Photo: Jeff Buck · CC BY-SA 2.0Bangor is younger than 99% of UK towns: a median age of 26.4
In Bangor, 13% of households are unrelated adults sharing a home, beside 3.1% across Wales’s towns. On unpaid carers, Bangor sits lower than 97% of UK towns: 6.7%. The 2021 Census put the town’s population at 16,994, in 6,066 households. For Bangor, the census puts residents who describe themselves as Christian at 36%.
What the Census says about Bangor’s people
A student town
The 2021 Census counted 5,505 full-time students aged 16 and over, 38% of adults, against 8% across Wales’s towns: more than in 99% of UK towns. That shows in the ages: 34% of residents are 15 to 24. Students & newcomers ↓
A Welsh-speaking town
6,612 residents, 40% of those aged 3 and over, said they can speak Welsh in 2021, more than in 88% of Welsh towns. Welsh language ↓
Younger than most towns
Half of Bangor’s residents are under 26.4 and half over, against 44.4 in the typical UK town. 34% are 15 to 24 and 12% are 65 or over. Ages ↓
A town people move to
24% of residents gave a different address a year before the 2021 Census, 2.6 times the share across Wales’s towns, and 8.4% gave a term-time address. Students & newcomers ↓
Written from the data on this page: ONS Census 2021 (output areas summed to the 2022 built-up area) and ONS mid-year population estimates.
From 2011 to 2024, 52% of UK towns grew faster than Bangor: +7%
ONS mid-year estimates, each year indexed to mid-2011 = 100. Bangor’s figure is the small areas (2021 LSOAs) that make up the town.
People, mid-2011 = 100
Change by age, 2011 to 2024
About 17,500 people in 2011; 18,700 in 2024.
The biggest jump came in the year to mid-2023: 920 more people. The 30 to 44 age group moved most (+29%); the 16 to 29 group moved least (−4%).
A higher share of residents aged 15 to 24 than 99% of UK towns, at 34%
Share of residents in each five-year age band, Census 2021.
21% of residents are 65 or over across Wales’s towns, against 12% in Bangor. In Tywyn, the oldest of Gwynedd’s towns by this measure, it is 36%.
Median age of UK towns of 2,500+
■ Bangor, 26.4. The typical town is 44.4.
Broad ages · share of residents
Women and men · all residents
51% women, 49% men
About 95 men for every 100 women. Across Wales, 51% of residents are women.
Full-time students make up 38% in Bangor, more than in 99% 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%.
Leave the students aside and Bangor’s other adults look much like Wales’s: 33% are in managerial and professional jobs, against 32%. By way of comparison, 8% of adults are full-time students across Wales’s towns. On the census count, nearly a quarter 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.
Bangor households average 2.4 people, larger than in 78% of UK towns
Household make-up at the 2021 Census. Each square is 1% of households.
Against Gwynedd’s towns and Wales’s towns
People per household
Wales’s towns.
At 32%, the share of one-person households is in line with the figure across Wales’s towns. Just over a quarter of households have dependent children.
More car-free households than 94% of UK towns: 30% in Bangor
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
16% of households live in a detached house (Wales’s towns: 24%). The wider picture: just over a fifth of households have no car or van across Wales’s towns. Locally, 35% of households live in a terraced house. Compared with other places, households in flats are common here: 19%, more than in 81% of UK towns.
More residents born abroad than 89% of UK towns: 16% in Bangor
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 20%
When those born abroad arrived
Main language · residents aged 3 and over
The figure for residents whose main language is English is 91% in Bangor and 96% across Wales’s towns. Among residents born abroad, the largest groups were born in the Middle East and Asia (7.6%) and in EU countries (5.2%). Measured more widely, 7.4% of residents were born outside the UK across Wales’s towns.
Bangor’s Welsh speakers make up 40% of residents
Welsh language skills, residents aged 3 and over, Census 2021.
