Photo: Glyn Baker · CC BY-SA 2.0In Copford, 3.6% of households live in a terraced house, fewer than in 98% of UK towns
Households in detached houses: 55%, above 93% of UK towns. Copford counted 1,794 residents and 754 households at the 2021 Census. In Copford, 52% of adults are married or in a civil partnership. At 90%, the share of residents who describe themselves as White British is lower than in 65% of UK towns.
More residents aged 15 to 24 than 66% of UK towns: 10%
Share of residents in each five-year age band, Census 2021.
The biggest five-year age group is 50–54, with nearly one in ten residents, 1.3 times the share across England’s towns. On average, 12% of residents are aged 15 to 24 across England’s towns. In Copford, 22% of residents are 65 or over. With a median age of 44.8, Copford is older than 52% of UK towns.
Broad ages · share of residents
Women and men · all residents
49% women, 51% men
About 106 men for every 100 women. Across England, 51% of residents are women.
A student village: 5.7% of adults study full-time
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 or semi-routine work; Copford has 42% and 17%. On residents who moved in within the year, Copford sits higher than three fifths of UK towns: 9.2%. Measured more widely, 7.9% of adults are full-time students across England’s towns.
The Census was taken on 21 March 2021, in term time, so students were counted at their term addresses.
2.4 people per household, more than in 70% of UK towns
Household make-up at the 2021 Census. Each square is 1% of households.
Against Essex’s towns and England’s towns
People per household
England’s towns.
Little separates the share of shared households of unrelated adults here, 3.6%, from the figure across England’s towns. Across Copford, 29% of households are one person living alone.
Below 95% of UK towns: 6.9% of households have no car or van
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
By its share of households in flats (22%), Copford is above 87% of UK towns. As a reference point, nearly a quarter of households have no car or van across England’s towns.
Copford sits above 60% of UK towns for residents born outside the UK (7.5%)
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%
When those born abroad arrived
Main language · residents aged 3 and over
Across England’s towns, nine in ten residents have English as their main language; in Copford, 98%. For residents born outside the UK, the comparison across England’s towns is 18%. Residents born abroad were most often born in EU countries (3.1%), then in the Middle East and Asia (2.2%).
A higher share of residents who describe themselves as Christian than 61% of UK towns, at 51%
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: 90% of Copford · Essex’s towns 83% · England’s towns 73%.
Religion · all residents
Of the other groups, the largest are Other White (3.5%), Mixed or multiple (2.3%) and Indian (1.6%). The wider picture: 46% of residents describe themselves as Christian across England’s towns. The figure for residents with no religion is 41% in Copford and 37% across England’s towns.
Below 62% of UK towns: 31% of adults have never married or formed a civil partnership
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% here is much the same as across England’s towns. As a reference point, nearly two in five adults have never married or formed a civil partnership across England’s towns.
Degree-level qualifications: 32% of adults
Highest qualification, residents 16 and over, Census 2021.
Highest qualification · residents 16 and over
Copford’s adults: 32% with a degree-level qualification and 15% with none, against 34% and 18% across England’s towns.
Of the 7 towns nearest Copford, 5 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Copford | 1,794 | — | 44.8 | 22% | 27% |
| Marks Tey | 1,817 | 1.4 mi | 48.3 | 24% | 28% |
| Eight Ash Green | 1,769 | 1.6 mi | 45.9 | 24% | 27% |
| West Bergholt | 3,175 | 3.3 mi | 48.6 | 25% | 28% |
| Layer-de-la-Haye | 1,338 | 3.4 mi | 49.1 | 26% | 31% |
| Colchester | 130,259 | 4.4 mi | 35.9 | 15% | 31% |
| Berechurch | 7,702 | 4.8 mi | 35.7 | 13% | 35% |
| Coggeshall | 3,767 | 4.8 mi | 50.1 | 28% | 24% |
Health, work and homes have their own pages
What this data can and can’t tell you
- The Census was taken in a lockdown, in term time. 21 March 2021 fell in term time, and students were asked to give their term-time address, so most were counted where they study. Some may have been living with family that day.
- “Essex’s towns” and “England’s towns” mean their built-up areas. Census comparisons pool every built-up area in Essex (or England), summed the same way as Copford’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 Copford’s residents
What is the population of Copford?
The 2021 Census counted 1,794 people in Copford’s built-up area.
What is the average age in Copford?
The median age was 44.8 at the 2021 Census. 10% of residents were 15 to 24 and 22% were 65 or over.
How diverse is Copford?
90% of residents described themselves as White British in 2021, against 73% across England’s towns and 83% across Essex’s towns. 7.5% were born outside the UK.
What religion are people in Copford?
41% said they had no religion and 51% that they were Christian at the 2021 Census; 0.3% were Muslim and 5.1% didn’t answer.
Is Copford good for families?
27% of households had dependent children in 2021, against 29% across England’s towns. Schools are on Copford’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.