Photo: Marathon · CC BY-SA 2.0A median age of 59.2: Dymchurch is older than 99% of UK towns
The share of households with dependent children is 15%, against 29% across England’s towns. On households in terraced houses, Dymchurch sits lower than 94% of UK towns: 7.7%. At the 2021 Census Dymchurch was home to 3,097 people in 1,392 households. In Dymchurch, a quarter of adults have never married or formed a civil partnership.
What the Census says about Dymchurch’s people
Older than most towns
Half of Dymchurch’s residents are under 59.2 and half over, against 44.4 in the typical UK town. 39% are 65 or over, against 18% across England’s towns. Ages ↓
Many carers
394 residents gave unpaid care to someone with an illness, disability or old age in 2021, 13% of those 5 and over: more than in 99% of UK towns. Relationships & caring ↓
Written from the data on this page: ONS Census 2021 (output areas summed to the 2022 built-up area).
Dymchurch: 39% of residents are 65 or over, above 99% of UK towns
Share of residents in each five-year age band, Census 2021.
More residents are 70–74 than any other five-year age: just over one in ten residents, 2.3 times the share across England’s towns. Census figures put residents aged 15 to 24 at 7.2% in Dymchurch. The wider picture: 18% of residents are 65 or over across England’s towns.
Median age of UK towns of 2,500+
■ Dymchurch, 59.2. The typical town is 44.4.
Broad ages · share of residents
Women and men · all residents
52% women, 48% men
About 91 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.
A lower share of full-time students than 99% of UK towns, at 2.8%
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%.
Managerial and professional jobs take in just over a quarter of adults here, routine and semi-routine work 26% (England’s towns: 33% and 24%). Residents who moved in within the year are rarer here than in 84% of UK towns. To put it in context, 7.9% of adults are full-time students across England’s towns.
Smaller households than 85% of UK towns: 2.2 people on average
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.
There is little gap on shared households of unrelated adults: 3.4%, about the same as across England’s towns. One-person households account for 30%.
A larger share of households in detached houses than 94% of UK towns: 56%
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
Across England’s towns, the share of households in flats is 23%; Dymchurch has 6.5%. Elsewhere, just over a fifth of households live in a detached house across England’s towns. The census found that 15% of households have no car or van in the town.
A higher share of residents whose main language is English than 83% of UK towns, at 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%
When those born abroad arrived
Main language · residents aged 3 and over
With residents born outside the UK at 4.6%, Dymchurch is behind 69% of UK towns on that count. By way of comparison, nine in ten residents have English as their main language across England’s towns. Most residents from abroad were born in EU countries (2.4%) or in the Middle East and Asia (1.4%).
Dymchurch: 95% of residents describe themselves as White British, above 81% 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: 95% of Dymchurch · Kent’s towns 82% · England’s towns 73%.
Religion · all residents
54% of residents describe themselves as Christian; across England’s towns the figure is 46%. The usual figure: 73% of residents describe themselves as White British across England’s towns. Across Dymchurch, nearly two in five residents said they have no religion.
13% of residents give unpaid care, a share 99% of UK towns don’t reach
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
Unpaid carers giving 50 hours or more a week: 165. Married adults and civil partners are more common here than in three quarters of UK towns. Against that, 8.7% of residents give unpaid care across England’s towns.
Degree-level qualifications: held by 19% of adults
Highest qualification, residents 16 and over, Census 2021.
Highest qualification · residents 16 and over
Against 34% across England’s towns, 19% of adults here have a degree-level qualification, while 27% hold no qualification (18%).
Of 514 UK towns its size (2,500 to 4,000 people), the 8th oldest
Median age, Census 2021. Hover a dot for its students and residents born abroad; click for its page.
Keele is the youngest (20.6); West Chiltington the oldest (63.1). Nearest to Dymchurch in age: Snettisham (59.1), Pevensey Bay (59.1), Lyme Regis (59.9) and Heacham (60.1).
Median age: 1 of the 7 towns around Dymchurch 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dymchurch | 3,097 | — | 59.2 | 39% | 15% |
| St Mary's Bay | 2,966 | 1.9 mi | 60.8 | 42% | 13% |
| Lympne | 1,074 | 3.3 mi | 52.7 | 28% | 22% |
| New Romney | 3,870 | 4 mi | 50.4 | 28% | 23% |
| Hythe | 14,613 | 4.4 mi | 55.5 | 35% | 19% |
| Littlestone-on-Sea | 5,271 | 4.6 mi | 57.9 | 37% | 17% |
| Aldington | 1,280 | 4.9 mi | 43.3 | 22% | 33% |
| Brabourne Lees | 1,479 | 6.5 mi | 51.2 | 29% | 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 Dymchurch’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 Dymchurch’s residents
What is the population of Dymchurch?
The 2021 Census counted 3,097 people in Dymchurch’s built-up area.
What is the average age in Dymchurch?
The median age was 59.2 at the 2021 Census, older than 99% of UK towns. 7.2% of residents were 15 to 24 and 39% were 65 or over.
How diverse is Dymchurch?
95% of residents described themselves as White British in 2021, against 73% across England’s towns and 82% across Kent’s towns. 4.6% were born outside the UK.
What religion are people in Dymchurch?
39% said they had no religion and 54% that they were Christian at the 2021 Census; 0.7% were Muslim and 5.4% didn’t answer.
Is Dymchurch good for families?
15% of households had dependent children in 2021, against 29% across England’s towns. Schools are on Dymchurch’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.