Photo: Terryjoyce · CC BY-SA 3.0Rettendon ranks below 99% of UK towns on residents aged 15 to 24: 6.7%
Households with dependent children: 23%, below 83% of UK towns. At 6.8%, the share of households without a car or van is lower than in 96% of UK towns. Rettendon is home to 286 residents in 120 households, by the 2021 Census. Across Rettendon, nearly one in ten households live in a terraced house.
Rettendon is older than 72% of UK towns: a median age of 47.6
Share of residents in each five-year age band, Census 2021.
No age band is larger than 35–39: nearly one in ten residents. Higher than in nearly three quarters of UK towns: 25% of residents are 65 or over. In Frinton-on-Sea, the oldest of Essex’s towns by this measure, it is 46%.
Broad ages · share of residents
Women and men · all residents
52% women, 48% men
About 93 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.
Rettendon sits below 94% of UK towns for residents who moved in within the year (6.3%)
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%.
5.4% of adults are full-time students (England’s towns: 7.9%). For residents who moved in within the year, the comparison across England’s towns is 11%.
The Census was taken on 21 March 2021, in term time, so students were counted at their term addresses.
24% of households are one person living alone, below 89% 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.
Shared households of unrelated adults are about as common here as across England’s towns, at 4.2%. Across England’s towns, one-person households come to 30%.
More households in detached houses than 99% of UK towns: 67%
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
Households in flats: 6.7%, below 74% of UK towns. The benchmark for households in detached houses across England’s towns: 21%.
Residents whose main language is English make up 97% in Rettendon, less than in 61% 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%
Main language · residents aged 3 and over
The largest groups were born in EU countries (2.1%) and in the Middle East and Asia (1.8%). 5.9% of residents were born outside the UK, a lower share than in 54% of UK towns. Across England’s towns, 90% of residents have English as their main language.
Rettendon: 43% of residents said they have no religion, above 66% 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: 91% of Rettendon · Essex’s towns 83% · England’s towns 73%.
Religion · all residents
The next-largest groups, after White British, are Mixed or multiple (4.9%), Other White (2.8%) and Indian (0.4%). The comparison figure for residents with no religion is 37% across England’s towns. Residents who describe themselves as White British are rarer here than in three fifths of UK towns. Set against 46% across England’s towns, nearly half of residents describe themselves as Christian in Rettendon.
A smaller share of adults who have never married than 83% of UK towns: 27%
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
Married adults and civil partners: 49% here and 44% across England’s towns. The share of unpaid carers stands at 8.1%. Set beside that, 39% of adults have never married or formed a civil partnership across England’s towns.
29% of adults have a degree-level qualification
Highest qualification, residents 16 and over, Census 2021.
Highest qualification · residents 16 and over
In Rettendon, 29% of adults hold a degree-level qualification, against 34% across England’s towns, while 14% have no qualification at all (18%).
3 in 7 nearby towns have a higher median age than Rettendon
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rettendon | 286 | — | 47.6 | 25% | 23% |
| South Woodham Ferrers | 16,029 | 2.6 mi | 42.8 | 20% | 29% |
| Runwell | 8,086 | 2.6 mi | 43.1 | 23% | 30% |
| Bicknacre | 2,277 | 2.9 mi | 48.2 | 24% | 26% |
| Wickford | 27,533 | 3.4 mi | 42.5 | 20% | 30% |
| Hullbridge | 5,709 | 3.5 mi | 52.2 | 31% | 23% |
| Ramsden Heath | 1,949 | 3.7 mi | 46.5 | 22% | 33% |
| Danbury | 6,196 | 4.5 mi | 50.6 | 28% | 28% |
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 Rettendon’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 Rettendon’s residents
What is the population of Rettendon?
The 2021 Census counted 286 people in Rettendon’s built-up area.
What is the average age in Rettendon?
The median age was 47.6 at the 2021 Census. 6.7% of residents were 15 to 24 and 25% were 65 or over.
How diverse is Rettendon?
91% of residents described themselves as White British in 2021, against 73% across England’s towns and 83% across Essex’s towns. 5.9% were born outside the UK.
What religion are people in Rettendon?
43% said they had no religion and 49% that they were Christian at the 2021 Census; 0.4% were Muslim and 4.6% didn’t answer.
Is Rettendon good for families?
23% of households had dependent children in 2021, against 29% across England’s towns. Schools are on Rettendon’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.