Photo: David Howard · CC BY-SA 2.0Hawkhurst ranks above 81% of UK towns on one-person households: 34%
Against a figure of 23% across England’s towns, the share of households in flats in Hawkhurst comes in at 18%. Across Hawkhurst, 29% of adults have never married or formed a civil partnership. Half of the town’s residents are over 47, older than in 69% of UK towns. At the 2021 Census Hawkhurst was home to 3,683 people in 1,662 households.
A growing town: +11% since 2011, faster than 62% of UK towns
ONS mid-year estimates, each year indexed to mid-2011 = 100. Hawkhurst’s figure is the small areas (2021 LSOAs) that make up the town.
People, mid-2011 = 100
Change by age, 2011 to 2024
About 3,200 people in 2011; 3,600 in 2024.
Split by age, the 65 and over changed most (+40%) and the 16 to 29 least (−11%). The biggest one-year rise was mid-2016 to mid-2017, 140 people.
24% of residents are 65 or over, more than in 68% of UK towns
Share of residents in each five-year age band, Census 2021.
No age band is larger than 50–54: 7.4% of residents. The wider picture: 18% of residents are 65 or over across England’s towns. Fewer residents aged 15 to 24 than in 68% of UK towns: 9.2%. In St Mary's Bay, the oldest of Kent’s towns by this measure, it is 42%.
Median age of UK towns of 2,500+
■ Hawkhurst, 47. 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.
Full-time students: 3.8%, a lower share than 90% 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%.
Against a figure of 11% across England’s towns, the share of residents who moved in within the year in Hawkhurst comes in at 9.2%. Across England’s towns, full-time students come to 7.9%.
2.2 people per household, fewer than in 75% 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.
Across England’s towns, 29% of households have dependent children; in Hawkhurst, 26%. What’s more, on shared households of unrelated adults, Hawkhurst sits lower than 60% of UK towns: 2.2%.
Below 57% of UK towns: 27% of households live in a detached house
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
At 24%, households in terraced houses sit close to the figure across England’s towns. Against that, just over a fifth of households live in a detached house across England’s towns. 15% of households have no car or van.
Above 59% of UK towns: 7.3% of residents were born outside the UK
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
Residents whose main language is English: 98% here and 90% across England’s towns. Across England’s towns, 18% of residents were born outside the UK.
A larger share of residents who describe themselves as White British than 61% of UK towns: 93%
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: 93% of Hawkhurst · Kent’s towns 82% · England’s towns 73%.
Religion · all residents
50% of residents describe themselves as Christian (England’s towns: 46%). The comparison figure for residents who describe themselves as White British is 73% across England’s towns. Across Hawkhurst, just over two in five residents said they have no religion.
Hawkhurst: 49% of adults are married or in a civil partnership, above 54% of UK towns
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
The number giving 50 or more hours of unpaid care a week is 76. For married adults and civil partners, the comparison across England’s towns is 44%. At 8.5%, the share of unpaid carers is lower than in 72% of UK towns.
32% of adults are qualified to degree level
Highest qualification, residents 16 and over, Census 2021.
Highest qualification · residents 16 and over
Degree-level qualifications are held by 32% of Hawkhurst’s adults, against 34% across England’s towns; 16% have no qualification (18%).
Ranked by age, 250th oldest of 530 UK towns this size
Median age, Census 2021. Hover a dot for its students and residents born abroad; click for its page.
Bailrigg is the youngest (18.9); Milford on Sea the oldest (64.6). Nearest to Hawkhurst in age: Pen-pedair-heol (46.9), Marsden (47), Cardigan (47) and South Cave (47.1).
Nearby, 3 of 7 towns have older populations than Hawkhurst
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hawkhurst | 3,683 | — | 47 | 24% | 26% |
| Hurst Green | 1,181 | 2.6 mi | 46.3 | 22% | 30% |
| Benenden | 1,409 | 3.4 mi | 29.7 | 18% | 25% |
| Cranbrook | 3,962 | 3.7 mi | 45.3 | 24% | 26% |
| Ticehurst | 1,464 | 4.2 mi | 47.2 | 30% | 29% |
| Robertsbridge | 1,439 | 4.6 mi | 49.9 | 26% | 25% |
| Goudhurst | 1,104 | 5.1 mi | 46.3 | 19% | 31% |
| Northiam | 1,910 | 5.2 mi | 56.6 | 36% | 19% |
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 Hawkhurst’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. Hawkhurst’s trend uses the small areas (2021 LSOAs) with most of their people inside it: 3,354 people in 2021, against 3,683 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 Hawkhurst’s residents
What is the population of Hawkhurst?
The 2021 Census counted 3,683 people in Hawkhurst’s built-up area. The ONS estimates the same small areas held 3,600 people in mid-2024, 11% more than in 2011.
What is the average age in Hawkhurst?
The median age was 47 at the 2021 Census, older than 69% of UK towns. 9.2% of residents were 15 to 24 and 24% were 65 or over.
How diverse is Hawkhurst?
93% of residents described themselves as White British in 2021, against 73% across England’s towns and 82% across Kent’s towns. 7.3% were born outside the UK.
What religion are people in Hawkhurst?
42% said they had no religion and 50% that they were Christian at the 2021 Census; 0.2% were Muslim and 6.5% didn’t answer.
Is Hawkhurst good for families?
26% of households had dependent children in 2021, against 29% across England’s towns. Schools are on Hawkhurst’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. 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.