Photo: Stacey Harris · CC BY-SA 2.0Only 21% of households are one person living alone in Leigh
Compared with 39% across England’s towns, 24% of adults have never married or formed a civil partnership here. Leigh is home to 1,104 residents in 436 households, by the 2021 Census. On the census count, nearly one in ten households have no car or van. Fewer shared households of unrelated adults than in 88% of UK towns: 1.6%.
Older than 75% of UK towns: half of Leigh is over 48.2
Share of residents in each five-year age band, Census 2021.
The largest age band is 55–59: nearly one in ten residents, 1.3 times the share across England’s towns. Residents aged 65 and over account for 24%.
Broad ages · share of residents
Women and men · all residents
53% women, 47% men
About 89 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.
5.3% of adults are full-time students, more than in 68% 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%.
Where 11% of residents lived at another address a year earlier across England’s towns, Leigh has 9.1%. The usual figure: 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.
Bigger households than 91% of UK towns: 2.5 people each 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.
Against a figure of 29% across England’s towns, the share of households with dependent children in Leigh comes in at 30%.
A larger share of households in detached houses than 81% of UK towns: 43%
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
In Leigh, nearly a fifth of households live in a terraced house, beside 24% across England’s towns. Nearly one in ten households live in a flat, less than in 61% of UK towns; 43% in a detached house, against 21% across England’s towns.
A higher share of residents whose main language is English than 90% 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%
Main language · residents aged 3 and over
Set against 18% across England’s towns, 7.4% of residents were born outside the UK in Leigh. Residents born abroad were most often born in EU countries (2.7%), then in Africa (1.8%).
A higher share of residents who describe themselves as Christian than 76% of UK towns, at 54%
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: 92% of Leigh · Kent’s towns 82% · England’s towns 73%.
Religion · all residents
The groups that follow White British are Other White (4.4%), Mixed or multiple (1.9%) and Indian (0.8%). Set beside that, 46% of residents describe themselves as Christian across England’s towns. 40% of residents said they have no religion, a lower share than in 59% of UK towns. Against a figure of 73% across England’s towns, the share of residents who describe themselves as White British in Leigh comes in at 92%.
61% of adults are married or in a civil partnership, more than in 99% 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
Unpaid care takes 50 hours a week or more for 33 people. The benchmark for married adults and civil partners across England’s towns: 44%. On unpaid carers, 9.4% here is much the same as across England’s towns.
43% of adults have a degree-level qualification
Highest qualification, residents 16 and over, Census 2021.
Highest qualification · residents 16 and over
Degree-level qualifications are held by 43% of Leigh’s adults, against 34% across England’s towns; 13% have no qualification (18%).
No nearby town is as old as Leigh
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Leigh | 1,104 | — | 48.2 | 24% | 30% |
| Hildenborough | 4,943 | 1.8 mi | 47.5 | 24% | 33% |
| Tonbridge | 36,136 | 2.7 mi | 41.4 | 19% | 31% |
| Southborough | 9,632 | 3.3 mi | 41.9 | 17% | 33% |
| Rusthall and Langton Green | 7,783 | 4.3 mi | 45.1 | 23% | 32% |
| Royal Tunbridge Wells | 51,215 | 4.7 mi | 40.1 | 16% | 30% |
| Hadlow | 3,168 | 5.6 mi | 46.7 | 24% | 25% |
| Plaxtol | 1,137 | 5.9 mi | 47.2 | 20% | 31% |
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.
- “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 Leigh’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 Leigh’s residents
What is the population of Leigh?
The 2021 Census counted 1,104 people in Leigh’s built-up area.
What is the average age in Leigh?
The median age was 48.2 at the 2021 Census. 9.6% of residents were 15 to 24 and 24% were 65 or over.
How diverse is Leigh?
92% of residents described themselves as White British in 2021, against 73% across England’s towns and 82% across Kent’s towns. 7.4% were born outside the UK.
What religion are people in Leigh?
40% said they had no religion and 54% that they were Christian at the 2021 Census; 0.5% were Muslim and 5.2% didn’t answer.
Is Leigh good for families?
30% of households had dependent children in 2021, against 29% across England’s towns. Schools are on Leigh’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.