Photo: Geographer · CC BY-SA 2.0Residents with no religion make up 47% in Earls Colne, more than in 86% of UK towns
Set against 4.3% across England’s towns, 2% of households are unrelated adults sharing a home in Earls Colne. This Essex town had 3,360 residents in 1,428 households at the 2021 Census. Households in terraced houses account for 26%. 13% of households have no car or van, fewer than in 60% of UK towns.
What the Census says about Earls Colne’s people
More with no religion than most
47% of residents answered “no religion” in 2021 and 46% Christian, against 37% and 46% across England’s towns. Ethnicity & religion ↓
Written from the data on this page: ONS Census 2021 (output areas summed to the 2022 built-up area).
Earls Colne sits above 57% of UK towns for residents aged 65 and over (23%)
Share of residents in each five-year age band, Census 2021.
More residents are 60–64 than any other five-year age: 7% of residents. As a reference point, 18% of residents are 65 or over across England’s towns. With a median age of 44.6, Earls Colne is older than just over half of UK towns. In Frinton-on-Sea, the oldest of Essex’s towns by this measure, it is 46%.
Median age of UK towns of 2,500+
■ Earls Colne, 44.6. 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 England, 51% of residents are women. Women live longer than men, so towns with many older residents have more women.
Below 67% of UK towns: 4.4% of adults are full-time students
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%.
The share of residents who moved in within the year tops four fifths of UK towns: 10%. For full-time students, the comparison across England’s towns is 7.9%.
Earls Colne: 30% of households have dependent children, above 73% 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.
At 2.3 people, the average household compares with 2.4 across England’s towns. To put it in context, 29% of households have dependent children across England’s towns.
27% of households live in a detached house, fewer than in 57% 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
Across England’s towns, the share of households in flats is 23%; Earls Colne has 12%. To put it in context, 21% of households live in a detached house across England’s towns.
Residents whose main language is English: 98%, a higher share than 69% of UK towns
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
Born abroad and arrived since 2017: 9.7% of that group, against 21% across England’s towns. As a reference point, 90% of residents have English as their main language across England’s towns. The census found that 5% of residents were born outside the UK in Earls Colne.
Residents who describe themselves as White British: 94%, a higher share than 68% 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: 94% of Earls Colne · Essex’s towns 83% · England’s towns 73%.
Religion · all residents
The largest groups after White British are Other White (2.9%), Mixed or multiple (1.1%) and Bangladeshi (0.2%). At 46%, the share of residents who describe themselves as Christian is lower than in 76% of UK towns. Across the comparison, 73% of residents describe themselves as White British across England’s towns.
A smaller share of married adults and civil partners than 60% of UK towns: 46%
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
92 people give 50 hours or more of unpaid care a week. Married adults and civil partners make up 44% across England’s towns. Unpaid carers are rarer here than in 64% of UK towns. The share of adults who have never married is 32%, against 39% across England’s towns.
Among adults, 26% hold a degree-level qualification
Highest qualification, residents 16 and over, Census 2021.
Highest qualification · residents 16 and over
At degree level, Earls Colne counts 26% of its adults, against 34% across England’s towns; at the other end, 19% have no qualification (18%).
246th lowest median age among 749 UK towns of 2,500 to 5,000
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 Milford on Sea (64.6). Nearest to Earls Colne in age: Oakworth (44.6), Great Glen (44.6), Steeple Claydon (44.6) and Wollaston (44.7).
Older than Earls Colne: 6 of the 7 towns nearby
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Earls Colne | 3,360 | — | 44.6 | 23% | 30% |
| Halstead | 13,902 | 2.7 mi | 42.7 | 20% | 28% |
| Coggeshall | 3,767 | 3.7 mi | 50.1 | 28% | 24% |
| Gosfield | 1,453 | 4.3 mi | 55.5 | 34% | 21% |
| Marks Tey | 1,817 | 4.5 mi | 48.3 | 24% | 28% |
| Bures | 1,183 | 4.7 mi | 48.4 | 27% | 25% |
| Eight Ash Green | 1,769 | 5.4 mi | 45.9 | 24% | 27% |
| Copford | 1,794 | 5.5 mi | 44.8 | 22% | 27% |
Health, work and homes have their own pages
What this data can and can’t tell you
- “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 Earls Colne’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 Earls Colne’s residents
What is the population of Earls Colne?
The 2021 Census counted 3,360 people in Earls Colne’s built-up area.
What is the average age in Earls Colne?
The median age was 44.6 at the 2021 Census, older than 51% of UK towns. 9.8% of residents were 15 to 24 and 23% were 65 or over.
How diverse is Earls Colne?
94% of residents described themselves as White British in 2021, against 73% across England’s towns and 83% across Essex’s towns. 5% were born outside the UK.
What religion are people in Earls Colne?
47% said they had no religion and 46% that they were Christian at the 2021 Census; 0.9% were Muslim and 5.9% didn’t answer.
Is Earls Colne good for families?
30% of households had dependent children in 2021, against 29% across England’s towns. Schools are on Earls Colne’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.