Photo: John Fielding from Norwich, UK · CC BY 2.0A median age of 50.4: Broadstairs is older than 87% of UK towns
With households with dependent children at 24%, Broadstairs is behind 78% of UK towns on that count. Census figures put households in terraced houses at 12% here. More households without a car or van than in 72% of UK towns: 20%. At the 2021 Census Broadstairs was home to 25,780 people in 11,358 households.
What the Census says about Broadstairs’s people
Older than most towns
Half of Broadstairs’s residents are under 50.4 and half over, against 44.4 in the typical UK town. 29% are 65 or over, against 18% across England’s towns. Ages ↓
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.
Broadstairs’s population moved ±0% on 2011, less than in 84% of UK towns
ONS mid-year estimates, each year indexed to mid-2011 = 100. Broadstairs’s figure is the small areas (2021 LSOAs) that make up the town.
People, mid-2011 = 100
Change by age, 2011 to 2024
About 24,900 people in 2011; 24,900 in 2024.
The 65 and over age group moved most (+19%); the 16 to 29 group moved least (−13%).
Above 88% of UK towns: 29% of residents are 65 or over
Share of residents in each five-year age band, Census 2021.
In Broadstairs, 9.2% of residents are aged 15 to 24, beside 12% across England’s towns. Typically, 18% of residents are 65 or over across England’s towns.
Median age of UK towns of 2,500+
■ Broadstairs, 50.4. The typical town is 44.4.
Broad ages · share of residents
Women and men · all residents
52% women, 48% men
About 93 men for every 100 women. Across England, 51% of residents are women. Women live longer than men, so towns with many older residents have more women.
4.9% of adults are full-time students, a share 55% of UK towns don’t reach
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 England’s towns, 11% of residents lived at another address a year earlier; in Broadstairs, 9%. As a yardstick, 7.9% of adults are full-time students across England’s towns.
2.2 people per household, fewer than in 63% of UK towns
Household make-up at the 2021 Census. Each square is 1% of households.
Against Kent’s towns and England’s towns
People per household
England’s towns.
The figure for shared households of unrelated adults is 2.9% in Broadstairs and 4.3% across England’s towns. One-person households account for 31%.
18% of households live in a flat or apartment, a share 80% of UK towns don’t reach
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
Just over a fifth of households live in a detached house across England’s towns, against 34% in Broadstairs. To put it in context, nearly a quarter of households live in a flat or apartment across England’s towns.
Residents born outside the UK make up 8.3% in Broadstairs, more than in 65% 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
Where 21% of those born abroad across England’s towns arrived in 2017 or later, here the share is 14%. Few places have so few residents whose main language is English: 97% here, fewer than in 63% of UK towns. Across England’s towns, the share of residents born outside the UK is 18%. The largest groups were born in EU countries (3.1%) and in the Middle East and Asia (2.3%).
89% of residents describe themselves as White British, fewer than in 67% 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: 89% of Broadstairs · Kent’s towns 82% · England’s towns 73%.
Religion · all residents
Leading the other groups after White British: Other White (4.2%), Mixed or multiple (2.1%) and Indian (0.7%). At 51%, the share of residents who describe themselves as Christian is higher than in 56% of UK towns. Measured more widely, 73% of residents describe themselves as White British across England’s towns. Here 40% of residents said they have no religion, where the figure across England’s towns is 37%.
A smaller share of adults who have never married than 73% of UK towns: 29%
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
Some 835 people give 50 hours or more of unpaid care a week. Married adults and civil partners are more common here than in 61% of UK towns. Typically, nearly two in five adults have never married or formed a civil partnership across England’s towns. Unpaid carers make up 10%, against 8.7% across England’s towns.
Among adults, 31% 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 Broadstairs, 18%, while 31% hold one at degree level (34%).
From a median age of 32 in Minster & St-Nicholas-at-Wade to 58 in Dumpton
The town’s 7 neighbourhoods (ONS middle-layer areas with 500+ residents inside it, named by the House of Commons Library), youngest first. Census 2021.
Dumpton is the oldest area, with 38% aged 65 or over; Minster & St-Nicholas-at-Wade the youngest (median age 32). Families with children are most common in Minster & St-Nicholas-at-Wade (40% of households).
260 UK towns of 18,000 to 35,000 people: this is the 9th oldest
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 Egham (31.1), the youngest, and Rustington (56.2), the oldest. Nearest to Broadstairs in age: Stourport-on-Severn (50.2), Deal (50.3), Felixstowe (51) and Whitstable (51.3).
Broadstairs is younger than 3 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Broadstairs | 25,780 | — | 50.4 | 29% | 24% |
| Ramsgate | 42,031 | 1.7 mi | 42 | 20% | 28% |
| Margate | 63,315 | 2.8 mi | 44.1 | 23% | 26% |
| Cliffs End | 1,284 | 3.4 mi | 52.6 | 31% | 24% |
| Minster (Thanet) | 4,739 | 4.9 mi | 49 | 27% | 25% |
| Sandwich | 4,258 | 7.4 mi | 54 | 33% | 19% |
| Ash (Dover) | 2,529 | 8.5 mi | 48.4 | 25% | 26% |
| Eastry | 2,388 | 9.5 mi | 51 | 28% | 24% |
Health, work and homes have their own pages
What this data can and can’t tell you
- “Kent’s towns” and “England’s towns” mean their built-up areas. Census comparisons pool every built-up area in Kent (or England), summed the same way as Broadstairs’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. Broadstairs’s trend uses the small areas (2021 LSOAs) with most of their people inside it: 25,126 people in 2021, against 25,780 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 Broadstairs’s residents
What is the population of Broadstairs?
The 2021 Census counted 25,780 people in Broadstairs’s built-up area. The ONS estimates the same small areas held 24,900 people in mid-2024, about as many as in 2011.
What is the average age in Broadstairs?
The median age was 50.4 at the 2021 Census, older than 87% of UK towns. 9.2% of residents were 15 to 24 and 29% were 65 or over.
How diverse is Broadstairs?
89% of residents described themselves as White British in 2021, against 73% across England’s towns and 82% across Kent’s towns. 8.3% were born outside the UK.
What religion are people in Broadstairs?
40% said they had no religion and 51% that they were Christian at the 2021 Census; 1.5% were Muslim and 5.6% didn’t answer.
Is Broadstairs good for families?
24% of households had dependent children in 2021, against 29% across England’s towns. Families are most common in Minster & St-Nicholas-at-Wade (40% of households). Schools are on Broadstairs’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.