Photo: Mike Faherty · CC BY-SA 2.0Households without a car or van: 4.3%, a lower share than 99% of UK towns
Young people aged 15 to 24 make up 26% of residents, against 12% across England’s towns. Sopley counted 287 residents and 92 households at the 2021 Census. The share of households in flats stands at 1.1%. More shared households of unrelated adults than in 97% of UK towns: 6.5%.
Half of Sopley is under 39.2, younger than 84% of UK towns
Share of residents in each five-year age band, Census 2021.
More residents are 20–24 than any other five-year age: 18% of residents, 2.9 times the share across England’s towns. Residents aged 65 and over are rarer here than in 63% of UK towns.
Broad ages · share of residents
Women and men · all residents
55% women, 45% men
About 82 men for every 100 women. Across England, 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.
Sopley: 25% of adults are full-time students, above 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 Sopley’s other adults differ from England’s: 46% are in managerial and professional jobs, against 36%. The share of residents who moved in within the year stands at 18%. Across the comparison, 7.9% of adults are full-time students across England’s towns.
The Census was taken on 21 March 2021, in term time, so students were counted at their term addresses.
Below 98% of UK towns: 20% of households are one person living alone
Household make-up at the 2021 Census. Each square is 1% of households.
Against Hampshire’s towns and England’s towns
People per household
England’s towns.
By its share of households with dependent children (33%), Sopley is above 87% of UK towns. Each household has 2.6 people on average. Against that, 30% of households are one person living alone across England’s towns.
A village of detached houses: 69% of households live in one
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
Households in terraced houses make up 4.4%, against 24% across England’s towns. 1.1% of households live in a flat, less than in 99% of UK towns; 69% in a detached house, against 21% across England’s towns.
A larger share of residents whose main language is English than 95% of UK towns: 99%
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
The largest groups were born in EU countries (3.5%) and in the Middle East and Asia (0.7%). Residents born outside the UK are rarer here than in 65% of UK towns. Across England’s towns, residents whose main language is English come to 90%.
Fewer residents with no religion than 96% of UK towns: 28%
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 Sopley · Hampshire’s towns 84% · England’s towns 73%.
Religion · all residents
73% of residents describe themselves as White British across England’s towns, against 96% in Sopley. The comparison figure for residents with no religion is 37% across England’s towns. Census figures put residents who describe themselves as Christian at 63% here.
Sopley ranks above 96% of UK towns on unpaid carers: 12%
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
With adults who have never married at 40%, Sopley is ahead of 90% of UK towns on that count. 45% of adults are married or in a civil partnership. For unpaid carers, the comparison across England’s towns is 8.7%.
Among adults, 29% hold a degree-level qualification
Highest qualification, residents 16 and over, Census 2021.
Highest qualification · residents 16 and over
Across England’s towns, 18% of adults have no qualification; in Sopley, 9.2%, while 29% hold one at degree level (34%). A levels are the highest qualification of 35%, many of them students still working towards a degree.
Median age: 6 of the 7 towns around Sopley are older
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sopley | 287 | — | 39.2 | 20% | 33% |
| Bransgore | 3,688 | 1.9 mi | 52.4 | 31% | 26% |
| Christchurch | 48,973 | 2.3 mi | 51.7 | 32% | 23% |
| Bournemouth | 196,453 | 4.3 mi | 39.1 | 18% | 25% |
| West Parley | 3,665 | 4.8 mi | 57.7 | 38% | 18% |
| Hightown | 1,296 | 4.8 mi | 48.4 | 23% | 30% |
| Ashley Heath | 7,151 | 5 mi | 60.6 | 42% | 16% |
| New Milton | 11,872 | 5.3 mi | 52.1 | 32% | 20% |
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.
- “Hampshire’s towns” and “England’s towns” mean their built-up areas. Census comparisons pool every built-up area in Hampshire (or England), summed the same way as Sopley’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 Sopley’s residents
What is the population of Sopley?
The 2021 Census counted 287 people in Sopley’s built-up area.
What is the average age in Sopley?
The median age was 39.2 at the 2021 Census. 26% of residents were 15 to 24 and 20% were 65 or over.
Is Sopley a student village?
Yes: 25% of adults were full-time students at the 2021 Census (60 people), against 7.9% across England’s towns.
How diverse is Sopley?
96% of residents described themselves as White British in 2021, against 73% across England’s towns and 84% across Hampshire’s towns. 4.9% were born outside the UK.
What religion are people in Sopley?
28% said they had no religion and 63% that they were Christian at the 2021 Census; 0.4% were Muslim and 8% didn’t answer.
Is Sopley good for families?
33% of households had dependent children in 2021, against 29% across England’s towns. Schools are on Sopley’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.