Photo: Dave Croker · CC BY-SA 2.0A higher share of households in flats than 83% of UK towns, at 20%
With a median age of 40.9, Hereford is younger than just over three quarters of UK towns. Census day 2021: 60,471 residents and 26,800 households here. Across Hereford, 34% of households are one person living alone. Set against 46% across England’s towns, 53% of residents describe themselves as Christian in the town.
From 2011 to 2024, 73% of UK towns grew faster than Hereford: +3%
ONS mid-year estimates, each year indexed to mid-2011 = 100. Hereford’s figure is the small areas (2021 LSOAs) that make up the town.
People, mid-2011 = 100
Change by age, 2011 to 2024
About 60,700 people in 2011; 62,400 in 2024.
The biggest jump came in the year to mid-2023: 570 more people. Change by age ran from +20% for the 65 and over to −16% for the 16 to 29.
A larger share of residents aged 15 to 24 than 75% of UK towns: 11%
Share of residents in each five-year age band, Census 2021.
Residents aged 65 and over: 19% here and 18% across England’s towns. The biggest five-year age group is 30–34, with 7.5% of residents. The usual figure: 12% of residents are aged 15 to 24 across England’s towns.
Median age of UK towns of 2,500+
■ Hereford, 40.9. The typical town is 44.4.
Broad ages · share of residents
Women and men · all residents
51% women, 49% men
About an even split. Across England, 51% of residents are women.
Hereford ranks above 61% of UK towns on full-time students: 5.1%
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%.
Managerial and professional jobs account for 28% of Hereford’s adults, routine and semi-routine work for 32%, against 33% and 24% across England’s towns. For full-time students, the comparison across England’s towns is 7.9%. The census found that one in ten residents lived at another address a year earlier here.
The Census was taken on 21 March 2021, in term time, so students were counted at their term addresses.
Households here average 2.2 people, below 68% of UK towns
Household make-up at the 2021 Census. Each square is 1% of households.
Against Herefordshire’s towns and England’s towns
People per household
England’s towns.
Shared households of unrelated adults are about as common here as across England’s towns, at 3.5%. Census figures put households with dependent children at 27% in Hereford.
Households without a car or van make up 22% in Hereford, more than in 79% 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
Terraced houses are home to 25% of households, against 24% across England’s towns. One household in every 5 has no car or van, the 2nd highest share in Herefordshire. Census figures put households in detached houses at 20% here.
Residents born outside the UK: 13%, a higher share than 82% 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 25%
When those born abroad arrived
Main language · residents aged 3 and over
Just over nine in ten residents have English as their main language, against 90% across England’s towns. To put it in context, 18% of residents were born outside the UK across England’s towns. The largest groups were born in EU countries (8.7%) and in the Middle East and Asia (2.2%).
Only 86% of residents describe themselves as White British in Hereford
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: 86% of Hereford · Herefordshire’s towns 90% · England’s towns 73%.
Religion · all residents
The share of residents with no religion trails 69% of UK towns: 38%. By way of comparison, 73% of residents describe themselves as White British across England’s towns. Behind White British, the largest groups are Other White (8.8%), Mixed or multiple (1.3%) and Indian (0.9%).
Above 76% of UK towns: 37% of adults have never married or formed 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
1,550 residents care, unpaid, for at least 50 hours a week. Fewer married adults and civil partners than in just over four fifths of UK towns: 43%. Typically, 39% of adults have never married or formed a civil partnership across England’s towns. Unpaid carers are about as common here as across England’s towns, at 8.6%.
Degree-level qualifications: 28% of adults
Highest qualification, residents 16 and over, Census 2021.
Highest qualification · residents 16 and over
At degree level, Hereford counts 28% of its adults, against 34% across England’s towns; at the other end, 20% have no qualification (18%).
From a median age of 35 in Fownhope, Tarrington & Marcle to 48 in Hereford East
The town’s 10 neighbourhoods (ONS middle-layer areas with 500+ residents inside it, named by the House of Commons Library), youngest first. Census 2021.
Hereford East is the oldest area, with 26% aged 65 or over; Fownhope, Tarrington & Marcle the youngest (median age 35). Families with children are most common in Fownhope, Tarrington & Marcle (46% of households).
123 UK towns of 42,000 to 82,000 people: this is the 57th oldest
Median age, Census 2021. Hover a dot for its students and residents born abroad; click for its page.
Canterbury is the youngest (27.5); Lytham St Anne's the oldest (54.4). Nearest to Hereford in age: Maidenhead (40.8), Ellesmere Port (40.9), Brentwood (40.9) and Mansfield (41).
Hereford is younger than 5 of its 7 nearest neighbours
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hereford | 60,471 | — | 40.9 | 19% | 27% |
| Bartestree | 1,655 | 3.4 mi | 43.6 | 16% | 31% |
| Clehonger | 1,218 | 3.9 mi | 46.1 | 27% | 25% |
| Credenhill | 2,334 | 4.2 mi | 36.8 | 15% | 39% |
| Kingstone | 1,500 | 5.6 mi | 40.1 | 18% | 33% |
| Weobley | 1,273 | 9.6 mi | 56.2 | 36% | 20% |
| Ewyas Harold | 1,037 | 10 mi | 50.6 | 30% | 23% |
| Ross-on-Wye | 10,993 | 11.3 mi | 49.6 | 29% | 22% |
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.
- “Herefordshire’s towns” and “England’s towns” mean their built-up areas. Census comparisons pool every built-up area in Herefordshire (or England), summed the same way as Hereford’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. Hereford’s trend uses the small areas (2021 LSOAs) with most of their people inside it: 61,445 people in 2021, against 60,471 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 Hereford’s residents
What is the population of Hereford?
The 2021 Census counted 60,471 people in Hereford’s built-up area. The ONS estimates the same small areas held 62,400 people in mid-2024, 3% more than in 2011.
What is the average age in Hereford?
The median age was 40.9 at the 2021 Census, younger than 76% of UK towns. 11% of residents were 15 to 24 and 19% were 65 or over.
How diverse is Hereford?
86% of residents described themselves as White British in 2021, against 73% across England’s towns and 90% across Herefordshire’s towns. 13% were born outside the UK.
What religion are people in Hereford?
38% said they had no religion and 53% that they were Christian at the 2021 Census; 0.8% were Muslim and 7.3% didn’t answer.
Is Hereford good for families?
27% of households had dependent children in 2021, against 29% across England’s towns. Families are most common in Fownhope, Tarrington & Marcle (46% of households). Schools are on Hereford’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) · ONS mid-year population estimates for 2021 LSOAs, mid-2011 to mid-2024 · House of Commons Library MSOA names. 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.