1-4, The High Street · Photo: Pugsarethebest1234 · CC BY-SA 4.0Half of Ashley Heath is over 60.6, older than 99% of UK towns
Detached houses are home to 85% of households, against 21% across England’s towns. In 2021, the Census found 7,151 residents in Ashley Heath, living in 3,182 households. The census found that 0.9% of households live in a terraced house in the town. Higher than in 88% of UK towns: 57% of residents describe themselves as Christian.
What the Census says about Ashley Heath’s people
Older than most towns
Half of Ashley Heath’s residents are under 60.6 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).
Ashley Heath sits above 99% of UK towns for residents aged 65 and over (42%)
Share of residents in each five-year age band, Census 2021.
More residents are 70–74 than any other five-year age: just over one in ten residents, 2.6 times the share across England’s towns. The wider picture: 18% of residents are 65 or over across England’s towns. On the census count, 6.7% of residents are aged 15 to 24.
Median age of UK towns of 2,500+
■ Ashley Heath, 60.6. The typical town is 44.4.
Broad ages · share of residents
Women and men · all residents
52% women, 48% men
About 94 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.
Full-time students make up 3.3% in Ashley Heath, less than in 97% 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%.
44% of Ashley Heath’s adults are in managerial and professional jobs and 14% in routine and semi-routine work, against 33% and 24% across England’s towns. The share of full-time students across England’s towns is 7.9%. Here, nearly one in ten residents lived at another address a year earlier.
Ashley Heath sits below 99% of UK towns for households with dependent children (16%)
Household make-up at the 2021 Census. Each square is 1% of households.
Against Dorset’s towns and England’s towns
People per household
England’s towns.
The average household has 2.2 people, against 2.4 across England’s towns. 24% of households are one person living alone. Compared with other places, shared households of unrelated adults are common here: 3.7%, more than in 89% of UK towns. Elsewhere, 29% of households have dependent children across England’s towns.
A lower share of households in flats than 93% of UK towns, at 2.9%
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: 7.5% here and 24% across England’s towns. Set beside that, 23% of households live in a flat or apartment across England’s towns.
Ashley Heath sits above 76% of UK towns for residents whose main language is English (99%)
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 the share born abroad is 18%; in Ashley Heath it is 6.8%. The benchmark for residents whose main language is English across England’s towns: 90%. The two biggest birthplaces abroad are in EU countries (2.5%) and in the Middle East and Asia (1.7%).
Ashley Heath sits below 85% of UK towns for residents with no religion (34%)
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: 93% of Ashley Heath · Dorset’s towns 87% · England’s towns 73%.
Religion · all residents
Other than White British, most residents describe themselves as Other White (3.1%), Mixed or multiple (1.6%) and Indian (0.3%). For comparison, 37% of residents said they have no religion across England’s towns. 93% of residents describe themselves as White British, more than in 60% of UK towns.
Ashley Heath sits below 99% of UK towns for adults who have never married (18%)
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
One in ten residents give unpaid care, against 8.7% across England’s towns. By way of comparison, nearly two in five adults have never married or formed a civil partnership across England’s towns. Here, 64% of adults are married or in a civil partnership.
Qualified to degree level: 34% of adults
Highest qualification, residents 16 and over, Census 2021.
Highest qualification · residents 16 and over
34% of Ashley Heath’s adults have a degree-level qualification, against 34% across England’s towns; 17% have none (18%).
538 UK towns of 5,000 to 10,000 people: this is the 5th oldest
Median age, Census 2021. Hover a dot for its students and residents born abroad; click for its page.
The youngest is Red Lodge (30.9) and the oldest Barton on Sea (65.3). Nearest to Ashley Heath in age: Freshwater and Totland (59.1), Sheringham (59.3), Seaton (61) and Budleigh Salterton (62).
The towns around Ashley Heath are all younger
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ashley Heath | 7,151 | — | 60.6 | 42% | 16% |
| West Moors | 10,432 | 2.3 mi | 56.5 | 38% | 19% |
| Three Legged Cross | 1,129 | 2.5 mi | 48.3 | 29% | 29% |
| Ringwood | 12,789 | 2.7 mi | 47 | 26% | 26% |
| Hightown | 1,296 | 3.1 mi | 48.4 | 23% | 30% |
| Verwood | 13,706 | 3.3 mi | 49 | 28% | 26% |
| Ferndown | 13,267 | 3.4 mi | 58.6 | 40% | 17% |
| West Parley | 3,665 | 4 mi | 57.7 | 38% | 18% |
Health, work and homes have their own pages
What this data can and can’t tell you
- “Dorset’s towns” and “England’s towns” mean their built-up areas. Census comparisons pool every built-up area in Dorset (or England), summed the same way as Ashley Heath’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 Ashley Heath’s residents
What is the population of Ashley Heath?
The 2021 Census counted 7,151 people in Ashley Heath’s built-up area.
What is the average age in Ashley Heath?
The median age was 60.6 at the 2021 Census, older than 99% of UK towns. 6.7% of residents were 15 to 24 and 42% were 65 or over.
How diverse is Ashley Heath?
93% of residents described themselves as White British in 2021, against 73% across England’s towns and 87% across Dorset’s towns. 6.8% were born outside the UK.
What religion are people in Ashley Heath?
34% said they had no religion and 57% that they were Christian at the 2021 Census; 0.3% were Muslim and 7.1% didn’t answer.
Is Ashley Heath good for families?
16% of households had dependent children in 2021, against 29% across England’s towns. Schools are on Ashley Heath’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.