Photo: Gary Rogers · CC BY-SA 2.0Woolacombe: 36% of households live in a flat or apartment, above 98% of UK towns
People aged 65 and over make up 29% of residents, against 18% across England’s towns. At 8.7%, the share of households in terraced houses is lower than in 92% of UK towns. Woolacombe had 699 residents and 305 households at the 2021 Census, with a median age of 48.6. Here, 52% of adults are married or in a civil partnership.
7.5% of residents are aged 15 to 24, below 97% of UK towns
Share of residents in each five-year age band, Census 2021.
Half of Woolacombe’s residents are over 48.6, older than in 77% of UK towns. For comparison, 12% of residents are aged 15 to 24 across England’s towns. In Budleigh Salterton, the oldest of Devon’s towns by this measure, it is 46%.
Broad ages · share of residents
Women and men · all residents
51% women, 49% men
About an even split. Across England, 51% of residents are women.
A lower share of full-time students than 86% of UK towns, at 3.9%
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%.
Across England’s towns, the share of residents who moved in within the year is 11%; Woolacombe has 8.4%. For comparison, 7.9% of adults are full-time students across England’s towns.
A smaller share of households with dependent children than 87% of UK towns: 23%
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.
Little separates the share of shared households of unrelated adults here, 4.6%, from the figure across England’s towns. Set beside that, 29% of households have dependent children across England’s towns. The average household has 2.3 people. At 31%, the share of one-person households is higher than in 64% of UK towns.
A larger share of households in detached houses than 80% of UK towns: 42%
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: 12% here and 24% across England’s towns. 36% of households live in a flat, more than in 98% of UK towns; 42% in a detached house, against 21% across England’s towns.
A larger share of residents born outside the UK than 77% of UK towns: 11%
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
Most residents from abroad were born in EU countries (7.3%) or in the Middle East and Asia (1.4%). For residents born outside the UK, the comparison across England’s towns is 18%. 94% of residents have English as their main language, a lower share than in 81% of UK towns.
89% of residents describe themselves as White British, below 67% 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: 89% of Woolacombe · Devon’s towns 91% · England’s towns 73%.
Religion · all residents
Of the other groups, the largest are Other White (7.6%), Mixed or multiple (1.1%) and African (0.7%). More residents with no religion than in 60% of UK towns: 42%. Set beside that, 73% of residents describe themselves as White British across England’s towns. Across England’s towns, the share of residents who describe themselves as Christian is 46%; Woolacombe has 47%.
Woolacombe ranks below 66% of UK towns on adults who have never married: 30%
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 giving 50 hours or more a week: 19. Across England’s towns, the share of adults who have never married is 39%. Compared with other places, unpaid carers are scarce here: 9.3%, fewer than in 52% of UK towns.
Qualified to degree level: 35% of adults
Highest qualification, residents 16 and over, Census 2021.
Highest qualification · residents 16 and over
Against 34% across England’s towns, 35% of adults here have a degree-level qualification, while 14% hold no qualification (18%).
A younger town than 5 of the 7 around it: Woolacombe
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Woolacombe | 699 | — | 48.6 | 29% | 23% |
| Ilfracombe | 9,199 | 4.2 mi | 47.4 | 24% | 23% |
| Braunton | 6,610 | 4.8 mi | 50.6 | 30% | 24% |
| Chambercombe | 1,502 | 4.9 mi | 51.5 | 27% | 23% |
| Chivenor and Wrafton | 1,953 | 6.1 mi | 31.9 | 9.8% | 41% |
| Fremington | 5,229 | 7.7 mi | 53.6 | 33% | 23% |
| Combe Martin | 2,707 | 7.8 mi | 54.6 | 33% | 21% |
| Appledore | 1,711 | 8.2 mi | 56.6 | 34% | 17% |
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 Woolacombe’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 Woolacombe’s residents
What is the population of Woolacombe?
The 2021 Census counted 699 people in Woolacombe’s built-up area.
What is the average age in Woolacombe?
The median age was 48.6 at the 2021 Census. 7.5% of residents were 15 to 24 and 29% were 65 or over.
How diverse is Woolacombe?
89% of residents described themselves as White British in 2021, against 73% across England’s towns and 91% across Devon’s towns. 11% were born outside the UK.
What religion are people in Woolacombe?
42% said they had no religion and 47% that they were Christian at the 2021 Census; 0.4% were Muslim and 8.2% didn’t answer.
Is Woolacombe good for families?
23% of households had dependent children in 2021, against 29% across England’s towns. Schools are on Woolacombe’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.