Photo: Jeff Buck · CC BY-SA 2.0A Welsh-speaking town: 42% of Holyhead’s residents speak Welsh
In Holyhead, 30% of households have no car or van, beside 21% across Wales’s towns. The town has more households in terraced houses than 96% of UK towns, at 44%. At the 2021 Census Holyhead was home to 11,753 people in 5,328 households. One-person households: 37% of the total.
What the Census says about Holyhead’s people
A Welsh-speaking town
4,786 residents, 42% of those aged 3 and over, said they can speak Welsh in 2021, more than in 88% of Welsh towns. Welsh language ↓
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.
Holyhead’s population changed by +8% since 2011, more than in 52% of UK towns
ONS mid-year estimates, each year indexed to mid-2011 = 100. Holyhead’s figure is the small areas (2021 LSOAs) that make up the town.
People, mid-2011 = 100
Change by age, 2011 to 2024
About 11,500 people in 2011; 12,400 in 2024.
No year added more people than mid-2021 to mid-2022: 190. The 65 and over age group changed most (+18%) and the 16 to 29 least (−3%).
A median age of 39.4: Holyhead is younger than 83% of UK towns
Share of residents in each five-year age band, Census 2021.
10–14 is the most common age band: 7.4% of residents. At 18%, the share of residents aged 65 and over is lower than in nearly three quarters of UK towns. Young people aged 15 to 24 make up 11% of residents, against 12% across Wales’s towns.
Median age of UK towns of 2,500+
■ Holyhead, 39.4. 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 Wales, 51% of residents are women.
A larger share of full-time students than 81% of UK towns: 5.8%
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%.
Across Wales’s towns, 29% of adults are in managerial and professional jobs and 27% in routine or semi-routine work; Holyhead has 19% and 37%. More residents who moved in within the year than in 55% of UK towns: 9%. Against that, 8% of adults are full-time students across Wales’s towns.
The Census was taken on 21 March 2021, in term time, so students were counted at their term addresses.
Holyhead households average 2.2 people, smaller than in 74% 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.
Households with dependent children make up 29%, against 27% across Wales’s towns. Across Holyhead, 1.8% of households are unrelated adults sharing a home.
18% of households live in a detached house, below 78% 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
Against a figure of 14% across Wales’s towns, the share of households in flats in Holyhead comes in at 15%. Across Wales’s towns, the share of households in detached houses is 24%.
Holyhead sits below 87% of UK towns for residents born outside the UK (3.3%)
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
The share of residents whose main language is English is 99%, against 96% across Wales’s towns. Residents born outside the UK make up 7.4% across Wales’s towns. Most residents from abroad were born in EU countries (1.9%) or in the Middle East and Asia (0.6%).
Welsh is spoken by 42% of Holyhead’s residents
Welsh language skills, residents aged 3 and over, Census 2021.
Welsh language skills · residents aged 3 and over
Some 4,786 people here aged 3 and over said in 2021 that they can speak Welsh, 42% of the total, against 16% across Welsh towns: more than in 88% of them. Caernarfon leads Gwynedd with 82%.
A larger share of residents with no religion than 96% of UK towns: 52%
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 Holyhead · Gwynedd’s towns 93% · Wales’s towns 90%.
Religion · all residents
Here just over two in five residents describe themselves as Christian, where the figure across Wales’s towns is 43%. Measured more widely, 47% of residents said they have no religion across Wales’s towns. Leading the other groups after White British: Other White (1.7%), Mixed or multiple (1.1%) and Chinese (0.3%). More residents who describe themselves as White British than in 89% of UK towns: 96%.
Below 97% of UK towns: 35% of adults are married or in a civil partnership
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
Students and young renters account for much of that. On adults who have never married, Holyhead sits higher than 95% of UK towns: 43%. For Holyhead, the census puts unpaid carers at 10%.
21% of adults have qualifications at degree level
Highest qualification, residents 16 and over, Census 2021.
Highest qualification · residents 16 and over
In Holyhead, 21% of adults hold a degree-level qualification, against 31% across Wales’s towns, while 24% have no qualification at all (20%).
43rd youngest of 432 UK towns of 8,000 to 16,000 people
Median age, Census 2021. Hover a dot for its students and residents born abroad; click for its page.
At the ends of the range sit Aberystwyth (25), the youngest, and Sidmouth (60.4), the oldest. Nearest to Holyhead in age: Chertsey (39.3), Mexborough (39.4), South Kirkby (39.5) and Ystrad Mynach (39.5).
Holyhead is younger 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Holyhead | 11,753 | — | 39.4 | 18% | 29% |
| Valley | 2,003 | 3.2 mi | 51.2 | 29% | 23% |
| Bodedern | 1,193 | 5.6 mi | 41.2 | 20% | 29% |
| Cemaes | 1,023 | 10.4 mi | 57.2 | 37% | 18% |
| Llanerchymedd | 1,155 | 10.8 mi | 44.3 | 21% | 30% |
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 Holyhead’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. Holyhead’s trend uses the small areas (2021 LSOAs) with most of their people inside it: 12,076 people in 2021, against 11,753 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 Holyhead’s residents
What is the population of Holyhead?
The 2021 Census counted 11,753 people in Holyhead’s built-up area. The ONS estimates the same small areas held 12,400 people in mid-2024, 8% more than in 2011.
What is the average age in Holyhead?
The median age was 39.4 at the 2021 Census, younger than 83% of UK towns. 11% of residents were 15 to 24 and 18% were 65 or over.
How diverse is Holyhead?
96% of residents described themselves as White British in 2021, against 90% across Wales’s towns and 93% across Gwynedd’s towns. 3.3% were born outside the UK.
What religion are people in Holyhead?
52% said they had no religion and 41% that they were Christian at the 2021 Census; 0.4% were Muslim and 6.1% didn’t answer.
Is Holyhead good for families?
29% of households had dependent children in 2021, against 27% across Wales’s towns. Schools are on Holyhead’s schools page.
How many people speak Welsh in Holyhead?
4,786 residents aged 3 and over, 42%, 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.