Photo: Chris Whippet · CC BY-SA 2.0Rochester is younger than 86% of UK towns: a median age of 38.8
Here 36% of households live in a terraced house, where the figure across England’s towns is 24%. The 2021 Census counted 67,279 residents in 26,791 households. Households in detached houses account for 12%. Rochester has fewer residents who describe themselves as White British than 87% of UK towns, at 77%.
What the Census says about Rochester’s people
Younger than most towns
Half of Rochester’s residents are under 38.8 and half over, against 44.4 in the typical UK town. 11% are 15 to 24 and 16% are 65 or over. 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.
Rochester grew +11% from 2011 to 2024, ahead of 63% of UK towns
ONS mid-year estimates, each year indexed to mid-2011 = 100. Rochester’s figure is the small areas (2021 LSOAs) that make up the town.
People, mid-2011 = 100
Change by age, 2011 to 2024
About 63,400 people in 2011; 70,200 in 2024.
Change by age ran from +22% for the 65 and over to −14% for the 16 to 29. No year added more people than mid-2023 to mid-2024: 1,020.
A smaller share of residents aged 65 and over than 88% of UK towns: 16%
Share of residents in each five-year age band, Census 2021.
30–34 is the most common age band: 7.6% of residents. The wider picture: 18% of residents are 65 or over across England’s towns. At 11%, the share of residents aged 15 to 24 is higher than in 86% of UK towns. 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+
■ Rochester, 38.8. 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.
More students than 86% of UK towns: 6.2% of adults in Rochester
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, Rochester has 9.7%. Full-time students make up 7.9% across England’s towns.
The Census was taken on 21 March 2021, in term time, so students were counted at their term addresses.
Rochester: 32% of households have dependent children, above 84% 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.
Little separates the share of shared households of unrelated adults here, 3.5%, from the figure across England’s towns. Across the comparison, 29% of households have dependent children across England’s towns. On the census count, 28% of households are one person living alone.
19% of households live in a flat or apartment, a share 82% 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
Across England’s towns, 24% of households have no car or van; in Rochester, 19%. On average, nearly a quarter of households live in a flat or apartment across England’s towns.
Rochester: 14% of residents 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
Of residents born abroad, 13% arrived in 2017 or later, against 21% across England’s towns. The benchmark for residents born outside the UK across England’s towns: 18%. For Rochester, the census puts residents whose main language is English at 94%.
Fewer residents who describe themselves as Christian than 83% of UK towns: 44%
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: 77% of Rochester · Kent’s towns 82% · England’s towns 73%.
Religion · all residents
2.6% of residents are Muslim. Across England’s towns, 46% of residents describe themselves as Christian. Residents with no religion are more common here than in 68% of UK towns.
39% of adults have never married or formed a civil partnership, a share 87% 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
Where 44% of adults are married or in a civil partnership across England’s towns, Rochester has 43%. Across Rochester, 8.4% of residents give unpaid care.
Degree-level qualifications reach 28% of adults
Highest qualification, residents 16 and over, Census 2021.
Highest qualification · residents 16 and over
Across England’s towns, 34% of adults have a degree-level qualification; in Rochester, 28%, and 19% have none, against 18%. For 17%, A levels are the highest qualification so far, many of them students still working towards a degree.
From a median age of 32 in Chatham Central and Rochester Riverside to 45 in Broomhill
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.
Broomhill is the oldest area, with 22% aged 65 or over; Chatham Central and Rochester Riverside the youngest (median age 32). Families with children are most common in Strood South & Temple Marsh (37% of households).
Of 110 UK towns its size (47,000 to 91,000 people), the 33rd youngest
Median age, Census 2021. Hover a dot for its students and residents born abroad; click for its page.
Ages run from 27.5 in Canterbury to 51.7 in Christchurch. Nearest to Rochester in age: Burnley (38.7), Crewe (38.7), Farnborough (38.8) and Doncaster (38.9).
Among its 7 nearest neighbours, 4 are older than Rochester
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rochester | 67,279 | — | 38.8 | 16% | 32% |
| Cuxton | 3,039 | 2 mi | 48.2 | 26% | 27% |
| Chatham | 76,956 | 2.3 mi | 37.6 | 15% | 34% |
| Higham | 2,642 | 2.8 mi | 50.5 | 29% | 26% |
| Chattenden | 2,417 | 2.9 mi | 34.1 | 11% | 43% |
| Halling | 2,926 | 3 mi | 37.8 | 13% | 35% |
| Shorne | 1,038 | 3.2 mi | 54.9 | 34% | 21% |
| Cliffe Woods | 2,689 | 3.4 mi | 45.5 | 23% | 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 Rochester’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. Rochester’s trend uses the small areas (2021 LSOAs) with most of their people inside it: 67,535 people in 2021, against 67,279 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 Rochester’s residents
What is the population of Rochester?
The 2021 Census counted 67,279 people in Rochester’s built-up area. The ONS estimates the same small areas held 70,200 people in mid-2024, 11% more than in 2011.
What is the average age in Rochester?
The median age was 38.8 at the 2021 Census, younger than 86% of UK towns. 11% of residents were 15 to 24 and 16% were 65 or over.
How diverse is Rochester?
77% of residents described themselves as White British in 2021, against 73% across England’s towns and 82% across Kent’s towns. 14% were born outside the UK.
What religion are people in Rochester?
44% said they had no religion and 44% that they were Christian at the 2021 Census; 2.6% were Muslim and 5.2% didn’t answer.
Is Rochester good for families?
32% of households had dependent children in 2021, against 29% across England’s towns. Families are most common in Strood South & Temple Marsh (37% of households). Schools are on Rochester’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.