Photo: Deben Dave at English Wikipedia · Public domainManningtree is older than 95% of UK towns: a median age of 53.7
With households with dependent children at 15%, Manningtree is behind 99% of UK towns on that count. Shared households of unrelated adults: 1% of the total. More households in flats than in 93% of UK towns: 27%. Census day 2021: 1,676 residents and 867 households locally.
What the Census says about Manningtree’s people
Older than most towns
Half of Manningtree’s residents are under 53.7 and half over, against 44.4 in the typical UK town. 34% are 65 or over, against 18% across England’s towns. Ages ↓
Written from the data on this page: ONS Census 2021 (output areas summed to the 2022 built-up area).
Manningtree: 34% of residents are 65 or over, above 96% of UK towns
Share of residents in each five-year age band, Census 2021.
No age band is larger than 70–74: 8.4% of residents, 1.7 times the share across England’s towns. On average, 18% of residents are 65 or over across England’s towns. Nearly one in ten residents are aged 15 to 24.
Broad ages · share of residents
Women and men · all residents
55% women, 45% men
About 82 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.
Manningtree sits below 76% of UK towns for full-time students (4.2%)
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%.
Compared with 11% across England’s towns, just over one in ten residents lived at another address a year earlier here. Typically, 7.9% of adults are full-time students across England’s towns.
One-person households make up 48% in Manningtree, more than in 99% 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.
The typical household size is 1.8 people, against 2.4 across England’s towns. As a reference point, 30% of households are one person living alone across England’s towns.
Manningtree: 32% of households live in a terraced house, above 86% 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
Just over a quarter of households live in a detached house, against 21% across England’s towns. For households in terraced houses, the comparison across England’s towns is 24%. Here, 23% of households have no car or van.
More residents whose main language is English than 82% 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%
When those born abroad arrived
Main language · residents aged 3 and over
Born abroad and arrived since 2017: 6.5% of that group, against 21% across England’s towns. The comparison figure for residents whose main language is English is 90% across England’s towns. The two biggest birthplaces abroad are in EU countries (2.6%) and in the Americas, Oceania and elsewhere (1.3%).
94% of residents describe themselves as White British, more than in 64% 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 Manningtree · 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 (1.4%) and Indian (0.3%). Compared with other places, residents with no religion are common here: 43%, more than in 63% of UK towns. The benchmark for residents who describe themselves as White British across England’s towns: 73%. 46% of residents describe themselves as Christian across England’s towns, against 49% in Manningtree.
A lower share of married adults and civil partners than 84% of UK towns, at 42%
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
Compared with 39% across England’s towns, 30% of adults have never married or formed a civil partnership here. For married adults and civil partners, the comparison across England’s towns is 44%. The number giving 50 or more hours of unpaid care a week is 42. Manningtree has fewer unpaid carers than 64% of UK towns, at 8.9%.
Adults with a degree-level qualification: 36%
Highest qualification, residents 16 and over, Census 2021.
Highest qualification · residents 16 and over
At degree level, Manningtree counts 36% of its adults, against 34% across England’s towns; at the other end, 17% have no qualification (18%).
Manningtree is older than every town around it
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Manningtree | 1,676 | — | 53.7 | 34% | 15% |
| Lawford | 4,488 | 0.6 mi | 43.6 | 21% | 29% |
| Mistley | 1,827 | 1.1 mi | 43.7 | 21% | 22% |
| Brantham | 2,081 | 1.3 mi | 45.9 | 23% | 28% |
| Bradfield | 1,254 | 2.2 mi | 52.2 | 31% | 26% |
| East Bergholt | 2,211 | 3 mi | 52.8 | 30% | 25% |
| Ardleigh | 1,042 | 3.6 mi | 46.9 | 23% | 26% |
| Capel St Mary | 2,992 | 4.1 mi | 50.7 | 31% | 25% |
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 Manningtree’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 Manningtree’s residents
What is the population of Manningtree?
The 2021 Census counted 1,676 people in Manningtree’s built-up area.
What is the average age in Manningtree?
The median age was 53.7 at the 2021 Census. 8.8% of residents were 15 to 24 and 34% were 65 or over.
How diverse is Manningtree?
94% of residents described themselves as White British in 2021, against 73% across England’s towns and 83% across Essex’s towns. 6.3% were born outside the UK.
What religion are people in Manningtree?
43% said they had no religion and 49% that they were Christian at the 2021 Census; 0.1% were Muslim and 6.3% didn’t answer.
Is Manningtree good for families?
15% of households had dependent children in 2021, against 29% across England’s towns. Schools are on Manningtree’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.