Photo: Ruuy lestrade 73 at English Wikipedia · Public domainOlder than 98% of UK towns: half of Toppesfield is over 56.5
66% of adults are married or in a civil partnership, against 44% across England’s towns. Census figures put residents who describe themselves as Christian at 62% in Toppesfield. At 19%, the share of households with dependent children is lower than in 97% of UK towns. There were 102 households here at the 2021 Census, home to 224 residents.
Fewer residents aged 15 to 24 than 99% of UK towns: 4.1%
Share of residents in each five-year age band, Census 2021.
Compared with 18% across England’s towns, 33% of residents are 65 or over here. By way of comparison, 12% of residents are aged 15 to 24 across England’s towns.
Broad ages · share of residents
Women and men · all residents
47% women, 53% men
About 111 men for every 100 women. Across England, 51% of residents are women.
A smaller share of full-time students than 99% of UK towns: 2.1%
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%.
Managerial and professional jobs take in 32% of adults here, routine and semi-routine work 23% (England’s towns: 33% and 24%). 5.4% of residents lived at another address a year earlier. Across England’s towns, 7.9% of adults are full-time students.
Toppesfield ranks below 88% of UK towns on one-person households: 25%
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 in Toppesfield hold 2.2 people on average (England’s towns: 2.4). The wider picture: 30% of households are one person living alone across England’s towns. The share of shared households of unrelated adults stands at 2.9%.
9.5% of households live in a terraced house, fewer than in 90% 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
Compared with 24% across England’s towns, nearly one in ten households have no car or van here. Census figures put households in detached houses at 29% in Toppesfield.
Toppesfield ranks above 99% of UK towns on residents whose main language is English: 100%
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
With residents born outside the UK at 3.1%, Toppesfield is behind 89% of UK towns on that count. Elsewhere, 90% of residents have English as their main language across England’s towns. Among residents born abroad, the largest groups were born in the Americas, Oceania and elsewhere (1.8%) and in EU countries (1.3%).
No religion: 33% of residents, a lower share than 88% 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: 96% of Toppesfield · Essex’s towns 83% · England’s towns 73%.
Religion · all residents
96% of residents describe themselves as White British, against 73% across England’s towns. Across the comparison, 37% of residents said they have no religion across England’s towns.
In Toppesfield, 20% of adults have never married or formed a civil partnership, fewer than in 99% 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
5 residents care, unpaid, for at least 50 hours a week. The wider picture: 39% of adults have never married or formed a civil partnership across England’s towns. At 9.1%, unpaid carers sit close to the figure across England’s towns.
Degree-level qualifications: 28% of adults
Highest qualification, residents 16 and over, Census 2021.
Highest qualification · residents 16 and over
Degree-level qualifications are held by 28% of Toppesfield’s adults, against 34% across England’s towns; 20% have no qualification (18%).
Toppesfield 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Toppesfield | 224 | — | 56.5 | 33% | 19% |
| Great Yeldham | 1,824 | 1.5 mi | 45.6 | 20% | 30% |
| Castle Hedingham | 1,045 | 3 mi | 52.9 | 32% | 21% |
| Sible Hedingham | 4,261 | 3.2 mi | 41.4 | 21% | 30% |
| Steeple Bumpstead | 1,376 | 4.4 mi | 48.8 | 25% | 25% |
| Clare | 2,278 | 5.4 mi | 53.2 | 33% | 19% |
| Great Bardfield | 1,372 | 5.6 mi | 49.6 | 25% | 24% |
| Gosfield | 1,453 | 5.7 mi | 55.5 | 34% | 21% |
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 Toppesfield’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 Toppesfield’s residents
What is the population of Toppesfield?
The 2021 Census counted 224 people in Toppesfield’s built-up area.
What is the average age in Toppesfield?
The median age was 56.5 at the 2021 Census. 4.1% of residents were 15 to 24 and 33% were 65 or over.
How diverse is Toppesfield?
96% of residents described themselves as White British in 2021, against 73% across England’s towns and 83% across Essex’s towns. 3.1% were born outside the UK.
What religion are people in Toppesfield?
33% said they had no religion and 62% that they were Christian at the 2021 Census; 0% were Muslim and 4.9% didn’t answer.
Is Toppesfield good for families?
19% of households had dependent children in 2021, against 29% across England’s towns. Schools are on Toppesfield’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.