Photo: Nigel Chadwick · CC BY-SA 2.0Half of Morcombelake is over 61.5, older than 99% of UK towns
By its share of one-person households (22%), Morcombelake is below 95% of UK towns. Compared with other places, residents who describe themselves as White British are common here: 97%, more than in 93% of UK towns. Its 160 households held 342 residents at the 2021 Census. Adults who have never married: 16% of the total.
Morcombelake: 42% of residents are 65 or over, above 99% of UK towns
Share of residents in each five-year age band, Census 2021.
With residents aged 15 to 24 at 6.2%, Morcombelake is behind 99% of UK towns on that count. As a reference point, 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 91 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.
Morcombelake sits below 99% of UK towns for full-time students (2.9%)
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%.
Managerial and professional jobs take in 44% of adults here, routine and semi-routine work 12% (England’s towns: 33% and 24%). On residents who moved in within the year, Morcombelake sits higher than 88% of UK towns: 11%. Across the comparison, 7.9% of adults are full-time students across England’s towns.
Only 11% of households in Morcombelake have dependent 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.
3.1% of households are unrelated adults sharing a home (England’s towns: 4.3%). Elsewhere, 29% of households have dependent children across England’s towns.
Morcombelake ranks below 99% of UK towns on households in terraced houses: 1.9%
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
With households in detached houses at 75%, Morcombelake is ahead of 99% of UK towns on that count. The comparison figure for households in terraced houses is 24% across England’s towns. Here, 4.4% of households have no car or van.
Morcombelake 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
The two biggest birthplaces abroad are in Africa (2%) and in EU countries (1.5%). The share of residents whose main language is English across England’s towns is 90%. More residents born outside the UK than in 51% of UK towns: 6.4%.
Below 87% of UK towns: 33% of residents said they have no religion
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: 97% of Morcombelake · Dorset’s towns 87% · England’s towns 73%.
Religion · all residents
Against a figure of 46% across England’s towns, the share of residents who describe themselves as Christian in Morcombelake comes in at 54%. Across England’s towns, residents with no religion come to 37%. The next-largest groups, after White British, are Other White (2.6%), Arab (0.3%) and Mixed or multiple (0.3%).
A higher share of married adults and civil partners than 99% of UK towns, at 67%
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
In Morcombelake, just over one in ten residents give unpaid care, beside 8.7% across England’s towns. The benchmark for married adults and civil partners across England’s towns: 44%. Unpaid carers giving 50 hours or more a week: 8.
Adults qualified to degree level or above: 41%
Highest qualification, residents 16 and over, Census 2021.
Highest qualification · residents 16 and over
14% of Morcombelake’s adults have no qualification (18% across England’s towns), and 41% have one at degree level (34%).
Of the 7 towns nearest Morcombelake, 1 are older
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Morcombelake | 342 | — | 61.5 | 42% | 11% |
| Charmouth | 1,337 | 2.3 mi | 61.8 | 46% | 16% |
| Lyme Regis | 3,741 | 4 mi | 59.9 | 40% | 16% |
| Bridport | 12,294 | 4.1 mi | 56.2 | 35% | 17% |
| Uplyme | 1,053 | 4.7 mi | 54 | 29% | 25% |
| Bradpole | 1,257 | 4.8 mi | 50.3 | 29% | 23% |
| Beaminster | 2,995 | 6.5 mi | 57.7 | 39% | 17% |
| Axminster | 6,094 | 6.8 mi | 46.8 | 27% | 24% |
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 Morcombelake’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 Morcombelake’s residents
What is the population of Morcombelake?
The 2021 Census counted 342 people in Morcombelake’s built-up area.
What is the average age in Morcombelake?
The median age was 61.5 at the 2021 Census. 6.2% of residents were 15 to 24 and 42% were 65 or over.
How diverse is Morcombelake?
97% of residents described themselves as White British in 2021, against 73% across England’s towns and 87% across Dorset’s towns. 6.4% were born outside the UK.
What religion are people in Morcombelake?
33% said they had no religion and 54% that they were Christian at the 2021 Census; 0% were Muslim and 12% didn’t answer.
Is Morcombelake good for families?
11% of households had dependent children in 2021, against 29% across England’s towns. Schools are on Morcombelake’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.