Photo: welshbabe · CC BY-SA 2.0Older than 93% of UK towns: half of Tenby is over 52.4
Just over two in five households are one person living alone, against 32% across Wales’s towns. Census day 2021: 4,092 residents and 2,028 households in Tenby. Here, 20% of households have dependent children. At 54%, the share of residents who describe themselves as Christian is higher than in 74% of UK towns.
What the Census says about Tenby’s people
Fewer people than in 2011
ONS mid-year estimates put Tenby at 4,700 in 2011 and 4,000 in 2024, down 14%, against 4% for Wales: slower growth than in 99% of UK towns. Since 2011 ↓
Older than most towns
Half of Tenby’s residents are under 52.4 and half over, against 44.4 in the typical UK town. 30% are 65 or over, against 21% across Wales’s towns. Ages ↓
A town of flats
33% of households live in a flat or maisonette, more than in 97% of UK towns. 28% have no car or van. Homes & cars ↓
Written from the data on this page: ONS Census 2021 (output areas summed to the 2022 built-up area) and ONS mid-year population estimates.
A change of −14% since 2011 leaves Tenby behind 99% of UK towns
ONS mid-year estimates, each year indexed to mid-2011 = 100. Tenby’s figure is the small areas (2021 LSOAs) that make up the town.
People, mid-2011 = 100
Change by age, 2011 to 2024
About 4,700 people in 2011; 4,000 in 2024.
The 65 and over age group changed most (+8%) and the 16 to 29 least (−34%).
A larger share of residents aged 65 and over than 91% of UK towns: 30%
Share of residents in each five-year age band, Census 2021.
Compared with 12% across Wales’s towns, 9.4% of residents are aged 15 to 24 here. The usual figure: 21% of residents are 65 or over across Wales’s towns.
Median age of UK towns of 2,500+
■ Tenby, 52.4. The typical town is 44.4.
Broad ages · share of residents
Women and men · all residents
52% women, 48% men
About 91 men for every 100 women. Across Wales, 51% of residents are women. Women live longer than men, so towns with many older residents have more women.
Tenby sits below 86% of UK towns for full-time students (3.9%)
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%.
At 10%, residents who moved in within the year sit close to the figure across Wales’s towns. As a yardstick, 8% of adults are full-time students across Wales’s towns.
Households here average 2 people, below 99% of UK towns
Household make-up at the 2021 Census. Each square is 1% of households.
Against Dyfed’s towns and Wales’s towns
People per household
Wales’s towns.
At 2.6%, the share of shared households of unrelated adults is in line with the figure across Wales’s towns.
33% of households live in a flat or apartment, more than in 97% 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
Where just over a fifth of households have no car or van across Wales’s towns, Tenby has 28%. At the same time, households in detached houses are rarer here than in 71% of UK towns. The share of households in flats across Wales’s towns is 14%. For Tenby, the census puts households in terraced houses at 19%.
Tenby ranks above 63% of UK towns on residents whose main language is English: 98%
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 10%
When those born abroad arrived
Main language · residents aged 3 and over
Residents born abroad were most often born in EU countries (3.6%), then in the Middle East and Asia (1.3%). Set beside that, 96% of residents have English as their main language across Wales’s towns. Few places have as many residents born outside the UK: 6.5% here, more than in just over half of UK towns. Of residents born abroad, 13% arrived in 2017 or later, against 23% across Wales’s towns.
Welsh, spoken by 11% of Tenby’s residents
Welsh language skills, residents aged 3 and over, Census 2021.
Welsh language skills · residents aged 3 and over
Against 16% across Welsh towns, 11% of residents aged 3 and over can speak Welsh here (456 people): fewer than in 54% of Welsh towns. Top of Dyfed: Tumble, at 62%.
Tenby ranks below 63% of UK towns on residents with no religion: 39%
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: 94% of Tenby · Dyfed’s towns 93% · Wales’s towns 90%.
Religion · all residents
Of the other groups, the largest are Other White (3.7%), Mixed or multiple (1%) and Chinese (0.4%). On residents who describe themselves as White British, Tenby sits higher than 62% of UK towns: 94%. The share of residents with no religion across Wales’s towns is 47%.
Tenby sits below 87% of UK towns for married adults and civil partners (41%)
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
10% of residents give unpaid care across Wales’s towns, against 11% in Tenby. As a reference point, 43% of adults are married or in a civil partnership across Wales’s towns. Unpaid care takes 50 hours a week or more for 129 people.
29% of adults are qualified to degree level
Highest qualification, residents 16 and over, Census 2021.
Highest qualification · residents 16 and over
29% of Tenby’s adults have a degree-level qualification, against 31% across Wales’s towns; 21% have none (20%).
Ranked by age, 79th oldest of 695 UK towns this size
Median age, Census 2021. Hover a dot for its students and residents born abroad; click for its page.
The youngest is Bailrigg (18.9) and the oldest Sutton on Sea and Trusthorpe (64.7). Nearest to Tenby in age: Bransgore (52.4), Fishguard (52.4), Navenby (52.5) and Henley-in-Arden (52.5).
Around Tenby, 2 of 7 towns have a higher median age
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tenby | 4,092 | — | 52.4 | 30% | 20% |
| Saundersfoot | 2,515 | 2.4 mi | 58.7 | 39% | 16% |
| Wooden | 1,300 | 3.1 mi | 51.9 | 31% | 21% |
| Kilgetty | 1,247 | 4.2 mi | 54.7 | 34% | 16% |
| Pembroke | 7,963 | 8.8 mi | 46.4 | 26% | 25% |
| Narberth | 2,365 | 8.9 mi | 46 | 26% | 23% |
| Pembroke Dock | 9,659 | 9.9 mi | 41.7 | 21% | 27% |
| Neyland | 3,250 | 10.6 mi | 46.7 | 24% | 24% |
Health, work and homes have their own pages
What this data can and can’t tell you
- “Dyfed’s towns” and “Wales’s towns” mean their built-up areas. Census comparisons pool every built-up area in Dyfed (or Wales), summed the same way as Tenby’s figures, so households in open countryside are left out. The population trend compares with the whole county and nation.
- Estimates since 2021 are modelled. The ONS builds mid-year estimates from the Census, births, deaths and migration records. Tenby’s trend uses the small areas (2021 LSOAs) with most of their people inside it: 4,092 people in 2021, against 4,092 in the built-up area.
- 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 Tenby’s residents
What is the population of Tenby?
The 2021 Census counted 4,092 people in Tenby’s built-up area. The ONS estimates the same small areas held 4,000 people in mid-2024, 14% fewer than in 2011.
What is the average age in Tenby?
The median age was 52.4 at the 2021 Census, older than 93% of UK towns. 9.4% of residents were 15 to 24 and 30% were 65 or over.
How diverse is Tenby?
94% of residents described themselves as White British in 2021, against 90% across Wales’s towns and 93% across Dyfed’s towns. 6.5% were born outside the UK.
What religion are people in Tenby?
39% said they had no religion and 54% that they were Christian at the 2021 Census; 0.6% were Muslim and 5.6% didn’t answer.
Is Tenby good for families?
20% of households had dependent children in 2021, against 27% across Wales’s towns. Schools are on Tenby’s schools page.
How many people speak Welsh in Tenby?
456 residents aged 3 and over, 11%, said they can speak Welsh at the 2021 Census, against 16% across Welsh towns.
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, TS032) · ONS mid-year population estimates for 2021 LSOAs, mid-2011 to mid-2024. 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.