Photo: Stephen Williams · CC BY-SA 2.0A median age of 50.9: Loders is older than 89% of UK towns
Across England’s towns, 30% of households are one person living alone; in Loders, 23%. Fewer adults who have never married than in 93% of UK towns: 25%. The village is home to 288 residents in 121 households, by the 2021 Census. Census figures put households in flats at 3.4% here.
A smaller share of residents aged 15 to 24 than 97% of UK towns: 7.5%
Share of residents in each five-year age band, Census 2021.
The biggest five-year age group is 55–59, with 9.9% of residents, 1.5 times the share across England’s towns. Few places have as many residents aged 65 and over: 24% here, more than in 65% of UK towns.
Broad ages · share of residents
Women and men · all residents
53% women, 47% men
About 87 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.
3.4% of adults are full-time students, fewer than in 96% 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%.
Across England’s towns, just over one in ten residents lived at another address a year earlier; in Loders, 9.8%. Against that, 7.9% of adults are full-time students across England’s towns.
Shared households of unrelated adults: 1.7%, a lower share than 87% of UK towns
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 2.4 people, against 2.4 across England’s towns. Across England’s towns, the share of shared households of unrelated adults is 4.3%. Households with dependent children account for 26%.
In Loders, 44% of households live in a detached house, more than in 84% 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
The figure for households in terraced houses is 19% in Loders and 24% across England’s towns. Census figures put households without a car or van at 9.9% in the village. 3.4% of households live in a flat, less than in 91% of UK towns; 44% in a detached house, against 21% across England’s towns.
2.4% born outside the UK, fewer than in 97% of UK towns
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
Where 90% of residents have English as their main language across England’s towns, Loders has 100%. The largest groups were born in EU countries (1.4%) and in the Americas, Oceania and elsewhere (0.7%). On average, 18% of residents were born outside the UK across England’s towns.
Residents who describe themselves as White British: 95%, a higher share than 71% 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: 95% of Loders · Dorset’s towns 87% · England’s towns 73%.
Religion · all residents
Where 46% of residents describe themselves as Christian across England’s towns, Loders has 53%. Next after White British come Other White (2.4%), Mixed or multiple (1.7%) and Caribbean (0.3%). Two in five residents said they have no religion, fewer than in 55% of UK towns. The comparison figure for residents who describe themselves as White British is 73% across England’s towns.
Loders sits above 97% of UK towns for married adults and civil partners (59%)
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 number giving 50 or more hours of unpaid care a week is 6. 8.7% of residents give unpaid care, a lower share than in 68% of UK towns. On average, 44% of adults are married or in a civil partnership across England’s towns.
Among adults, 35% hold a degree-level qualification
Highest qualification, residents 16 and over, Census 2021.
Highest qualification · residents 16 and over
35% of Loders’s adults have a degree-level qualification, against 34% across England’s towns; 8.2% have none (18%).
Older than Loders: 4 of the 7 towns nearby
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Loders | 288 | — | 50.9 | 24% | 26% |
| Bradpole | 1,257 | 1.1 mi | 50.3 | 29% | 23% |
| Bridport | 12,294 | 2.1 mi | 56.2 | 35% | 17% |
| Beaminster | 2,995 | 4.6 mi | 57.7 | 39% | 17% |
| Maiden Newton | 1,128 | 6.7 mi | 49.7 | 28% | 25% |
| Charmouth | 1,337 | 8.1 mi | 61.8 | 46% | 16% |
| Misterton | 1,037 | 9.1 mi | 50.4 | 27% | 21% |
| Lyme Regis | 3,741 | 9.8 mi | 59.9 | 40% | 16% |
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 Loders’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 Loders’s residents
What is the population of Loders?
The 2021 Census counted 288 people in Loders’s built-up area.
What is the average age in Loders?
The median age was 50.9 at the 2021 Census. 7.5% of residents were 15 to 24 and 24% were 65 or over.
How diverse is Loders?
95% of residents described themselves as White British in 2021, against 73% across England’s towns and 87% across Dorset’s towns. 2.4% were born outside the UK.
What religion are people in Loders?
40% said they had no religion and 53% that they were Christian at the 2021 Census; 0% were Muslim and 6.3% didn’t answer.
Is Loders good for families?
26% of households had dependent children in 2021, against 29% across England’s towns. Schools are on Loders’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.