Welsh language skills · residents aged 3 and over
Welsh speakers number 6,612, or 40% of residents aged 3 and over, against 16% across Welsh towns: more than in 88% of them. No town in Gwynedd beats Caernarfon (82%).
Residents who describe themselves as White British make up 79% in Bangor, less than in 86% 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: 79% of Bangor · Gwynedd’s towns 93% · Wales’s towns 90%.
Religion · all residents
4.4% of residents said their religion is Muslim. Compared with other places, residents with no religion are common here: 48%, more than in 89% of UK towns. As a yardstick, 90% of residents describe themselves as White British across Wales’s towns.
Bangor ranks below 99% of UK towns on married adults and civil partners: 26%
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
Where 38% of adults have never married or formed a civil partnership across Wales’s towns, Bangor has 62%. For 341 residents, unpaid care runs to 50 hours or more a week. On average, 43% of adults are married or in a civil partnership across Wales’s towns.
The share of adults with a degree-level qualification: 33%
Highest qualification, residents 16 and over, Census 2021.
Highest qualification · residents 16 and over
33% of Bangor’s adults have a degree-level qualification, against 31% across Wales’s towns; 12% have none (20%). A levels are as far as 33% have gone so far, many of them students midway to a degree.
Ranked by age, 2nd youngest of 336 UK towns this size
Median age, Census 2021. Hover a dot for its students and residents born abroad; click for its page.
The youngest is Aberystwyth (25) and the oldest Sidmouth (60.4). Nearest to Bangor in age: Aberystwyth (25), Stoke Gifford (27.8) and Catterick Garrison (29.8).
Every nearby town is older than Bangor
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bangor | 16,994 | — | 26.4 | 12% | 26% |
| Menai Bridge | 3,045 | 1.4 mi | 47.3 | 24% | 20% |
| Llanfair Pwllgwyngyll | 2,905 | 2.7 mi | 52 | 33% | 22% |
| Tregarth | 1,252 | 2.9 mi | 43.8 | 20% | 30% |
| Beaumaris | 1,120 | 3.4 mi | 58.1 | 39% | 17% |
| Y Felinheli | 2,333 | 4 mi | 42.9 | 21% | 25% |
| Bethesda | 3,757 | 4.4 mi | 39.8 | 17% | 29% |
| Bethel | 1,091 | 4.7 mi | 44.7 | 24% | 32% |
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.
- “Gwynedd’s towns” and “Wales’s towns” mean their built-up areas. Census comparisons pool every built-up area in Gwynedd (or Wales), summed the same way as Bangor’s figures, so households in open countryside are left out. The population trend compares with the whole county and nation.
- Estimates since 2021 are modelled. The ONS builds mid-year estimates from the Census, births, deaths and migration records. Bangor’s trend uses the small areas (2021 LSOAs) with most of their people inside it: 16,994 people in 2021, against 16,994 in the built-up area.
- 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 Bangor’s residents
What is the population of Bangor?
The 2021 Census counted 16,994 people in Bangor’s built-up area. The ONS estimates the same small areas held 18,700 people in mid-2024, 7% more than in 2011.
What is the average age in Bangor?
The median age was 26.4 at the 2021 Census, younger than 99% of UK towns. 34% of residents were 15 to 24 and 12% were 65 or over.
Is Bangor a student town?
Yes: 38% of adults were full-time students at the 2021 Census (5,505 people), against 8% across Wales’s towns.
How diverse is Bangor?
79% of residents described themselves as White British in 2021, against 90% across Wales’s towns and 93% across Gwynedd’s towns. 16% were born outside the UK.
What religion are people in Bangor?
48% said they had no religion and 36% that they were Christian at the 2021 Census; 4.4% were Muslim and 8.3% didn’t answer.
Is Bangor good for families?
26% of households had dependent children in 2021, against 27% across Wales’s towns. Schools are on Bangor’s schools page.
How many people speak Welsh in Bangor?
6,612 residents aged 3 and over, 40%, 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) · ONS mid-year population estimates for 2021 LSOAs, mid-2011 to mid-2024. 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.