Photo: PaleCloudedWhite · CC BY-SA 4.0A median age of 62.4: Ashmore is older than 99% of UK towns
Just over a fifth of households live in a detached house across England’s towns, against 69% in Ashmore. At the 2021 Census, 175 people lived in the village, in 85 households. Census figures put households with dependent children at 5.9% locally. The village has more residents who describe themselves as Christian than 89% of UK towns, at 58%.
Ashmore ranks above 99% of UK towns on residents aged 65 and over: 42%
Share of residents in each five-year age band, Census 2021.
Residents aged 15 to 24 make up 6.3%, against 12% across England’s towns. Set beside that, 18% of residents are 65 or over across England’s towns.
Broad ages · share of residents
Women and men · all residents
56% women, 44% men
About 80 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.
A smaller share of full-time students than 99% of UK towns: 1.8%
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, 33% of adults are in managerial and professional jobs and 24% in routine work; in Ashmore, 35% and 12%. The share of residents who moved in within the year stands at 10%. Against that, 7.9% of adults are full-time students across England’s towns.
Smaller households than 97% of UK towns: 2 people on average
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.
Little separates the share of shared households of unrelated adults here, 4.7%, from the figure across England’s towns. At 27%, the share of one-person households is lower than in 73% of UK towns.
A lower share of households without a car or van than 86% of UK towns, at 9.2%
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 flats are rarer here than in 99% of UK towns. Set beside that, 24% of households have no car or van across England’s towns. Across Ashmore, just over one in ten households live in a terraced house.
Ashmore ranks above 87% of UK towns on residents born outside the UK: 15%
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 the Americas, Oceania and elsewhere (6.2%) or in EU countries (5.1%). Ashmore has fewer residents whose main language is English than 60% of UK towns, at 97%. Across England’s towns, the share of residents born outside the UK is 18%.
No religion: 35% of residents, a lower share than 82% 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: 90% of Ashmore · Dorset’s towns 87% · England’s towns 73%.
Religion · all residents
The largest groups after White British are Other White (6.8%), African (1.7%) and Caribbean (0.6%). On average, 37% of residents said they have no religion across England’s towns. 90% of residents describe themselves as White British, a lower share than in 62% of UK towns.
Below 99% of UK towns: 18% 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
The figure for married adults and civil partners is 63% in Ashmore and 44% across England’s towns. Unpaid care takes 50 hours a week or more for 6 people. Few places have so few unpaid carers: 9.3% here, fewer than in 52% of UK towns. Against that, nearly two in five adults have never married or formed a civil partnership across England’s towns.
40% of adults have a degree-level qualification
Highest qualification, residents 16 and over, Census 2021.
Highest qualification · residents 16 and over
At degree level, Ashmore counts 40% of its adults, against 34% across England’s towns; at the other end, 14% have no qualification (18%).
Ashmore is older than every town around it
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ashmore | 175 | — | 62.4 | 42% | 5.9% |
| Shaftesbury | 9,163 | 4.2 mi | 44.2 | 24% | 26% |
| Child Okeford | 1,159 | 5.8 mi | 60.3 | 42% | 17% |
| Pimperne | 2,770 | 6 mi | 32.9 | 16% | 36% |
| Motcombe | 1,366 | 6.3 mi | 52.7 | 28% | 22% |
| Shillingstone | 1,165 | 6.9 mi | 52.9 | 29% | 22% |
| Blandford Forum | 11,805 | 7 mi | 45.8 | 25% | 24% |
| Tisbury | 2,274 | 7.6 mi | 52.9 | 31% | 20% |
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 Ashmore’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 Ashmore’s residents
What is the population of Ashmore?
The 2021 Census counted 175 people in Ashmore’s built-up area.
What is the average age in Ashmore?
The median age was 62.4 at the 2021 Census. 6.3% of residents were 15 to 24 and 42% were 65 or over.
How diverse is Ashmore?
90% of residents described themselves as White British in 2021, against 73% across England’s towns and 87% across Dorset’s towns. 15% were born outside the UK.
What religion are people in Ashmore?
35% said they had no religion and 58% that they were Christian at the 2021 Census; 0% were Muslim and 5.1% didn’t answer.
Is Ashmore good for families?
5.9% of households had dependent children in 2021, against 29% across England’s towns. Schools are on Ashmore’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.