Photo: Richard Webb · CC BY-SA 2.0In Cairneyhill, 61% of residents said they have no religion, more than in 99% of UK towns
Compared with 18% across Scotland’s towns, 48% of households live in a detached house here. At 10%, the share of households in terraced houses is lower than in 89% of UK towns. The 2022 Census counted 2,657 residents in 1,177 households. Locally, 55% of adults are married or in a civil partnership.
What the Census says about Cairneyhill’s people
More with no religion than most
61% of residents answered “no religion” in 2021 and 32% Christian, against 51% and 39% across Scotland’s towns. Ethnicity & religion ↓
Written from the data on this page: Scotland’s Census 2022 (output areas summed to the 2022 locality).
In Cairneyhill, 23% of residents are 65 or over, more than in 59% of UK towns
Share of residents in each five-year age band, Census 2022.
The median age in Cairneyhill is 45.2, higher than in 55% of UK towns. Across the comparison, 19% of residents are 65 or over across Scotland’s towns. Census figures put residents aged 15 to 24 at 9.8% locally. In Newport-on-Tay and Wormit, the oldest of Fife’s towns by this measure, it is 28%.
Median age of UK towns of 2,500+
■ Cairneyhill, 45.2. The typical town is 44.4.
Broad ages · share of residents
Women and men · all residents
52% women, 48% men
About 94 men for every 100 women. Across Scotland, 51% of residents are women.
4.8% of adults are full-time students, more than in 51% of UK towns
What adults did at the 2022 Census (the NS-SEC classes).
Adults by occupation class · residents 16 and over
Across Scotland’s towns, 33% of adults are in managerial and professional jobs and 25% in routine work; in Cairneyhill, 42% and 19%. Full-time students make up 9.4% across Scotland’s towns.
Shared households of unrelated adults make up 1.7% in Cairneyhill, less than in 85% of UK towns
Household make-up at the 2022 Census. Each square is 1% of households.
Against Fife’s towns and Scotland’s towns
People per household
Scotland’s towns.
29% of households are one person living alone; across Scotland’s towns the figure is 38%. Each household has 2.3 people on average. Compared with other places, households with dependent children are scarce here: 27%, fewer than in 52% of UK towns. Elsewhere, 3.5% of households are unrelated adults sharing a home across Scotland’s towns.
Cairneyhill ranks below 86% of UK towns on households without a car or van: 9.3%
Accommodation type and cars or vans per household, Census 2022. Owning and renting are on Cost of living.
Type of home
Cars or vans · share of households
The figure for households in flats is 11% in Cairneyhill and 39% across Scotland’s towns. By way of comparison, 29% of households have no car or van across Scotland’s towns.
Residents whose main language is English: 99%, a higher share than 73% of UK towns
Country of birth, year of arrival and main language, Census 2022.
Born outside the UK, by region · share of all residents; the bar runs to 15%
When those born abroad arrived
Main language · residents aged 3 and over
Compared with 11% across Scotland’s towns, 5.1% of residents were born outside the UK here. Residents born abroad were most often born in EU countries (2.2%), then in the Middle East and Asia (1.1%). The share of residents whose main language is English across Scotland’s towns is 94%.
Residents who describe themselves as Christian: 32%, a lower share than 99% of UK towns
How residents described themselves at the 2022 Census. Lines join the lowest and highest of the three figures.
Ethnic groups other than White British · all residents
White British, not charted: 95% of Cairneyhill · Fife’s towns 90% · Scotland’s towns 86%.
Religion · all residents
95% of residents describe themselves as White British; across Scotland’s towns the figure is 86%. Across Scotland’s towns, nearly two in five residents describe themselves as Christian. After White British, the largest groups are Other White (2.6%), Mixed or multiple (0.5%) and African (0.4%).
Cairneyhill ranks below 81% of UK towns on adults who have never married: 28%
Legal partnership status (residents 16 and over) and unpaid care (residents 3 and over), Census 2022.
Partnership status · residents 16 and over
Unpaid care given · share of residents 3 and over
Little separates the share of unpaid carers here, 12%, from the figure across Scotland’s towns. Unpaid carers giving 50 hours or more a week: 71. Measured more widely, two in five adults have never married or formed a civil partnership across Scotland’s towns.
Degree-level qualifications: 35% of adults
Highest qualification, residents 16 and over, Census 2022.
Highest qualification · residents 16 and over
With 35% of its adults qualified to degree level, Cairneyhill compares with 32% across Scotland’s towns; another 9.6% hold no qualification (17%).
Ranked by age, 182nd youngest of 515 UK towns this size
Median age, Census 2022. Hover a dot for its students and residents born abroad; click for its page.
The youngest is Keele (20.6) and the oldest West Chiltington (63.1). Nearest to Cairneyhill in age: Headcorn (45.2), Glyn-neath (45.2), Witton Gilbert (45.3) and Blofield (45.3).
Among its 7 nearest neighbours, 2 are older than Cairneyhill
Nearby towns coloured by median age, Census 2022. Tap a town for its page.
| Town | People | Away | Median age | 65+ | Homes with children |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cairneyhill | 2,657 | — | 45.2 | 23% | 27% |
| Dunfermline | 56,053 | 3.9 mi | 41.3 | 17% | 28% |
| Bo'ness | 14,875 | 4.4 mi | 44.8 | 21% | 25% |
| Rosyth | 13,309 | 4.5 mi | 41.5 | 17% | 27% |
| Inverkeithing | 5,273 | 5.7 mi | 42.3 | 18% | 23% |
| Crossgates | 2,993 | 6.4 mi | 45 | 20% | 27% |
| Linlithgow | 12,522 | 6.5 mi | 48.3 | 24% | 27% |
| Dalgety Bay and Hillend | 9,452 | 7 mi | 50.4 | 27% | 24% |
Health, work and homes have their own pages
What this data can and can’t tell you
- “Fife’s towns” and “Scotland’s towns” mean their towns. Census comparisons pool every locality in Fife (or Scotland), summed the same way as Cairneyhill’s figures, so households in open countryside are left out.
- Small counts are blurred. National Records of Scotland adjusts small 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 Cairneyhill’s residents
What is the population of Cairneyhill?
The 2022 Census counted 2,657 people in Cairneyhill’s locality.
What is the average age in Cairneyhill?
The median age was 45.2 at the 2022 Census, older than 55% of UK towns. 9.8% of residents were 15 to 24 and 23% were 65 or over.
How diverse is Cairneyhill?
95% of residents described themselves as White British in 2022, against 86% across Scotland’s towns and 90% across Fife’s towns. 5.1% were born outside the UK.
What religion are people in Cairneyhill?
61% said they had no religion and 32% that they were Christian at the 2022 Census; 0.7% were Muslim and 5.5% didn’t answer.
Is Cairneyhill good for families?
27% of households had dependent children in 2022, against 24% across Scotland’s towns. Schools are on Cairneyhill’s schools page.
Sources: Scotland’s Census 2022 (National Records of Scotland), output areas summed to the NRS 2022 locality (UV101b, UV103, UV104, UV113, UV201, UV204b, UV205, UV212, UV301, UV402, UV405, UV406, UV501, UV607, UV801). 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.