Photo: David Dixon · CC BY-SA 2.0Older than 99% of UK towns: half of Portesham is over 59.1
Where 46% of residents describe themselves as Christian across England’s towns, Portesham has 61%. 13% of households have dependent children. Compared with other places, households in flats are scarce here: 2.1%, fewer than in 97% of UK towns. Census day 2021: 610 residents and 293 households here.
40% of residents are 65 or over, more than in 99% of UK towns
Share of residents in each five-year age band, Census 2021.
The share of residents aged 15 to 24 trails 98% of UK towns: 7.2%. The usual figure: 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 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.
Only 3.7% of adults are full-time students in Portesham
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%.
Just over two fifths of Portesham’s adults are in managerial and professional jobs and 20% in routine and semi-routine work, against 33% and 24% across England’s towns. The benchmark for full-time students across England’s towns: 7.9%. Across Portesham, 8.7% of residents lived at another address a year earlier.
Smaller households than 93% of UK towns: 2.1 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.
Against a figure of 30% across England’s towns, the share of one-person households in Portesham comes in at 29%. Here, 3.4% of households are unrelated adults sharing a home.
Households in terraced houses make up 30% in Portesham, more than in 83% 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
Just over one in ten households have no car or van, against 24% across England’s towns. Here, 43% of households live in a detached house.
More residents whose main language is English than 82% of UK towns: 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%
Main language · residents aged 3 and over
Most residents from abroad were born in EU countries (2.1%) or in the Americas, Oceania and elsewhere (1%). The benchmark for residents whose main language is English across England’s towns: 90%. Portesham has fewer residents born outside the UK than 72% of UK towns, at 4.4%.
Below 94% of UK towns: 29% 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 Portesham · Dorset’s towns 87% · England’s towns 73%.
Religion · all residents
The share of residents who describe themselves as White British is 97%, against 73% across England’s towns. The next-largest groups, after White British, are Other White (2.1%), Mixed or multiple (0.7%) and Pakistani (0.2%). For comparison, 37% of residents said they have no religion across England’s towns.
21% of adults have never married or formed a civil partnership, below 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
The figure for unpaid carers is 11% in Portesham and 8.7% across England’s towns. Across England’s towns, 39% of adults have never married or formed a civil partnership. Three in five adults are married or in a civil partnership.
Qualified to degree level: 38% of adults
Highest qualification, residents 16 and over, Census 2021.
Highest qualification · residents 16 and over
38% of Portesham’s adults have a degree-level qualification, against 34% across England’s towns; 15% have none (18%).
Portesham 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Portesham | 610 | — | 59.1 | 40% | 13% |
| Chickerell | 3,973 | 4.3 mi | 45.3 | 23% | 27% |
| Weymouth | 55,540 | 5.6 mi | 50.2 | 27% | 21% |
| Dorchester | 21,358 | 5.9 mi | 48.7 | 28% | 23% |
| Charminster | 1,732 | 6.3 mi | 49.7 | 28% | 26% |
| Charlton Down | 1,487 | 7.3 mi | 45.6 | 22% | 31% |
| Maiden Newton | 1,128 | 7.4 mi | 49.7 | 28% | 25% |
| Fortuneswell | 4,554 | 9.2 mi | 45.9 | 18% | 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 Portesham’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 Portesham’s residents
What is the population of Portesham?
The 2021 Census counted 610 people in Portesham’s built-up area.
What is the average age in Portesham?
The median age was 59.1 at the 2021 Census. 7.2% of residents were 15 to 24 and 40% were 65 or over.
How diverse is Portesham?
97% of residents described themselves as White British in 2021, against 73% across England’s towns and 87% across Dorset’s towns. 4.4% were born outside the UK.
What religion are people in Portesham?
29% said they had no religion and 61% that they were Christian at the 2021 Census; 0.2% were Muslim and 7.7% didn’t answer.
Is Portesham good for families?
13% of households had dependent children in 2021, against 29% across England’s towns. Schools are on Portesham’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.