Photo: Jonathan Thacker · CC BY-SA 2.0Usk is older than 94% of UK towns: a median age of 52.8
Across Wales’s towns, the share of one-person households is 32%; Usk has 41%. 17% of households have dependent children. At 20%, the share of households in flats is higher than in 84% of UK towns. The village’s 1,032 households held 2,310 residents at the 2021 Census.
What the Census says about Usk’s people
Older than most towns
Half of Usk’s residents are under 52.8 and half over, against 44.4 in the typical UK town. 32% are 65 or over, against 21% across Wales’s towns. Ages ↓
A village people move to
12% of residents gave a different address a year before the 2021 Census, 1.4 times the share across Wales’s towns. Students & newcomers ↓
Written from the data on this page: ONS Census 2021 (output areas summed to the 2022 built-up area).
Residents aged 15 to 24: 7%, a lower share than 99% of UK towns
Share of residents in each five-year age band, Census 2021.
50–54 is the most common age band: nearly one in ten residents. More residents aged 65 and over than in 94% of UK towns: 32%. Measured more widely, 12% of residents are aged 15 to 24 across Wales’s towns. In Abergavenny, the oldest of Gwent’s towns by this measure, it is 27%.
Broad ages · share of residents
Women and men · all residents
44% women, 56% men
About 80 women for every 100 men. Across Wales, 51% of residents are women. A large institution, such as a prison, barracks, boarding school, university or care home, can tilt a town’s split: the census counts the people living there as residents.
Usk sits below 94% of UK towns for full-time students (3.5%)
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%.
Just over one in ten residents lived at another address a year earlier (Wales’s towns: 9.1%). By way of comparison, 8% of adults are full-time students across Wales’s towns.
Households here average 1.9 people, below 99% of UK towns
Household make-up at the 2021 Census. Each square is 1% of households.
Against Gwent’s towns and Wales’s towns
People per household
Wales’s towns.
Where 3.1% of households are unrelated adults sharing a home across Wales’s towns, Usk has 1.3%.
Below 70% of UK towns: 21% of households live in a detached house
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
14% of households have no car or van, against 21% across Wales’s towns. More households in terraced houses than in 57% of UK towns: 22%. For households in detached houses, the comparison across Wales’s towns is 24%.
In Usk, 99% of residents have English as their main language, more than in 71% 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 10%
When those born abroad arrived
Main language · residents aged 3 and over
Born outside the UK: 4.9% of residents, against 7.4% across Wales’s towns. Residents born abroad were most often born in EU countries (2.1%), then in the Middle East and Asia (1.4%). Elsewhere, 96% of residents have English as their main language across Wales’s towns.
6.4% of people in Usk speak Welsh
Welsh language skills, residents aged 3 and over, Census 2021.
Welsh language skills · residents aged 3 and over
Asked in 2021, 145 residents aged 3 and over, 6.4%, said they can speak Welsh; across Welsh towns, 16%: fewer than in 98% of Welsh towns. The highest share in Gwent belongs to Abertridwr and Senghenydd (14%).
In Usk, 94% of residents describe themselves as White British, more than in 71% 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 Usk · Gwent’s towns 91% · Wales’s towns 90%.
Religion · all residents
Compared with 47% across Wales’s towns, 40% of residents said they have no religion here. As a reference point, 90% of residents describe themselves as White British across Wales’s towns. The share of residents who describe themselves as Christian stands at 51%.
Usk ranks below 87% of UK towns on married adults and civil partners: 41%
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
For 68 residents, unpaid care runs to 50 hours or more a week. At 11%, the share of unpaid carers is higher than in just over four fifths of UK towns. As a reference point, 43% of adults are married or in a civil partnership across Wales’s towns. Against a figure of 38% across Wales’s towns, the share of adults who have never married in Usk comes in at 33%.
A degree-level qualification for 41% of adults
Highest qualification, residents 16 and over, Census 2021.
Highest qualification · residents 16 and over
16% of Usk’s adults have no qualification (20% across Wales’s towns), and 41% have one at degree level (31%).
A younger town than 2 of the 7 around it: Usk
Nearby built-up areas coloured by median age, Census 2021. Tap a town for its page.
Health, work and homes have their own pages
What this data can and can’t tell you
- “Gwent’s towns” and “Wales’s towns” mean their built-up areas. Census comparisons pool every built-up area in Gwent (or Wales), summed the same way as Usk’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 Usk’s residents
What is the population of Usk?
The 2021 Census counted 2,310 people in Usk’s built-up area.
What is the average age in Usk?
The median age was 52.8 at the 2021 Census. 7% of residents were 15 to 24 and 32% were 65 or over.
How diverse is Usk?
94% of residents described themselves as White British in 2021, against 90% across Wales’s towns and 91% across Gwent’s towns. 4.9% were born outside the UK.
What religion are people in Usk?
40% said they had no religion and 51% that they were Christian at the 2021 Census; 0.7% were Muslim and 6.3% didn’t answer.
Is Usk good for families?
17% of households had dependent children in 2021, against 27% across Wales’s towns. Schools are on Usk’s schools page.
How many people speak Welsh in Usk?
145 residents aged 3 and over, 6.4%, said they can speak Welsh at the 2021 Census, against 16% across Welsh towns.
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, TS032). 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.