Photo: Robert Edwards · CC BY-SA 2.0Steeple Bumpstead ranks above 93% of UK towns on households in detached houses: 54%
Flats are home to 3.7% of households, against 23% across England’s towns. Steeple Bumpstead had 1,376 residents in 590 households at the 2021 Census. Shared households of unrelated adults account for 1.5%. Lower than in 86% of UK towns: 27% of adults have never married or formed a civil partnership.
Older than 79% of UK towns: half of Steeple Bumpstead is over 48.8
Share of residents in each five-year age band, Census 2021.
A quarter of residents are 65 or over, against 18% across England’s towns. The largest age band is 50–54: nearly one in ten residents.
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.
5.1% of adults are full-time students, more than in 61% 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%.
38% of Steeple Bumpstead’s adults are in managerial and professional jobs and 19% in routine and semi-routine work, against 33% and 24% across England’s towns. By way of comparison, 7.9% of adults are full-time students across England’s towns. Here, 8.2% of 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.
Only 27% of households in Steeple Bumpstead are one person living alone
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.
Households with dependent children make up 25%, against 29% across England’s towns. To put it in context, 30% of households are one person living alone across England’s towns. Average household size: 2.3 people.
Fewer car-free households than 91% of UK towns: 8.3%
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
The figure for households in terraced houses is 12% in Steeple Bumpstead and 24% across England’s towns.
A higher share of residents whose main language is English than 92% of UK towns, at 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%
Main language · residents aged 3 and over
Across England’s towns the share born abroad is 18%; in Steeple Bumpstead it is 5.1%. Against that, nine in ten residents have English as their main language across England’s towns. The largest groups were born in EU countries (1.7%) and in Africa (1.3%).
A larger share of residents with no religion than 68% of UK towns: 44%
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 Steeple Bumpstead · Essex’s towns 83% · England’s towns 73%.
Religion · all residents
Residents who describe themselves as White British: 94%, above 64% of UK towns. The share of residents with no religion across England’s towns is 37%. Next after White British come Other White (3.1%), Mixed or multiple (1.9%) and African (0.4%).
Married adults and civil partners make up 55% in Steeple Bumpstead, more than in 89% of UK towns
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
Unpaid carers giving 50 hours or more a week: 38. Typically, 44% of adults are married or in a civil partnership across England’s towns. Little separates the share of unpaid carers here, 9.6%, from the figure across England’s towns.
33% of adults are qualified to degree level
Highest qualification, residents 16 and over, Census 2021.
Highest qualification · residents 16 and over
Degree-level qualifications cover 33% of adults in Steeple Bumpstead, 34% across England’s towns; 16% have no qualification, against 18%.
A younger town than 3 of the 7 around it: Steeple Bumpstead
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Steeple Bumpstead | 1,376 | — | 48.8 | 25% | 25% |
| Haverhill | 26,704 | 2.8 mi | 39.2 | 16% | 32% |
| Kedington | 1,778 | 3.9 mi | 47.1 | 27% | 30% |
| Great Yeldham | 1,824 | 5.4 mi | 45.6 | 20% | 30% |
| Clare | 2,278 | 6.2 mi | 53.2 | 33% | 19% |
| Great Bardfield | 1,372 | 6.6 mi | 49.6 | 25% | 24% |
| Cock and End | 1,346 | 7.1 mi | 34.9 | 3% | 21% |
| Castle Hedingham | 1,045 | 7.4 mi | 52.9 | 32% | 21% |
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 Steeple Bumpstead’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 Steeple Bumpstead’s residents
What is the population of Steeple Bumpstead?
The 2021 Census counted 1,376 people in Steeple Bumpstead’s built-up area.
What is the average age in Steeple Bumpstead?
The median age was 48.8 at the 2021 Census. 9.9% of residents were 15 to 24 and 25% were 65 or over.
How diverse is Steeple Bumpstead?
94% of residents described themselves as White British in 2021, against 73% across England’s towns and 83% across Essex’s towns. 5.1% were born outside the UK.
What religion are people in Steeple Bumpstead?
44% said they had no religion and 49% that they were Christian at the 2021 Census; 0% were Muslim and 5.4% didn’t answer.
Is Steeple Bumpstead good for families?
25% of households had dependent children in 2021, against 29% across England’s towns. Schools are on Steeple Bumpstead’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.