Photo: Bikeboy · CC BY-SA 2.0Half of Grays is under 37.4, younger than 91% of UK towns
Households in flats: 28%, above 94% of UK towns. Few places have so few one-person households: 25% here, fewer than in 83% of UK towns. At the 2021 Census, 44,340 people lived in Grays, in 16,915 households. Residents with no religion: 30% of the total.
What the Census says about Grays’s people
More born abroad than most towns
26% of residents were born outside the UK, against 12% across Essex’s towns and 18% across England’s towns. The largest groups were born in EU countries (12%) and in the Middle East and Asia (6.1%). Where people were born ↓
A town of families
36% of Grays’s 16,915 households had dependent children in 2021, more than in 95% of UK towns. 20% of residents are under 15. Households ↓
A mix of backgrounds
40% of residents described their ethnic group as something other than White British at the 2021 Census, more than in 96% of UK towns. The largest groups after White British are Other White (14%), African (8%) and Indian (3.7%). Ethnicity & religion ↓
Younger than most towns
Half of Grays’s residents are under 37.4 and half over, against 44.4 in the typical UK town. 11% are 15 to 24 and 14% are 65 or over. Ages ↓
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.
Grays’s population changed by +13% since 2011, more than in 72% of UK towns
ONS mid-year estimates, each year indexed to mid-2011 = 100. Grays’s figure is the small areas (2021 LSOAs) that make up the town.
People, mid-2011 = 100
Change by age, 2011 to 2024
About 39,200 people in 2011; 44,400 in 2024.
The steepest year was mid-2018 to mid-2019, up 760 people. Change by age ran from +21% for the 0 to 15 to −3% for the 16 to 29.
Fewer residents aged 65 and over than 92% of UK towns: 14%
Share of residents in each five-year age band, Census 2021.
The share of residents aged 15 to 24 tops 79% of UK towns: 11%. Across the comparison, 18% of residents are 65 or over across England’s towns. More residents are 30–34 than any other five-year age: nearly one in ten residents.
Median age of UK towns of 2,500+
■ Grays, 37.4. The typical town is 44.4.
Broad ages · share of residents
Women and men · all residents
51% women, 49% men
About an even split. Across England, 51% of residents are women.
6.7% of adults are full-time students, more than in 89% of UK towns
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%.
In Grays, 27% of adults work in managerial and professional jobs and 28% in routine and semi-routine work, against 33% and 24% across England’s towns. As a yardstick, 7.9% of adults are full-time students across England’s towns. Nearly one in ten residents lived at another address a year earlier.
The Census was taken on 21 March 2021, in term time, so students were counted at their term addresses.
Households with dependent children make up 36% in Grays, more than in 95% 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.
In Grays the average household is 2.6 people, beside 2.4 across England’s towns. At 4.1%, the share of shared households of unrelated adults is higher than in 93% of UK towns. The comparison figure for households with dependent children is 29% across England’s towns.
In Grays, 12% of households live in a detached house, fewer than in 91% 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
A fifth of households have no car or van, against 24% across England’s towns. Households in terraced houses are more common here than in nearly two thirds of UK towns. Set beside that, 21% of households live in a detached house across England’s towns.
26% born outside the UK, more than in 97% 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 35%
When those born abroad arrived
Main language · residents aged 3 and over
The two biggest birthplaces abroad are in EU countries (12%) and in the Middle East and Asia (6.1%). 84% of residents have English as their main language, a lower share than in 97% of UK towns. To put it in context, 18% of residents were born outside the UK across England’s towns.
Below 96% of UK towns: 60% of residents describe themselves as White British
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: 60% of Grays · Essex’s towns 83% · England’s towns 73%.
Religion · all residents
By its share of residents who describe themselves as Christian (52%), Grays is above nearly two thirds of UK towns. Next after White British come Other White (14%), African (8%) and Indian (3.7%). On average, 73% of residents describe themselves as White British across England’s towns.
37% of adults have never married or formed a civil partnership, a share 77% of UK towns don’t reach
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 married adults and civil partners is 46% in Grays and 44% across England’s towns. Census figures put unpaid carers at 7.8% locally. Adults who have never married make up 39% across England’s towns.
Adults with a degree-level qualification: 27%
Highest qualification, residents 16 and over, Census 2021.
Highest qualification · residents 16 and over
Against 34% across England’s towns, 27% of adults here have a degree-level qualification, while 22% hold no qualification (18%). Many still at university: 16% list A levels as their highest qualification.
From a median age of 32 in Grays Town to 41 in Little Thurrock South
The town’s 7 neighbourhoods (ONS middle-layer areas with 500+ residents inside it, named by the House of Commons Library), youngest first. Census 2021.
Little Thurrock South is the oldest area, with 18% aged 65 or over; Grays Town the youngest (median age 32). Families with children are most common in Grays Town (42% of households).
Among 164 UK towns of 31,000 to 60,000 people, the 20th youngest
Median age, Census 2021. Hover a dot for its students and residents born abroad; click for its page.
Canterbury is the youngest (27.5); Rustington the oldest (56.2). Nearest to Grays in age: Bletchley (37.2), Pontypridd (37.3), Bridgwater (37.5) and Rowley Regis (37.6).
Among its 7 nearest neighbours, 2 are older than Grays
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grays | 44,340 | — | 37.4 | 14% | 36% |
| Chadwell St Mary | 10,680 | 1.7 mi | 37.4 | 17% | 38% |
| Chafford Hundred and West Thurrock | 23,589 | 1.7 mi | 34.3 | 6.1% | 45% |
| Tilbury | 14,187 | 2.1 mi | 32.5 | 9.6% | 44% |
| Orsett | 1,428 | 2.3 mi | 46.3 | 22% | 29% |
| South Ockendon | 22,441 | 2.6 mi | 35.7 | 12% | 38% |
| Southfields | 1,167 | 2.9 mi | 38.8 | 11% | 33% |
| Swanscombe | 15,462 | 3 mi | 35.4 | 11% | 36% |
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 Grays’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. Grays’s trend uses the small areas (2021 LSOAs) with most of their people inside it: 43,223 people in 2021, against 44,340 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 Grays’s residents
What is the population of Grays?
The 2021 Census counted 44,340 people in Grays’s built-up area. The ONS estimates the same small areas held 44,400 people in mid-2024, 13% more than in 2011.
What is the average age in Grays?
The median age was 37.4 at the 2021 Census, younger than 91% of UK towns. 11% of residents were 15 to 24 and 14% were 65 or over.
How diverse is Grays?
60% of residents described themselves as White British in 2021, against 73% across England’s towns and 83% across Essex’s towns. 26% were born outside the UK.
What religion are people in Grays?
30% said they had no religion and 52% that they were Christian at the 2021 Census; 6.9% were Muslim and 5.4% didn’t answer.
Is Grays good for families?
36% of households had dependent children in 2021, against 29% across England’s towns. Families are most common in Grays Town (42% of households). Schools are on Grays’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) · ONS mid-year population estimates for 2021 LSOAs, mid-2011 to mid-2024 · House of Commons Library MSOA names. 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.