Photo: Huligan0 · CC BY-SA 3.0Harman's Cross is older than 99% of UK towns: a median age of 59.8
23% of households live in a flat or apartment across England’s towns, against 3.3% in Harman's Cross. At the 2021 Census Harman's Cross was home to 404 people in 184 households. In Harman's Cross, 88% of households live in a detached house. More residents who describe themselves as Christian than in 94% of UK towns: 60%.
In Harman's Cross, 41% of residents are 65 or over, more than in 99% of UK towns
Share of residents in each five-year age band, Census 2021.
Here 6.7% of residents are aged 15 to 24, where the figure across England’s towns is 12%. To put it in context, 18% of residents are 65 or over across England’s towns.
Broad ages · share of residents
Women and men · all residents
52% women, 48% men
About 93 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.
Harman's Cross ranks below 99% of UK towns on full-time students: 2.2%
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%.
7.2% of residents lived at another address a year earlier (England’s towns: 11%). For comparison, 7.9% of adults are full-time students across England’s towns.
Fewer families than 99% of UK towns: 16% of households have children
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.
One-person households make up 25%, against 30% across England’s towns. A household here holds 2.2 people on average. 3.3% of households are unrelated adults sharing a home, a higher share than in 82% of UK towns. The benchmark for households with dependent children across England’s towns: 29%.
Households in terraced houses: 0.5%, a lower share than 99% 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
By its share of households without a car or van (6.5%), Harman's Cross is below 96% of UK towns. As a reference point, 24% of households live in a terraced house across England’s towns.
Harman's Cross sits above 99% of UK towns for residents whose main language is English (100%)
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
Among residents born abroad, the largest groups were born in EU countries (1.5%) and in the Middle East and Asia (1%). On residents born outside the UK, Harman's Cross sits lower than 85% of UK towns: 3.5%. Across the comparison, nine in ten residents have English as their main language across England’s towns.
Only 34% of residents said they have no religion in Harman's Cross
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 Harman's Cross · Dorset’s towns 87% · England’s towns 73%.
Religion · all residents
Across England’s towns, 73% of residents describe themselves as White British; in Harman's Cross, 95%. Elsewhere, 37% of residents said they have no religion across England’s towns.
Married adults and civil partners: 65%, a higher share than 99% 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
Heavy unpaid care, 50 hours a week or more, falls to 10 residents. Compared with other places, adults who have never married are scarce here: 22%, fewer than in 99% of UK towns. The wider picture: 44% of adults are married or in a civil partnership across England’s towns. Harman's Cross sits close to the norm on unpaid carers: 8%, about the same as across England’s towns.
Degree level: the highest qualification of 40% of adults
Highest qualification, residents 16 and over, Census 2021.
Highest qualification · residents 16 and over
Degree-level qualifications are held by 40% of adults in Harman's Cross (England’s towns: 34%), and no qualification by 14% (England’s towns: 18%).
Every neighbour of Harman's Cross has a younger population
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Harman's Cross | 404 | — | 59.8 | 41% | 16% |
| Swanage | 9,115 | 2.5 mi | 56.4 | 35% | 18% |
| Wareham | 5,876 | 6.5 mi | 52.6 | 32% | 21% |
| Sandford | 2,004 | 6.7 mi | 52 | 29% | 26% |
| Upton | 8,401 | 7.9 mi | 44.8 | 23% | 28% |
| Poole | 141,009 | 8.2 mi | 44.6 | 23% | 26% |
| Lytchett Matravers | 3,455 | 9.7 mi | 48.8 | 28% | 27% |
| Corfe Mullen | 10,036 | 10.2 mi | 47.8 | 24% | 28% |
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 Harman's Cross’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 Harman's Cross’s residents
What is the population of Harman's Cross?
The 2021 Census counted 404 people in Harman's Cross’s built-up area.
What is the average age in Harman's Cross?
The median age was 59.8 at the 2021 Census. 6.7% of residents were 15 to 24 and 41% were 65 or over.
How diverse is Harman's Cross?
95% of residents described themselves as White British in 2021, against 73% across England’s towns and 87% across Dorset’s towns. 3.5% were born outside the UK.
What religion are people in Harman's Cross?
34% said they had no religion and 60% that they were Christian at the 2021 Census; 0% were Muslim and 5.9% didn’t answer.
Is Harman's Cross good for families?
16% of households had dependent children in 2021, against 29% across England’s towns. Schools are on Harman's Cross’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.