census, older than 97% of UK towns. 7.2% of residents were 15 to 24 and 37% were 65 or over.
How diverse is Topsham?
92% of residents described themselves as White British in 2021, against 73% across England’s towns and 91% across Devon’s towns. 8.8% were born outside the UK.
What religion are people in Topsham?
41% said they had no religion and 51% that they were Christian at the 2021 Census; 0.9% were Muslim and 5.6% didn’t answer.
Is Topsham good for families?
17% of households had dependent children in 2021, against 29% across England’s towns. Schools are on Topsham’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.