Tithe Barn · Photo: Mike Hanham · CC BY-SA 2.0A median age of 58.8: Sydling St Nicholas is older than 99% of UK towns
Households with dependent children make up 15%, against 29% across England’s towns. The share of residents who describe themselves as White British stands at 97%. At 60%, the share of married adults and civil partners is higher than in 98% of UK towns. Sydling St Nicholas is home to 434 residents in 200 households, by the 2021 Census.
Residents aged 65 and over: 36%, a higher share than 97% of UK towns
Share of residents in each five-year age band, Census 2021.
Across England’s towns, 12% of residents are aged 15 to 24; in Sydling St Nicholas, 5.7%. 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
54% women, 46% men
About 85 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 1.1% of adults are full-time students in Sydling St Nicholas
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, a third of adults are in managerial and professional jobs and 24% in routine work; in Sydling St Nicholas, 46% and 9.8%. As a reference point, 7.9% of adults are full-time students across England’s towns. On the census count, 13% of residents lived at another address a year earlier.
Smaller households than 86% of UK towns: 2.2 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.
One-person households: 27% here and 30% across England’s towns. Few places have as many shared households of unrelated adults: 3.5% here, more than in 86% of UK towns.
Only 3% of households have no car or van in Sydling St Nicholas
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 40%, Sydling St Nicholas is ahead of 76% of UK towns on that count. For Sydling St Nicholas, the census puts households in flats at 4.4%. Households in terraced houses are rarer here than in 73% of UK towns. As a reference point, 24% of households have no car or van across England’s towns.
A larger share of residents whose main language is English than 90% 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
Compared with 18% across England’s towns, 4.8% of residents were born outside the UK here. Among residents born abroad, the largest groups were born in EU countries (2.5%) and in Africa (1.2%).
56% of residents describe themselves as Christian, more than in 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: 97% of Sydling St Nicholas · Dorset’s towns 87% · England’s towns 73%.
Religion · all residents
Residents with no religion: 38%, below 70% of UK towns. Across the comparison, 46% of residents describe themselves as Christian across England’s towns.
A lower share of adults who have never married than 99% of UK towns, at 18%
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
On unpaid carers, 8.2% here is much the same as across England’s towns. The number giving 50 or more hours of unpaid care a week is 7. Across England’s towns, adults who have never married come to 39%.
The share of adults with a degree-level qualification: 47%
Highest qualification, residents 16 and over, Census 2021.
Highest qualification · residents 16 and over
In Sydling St Nicholas, 47% of adults hold a degree-level qualification, against 34% across England’s towns, while 7.9% have no qualification at all (18%).
Every neighbour of Sydling St Nicholas 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sydling St Nicholas | 434 | — | 58.8 | 36% | 15% |
| Maiden Newton | 1,128 | 2.4 mi | 49.7 | 28% | 25% |
| Charlton Down | 1,487 | 4.1 mi | 45.6 | 22% | 31% |
| Charminster | 1,732 | 5 mi | 49.7 | 28% | 26% |
| Dorchester | 21,358 | 6.8 mi | 48.7 | 28% | 23% |
| Puddletown | 1,193 | 8.4 mi | 51.1 | 28% | 25% |
| Beaminster | 2,995 | 9.5 mi | 57.7 | 39% | 17% |
| Barwick and Stoford | 1,095 | 9.5 mi | 47.9 | 28% | 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 Sydling St Nicholas’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 Sydling St Nicholas’s residents
What is the population of Sydling St Nicholas?
The 2021 Census counted 434 people in Sydling St Nicholas’s built-up area.
What is the average age in Sydling St Nicholas?
The median age was 58.8 at the 2021 Census. 5.7% of residents were 15 to 24 and 36% were 65 or over.
How diverse is Sydling St Nicholas?
97% of residents described themselves as White British in 2021, against 73% across England’s towns and 87% across Dorset’s towns. 4.8% were born outside the UK.
What religion are people in Sydling St Nicholas?
38% said they had no religion and 56% that they were Christian at the 2021 Census; 0% were Muslim and 5.8% didn’t answer.
Is Sydling St Nicholas good for families?
15% of households had dependent children in 2021, against 29% across England’s towns. Schools are on Sydling St Nicholas’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.