Photo: DS Pugh · CC BY-SA 2.0In Sevenoaks, 36% of households have dependent children, more than in 95% of UK towns
6.9% of residents give unpaid care, against 8.7% across England’s towns. Sevenoaks is home to 26,474 residents in 10,309 households, by the 2021 Census. The share of residents who describe themselves as White British stands at 78%. Few places have as many households in detached houses: 40% here, more than in three quarters of UK towns.
What the Census says about Sevenoaks’s people
A town of families
36% of Sevenoaks’s 10,309 households had dependent children in 2021, more than in 95% of UK towns. 21% of residents are under 15. Households ↓
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.
Slower than most: +4% since 2011, behind 66% of UK towns
ONS mid-year estimates, each year indexed to mid-2011 = 100. Sevenoaks’s figure is the small areas (2021 LSOAs) that make up the town.
People, mid-2011 = 100
Change by age, 2011 to 2024
About 26,400 people in 2011; 27,500 in 2024.
Mid-2015 to mid-2016 brought the biggest yearly rise, 320 people. The 45 to 64 group saw the biggest change (+16%), the 30 to 44 group the smallest (−15%).
Sevenoaks is younger than 69% of UK towns: a median age of 42
Share of residents in each five-year age band, Census 2021.
Compared with 12% across England’s towns, 9.9% of residents are aged 15 to 24 here. 18% of residents are 65 or over.
Median age of UK towns of 2,500+
■ Sevenoaks, 42. The typical town is 44.4.
Broad ages · share of residents
Women and men · all residents
51% women, 49% men
About 95 men for every 100 women. Across England, 51% of residents are women.
Sevenoaks sits above 90% of UK towns for full-time students (6.7%)
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%.
Little separates the share of residents who moved in within the year here, 11%, from the figure across England’s towns. For comparison, 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 90% 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.
Across England’s towns, 30% of households are one person living alone; in Sevenoaks, 26%. Meanwhile, on shared households of unrelated adults, Sevenoaks sits higher than 54% of UK towns: 2.4%.
A lower share of households without a car or van than 66% of UK towns, at 13%
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
With households in flats at 22%, Sevenoaks is ahead of 86% of UK towns on that count. Households without a car or van: 24% across England’s towns, for comparison. On the census count, 17% of households live in a terraced house.
Sevenoaks ranks below 82% of UK towns on residents whose main language is English: 94%
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
Arrivals from 2017 on account for 20% of residents born abroad, beside 21% across England’s towns. 19% of residents were born outside the UK, more than in 92% of UK towns. The benchmark for residents whose main language is English across England’s towns: 90%. Residents born abroad were most often born in EU countries (6.6%), then in the Middle East and Asia (4.1%).
Sevenoaks sits above 64% of UK towns for residents who describe themselves as Christian (52%)
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: 78% of Sevenoaks · Kent’s towns 82% · England’s towns 73%.
Religion · all residents
Besides White British, the main groups are Other White (11%), Mixed or multiple (3.8%) and Indian (1.5%). At 38%, the share of residents with no religion is lower than in 67% of UK towns. The share of residents who describe themselves as Christian across England’s towns is 46%.
Married adults and civil partners: 55%, a higher share than 89% 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 share of adults who have never married trails 71% of UK towns: 29%. As a yardstick, 44% of adults are married or in a civil partnership across England’s towns. 407 people give 50 hours or more of unpaid care a week.
Degree-level qualifications reach 53% of adults
Highest qualification, residents 16 and over, Census 2021.
Highest qualification · residents 16 and over
Degree-level qualifications are held by 53% of Sevenoaks’s adults, against 34% across England’s towns; 11% have no qualification (18%). For 13%, A levels are the highest qualification so far, many of them students still working towards a degree.
From a median age of 37 in Knockholt, Shoreham & Dunton Green to 43 in Sevenoaks Town & Weald
The town’s 4 neighbourhoods (ONS middle-layer areas with 500+ residents inside it, named by the House of Commons Library), youngest first. Census 2021.
Sevenoaks Town & Weald is the oldest area, with 21% aged 65 or over; Knockholt, Shoreham & Dunton Green the youngest (median age 37). Families with children are most common in Sevenoaks West & Chevening (43% of households).
Ranked by age, 103rd youngest of 247 UK towns this size
Median age, Census 2021. Hover a dot for its students and residents born abroad; click for its page.
Egham is the youngest (31.1); Rustington the oldest (56.2). Nearest to Sevenoaks in age: Coseley (42), Larkfield (42), Camborne (42) and Port Talbot (42).
Of the 7 towns nearest Sevenoaks, 6 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sevenoaks | 26,474 | — | 42 | 18% | 36% |
| Dunton Green | 3,241 | 1.1 mi | 36.3 | 12% | 34% |
| Seal | 1,616 | 1.8 mi | 45.1 | 22% | 31% |
| Otford and Kemsing | 7,332 | 2.2 mi | 46.4 | 23% | 33% |
| Sundridge | 1,190 | 2.4 mi | 46.4 | 22% | 28% |
| Ightham | 2,037 | 4.3 mi | 48 | 23% | 35% |
| Westerham | 3,390 | 4.9 mi | 45.3 | 20% | 30% |
| Plaxtol | 1,137 | 5.5 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 Sevenoaks’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. Sevenoaks’s trend uses the small areas (2021 LSOAs) with most of their people inside it: 27,019 people in 2021, against 26,474 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 Sevenoaks’s residents
What is the population of Sevenoaks?
The 2021 Census counted 26,474 people in Sevenoaks’s built-up area. The ONS estimates the same small areas held 27,500 people in mid-2024, 4% more than in 2011.
What is the average age in Sevenoaks?
The median age was 42 at the 2021 Census, younger than 69% of UK towns. 9.9% of residents were 15 to 24 and 18% were 65 or over.
How diverse is Sevenoaks?
78% of residents described themselves as White British in 2021, against 73% across England’s towns and 82% across Kent’s towns. 19% were born outside the UK.
What religion are people in Sevenoaks?
38% said they had no religion and 52% that they were Christian at the 2021 Census; 1.3% were Muslim and 6.5% didn’t answer.
Is Sevenoaks good for families?
36% of households had dependent children in 2021, against 29% across England’s towns. Families are most common in Sevenoaks West & Chevening (43% of households). Schools are on Sevenoaks’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.