Photo: Chris Whippet · CC BY-SA 2.0Sheerness is younger than 96% of UK towns: a median age of 34.5
Households without a car or van make up 34%, against 24% across England’s towns. 49% of households live in a terraced house. On married adults and civil partners, Sheerness sits lower than 99% of UK towns: 32%. In 2021, the Census found 13,253 residents here, living in 5,258 households.
What the Census says about Sheerness’s people
Younger than most towns
Half of Sheerness’s residents are under 34.5 and half over, against 44.4 in the typical UK town. 12% are 15 to 24 and 13% are 65 or over. Ages ↓
A town of families
35% of Sheerness’s 5,258 households had dependent children in 2021, more than in 94% of UK towns. 24% of residents are under 15. Households ↓
More with no religion than most
55% of residents answered “no religion” in 2021 and 37% Christian, against 37% and 46% across England’s towns. Ethnicity & religion ↓
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.
Since 2011, Sheerness has grown +12%, faster than 68% of UK towns
ONS mid-year estimates, each year indexed to mid-2011 = 100. Sheerness’s figure is the small areas (2021 LSOAs) that make up the town.
People, mid-2011 = 100
Change by age, 2011 to 2024
About 12,000 people in 2011; 13,500 in 2024.
The 30 to 44 age group moved most (+37%); the 16 to 29 group moved least (−6%). No year added more people than mid-2015 to mid-2016: 300.
Sheerness sits below 94% of UK towns for residents aged 65 and over (13%)
Share of residents in each five-year age band, Census 2021.
The largest age band is 0–4: nearly one in ten residents, 1.5 times the share across England’s towns. Across Sheerness, just over one in ten residents are aged 15 to 24. As a reference point, 18% of residents are 65 or over across England’s towns.
Median age of UK towns of 2,500+
■ Sheerness, 34.5. 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.
5.3% of adults are full-time students, more than in 67% 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%.
Managerial and professional jobs take in 15% of adults here, routine and semi-routine work 38% (England’s towns: 33% and 24%). At 9.5%, the share of residents who moved in within the year is higher than in 65% of UK towns. Set beside that, 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.
Families with children: 35% of households, more than in 94% 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.
Shared households of unrelated adults are about as common here as across England’s towns, at 3.9%. The benchmark for households with dependent children across England’s towns: 29%. Households here average 2.5 people each. On one-person households, Sheerness sits higher than 56% of UK towns: 30%.
Households in detached houses make up 4% in Sheerness, less than in 99% of UK towns
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
Households in flats: 22%, above 87% of UK towns. The usual figure: 21% of households live in a detached house across England’s towns.
Residents whose main language is English make up 95% in Sheerness, less than in 81% of UK towns
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
Across England’s towns, just over a fifth of those born abroad arrived in 2017 or later; here, 17%. Residents born outside the UK are more common here than in nearly two thirds of UK towns. To put it in context, 90% of residents have English as their main language across England’s towns. The two biggest birthplaces abroad are in EU countries (5.4%) and in the Middle East and Asia (1.3%).
In Sheerness, 55% of residents said they have no religion, more than in 98% 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: 89% of Sheerness · Kent’s towns 82% · England’s towns 73%.
Religion · all residents
Beyond White British, the biggest groups are Other White (5.9%), Mixed or multiple (2%) and Bangladeshi (0.6%). As a reference point, 37% of residents said they have no religion across England’s towns. Residents who describe themselves as Christian are rarer here than in 96% of UK towns. By its share of residents who describe themselves as White British (89%), Sheerness is below 68% of UK towns.
A higher share of adults who have never married than 97% of UK towns, at 46%
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 nearly one in ten residents give unpaid care across England’s towns, Sheerness has 11%. By way of comparison, nearly two in five adults have never married or formed a civil partnership across England’s towns. 549 residents give 50 hours or more of unpaid care each week.
14% 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 14% of adults in Sheerness (England’s towns: 34%), and no qualification by 31% (England’s towns: 18%).
10th youngest of 406 UK towns of 9,000 to 18,000 people
Median age, Census 2021. Hover a dot for its students and residents born abroad; click for its page.
Ages run from 25 in Aberystwyth to 60.4 in Sidmouth. Nearest to Sheerness in age: Filton (34.3), Cambourne (34.5), Patchway (35.1) and Bordon (35.3).
The towns around Sheerness are all 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sheerness | 13,253 | — | 34.5 | 13% | 35% |
| Halfway Houses | 4,396 | 1 mi | 44.5 | 22% | 26% |
| Queenborough | 3,915 | 1.6 mi | 35.8 | 16% | 33% |
| Minster (Swale) | 16,735 | 2.1 mi | 45.8 | 23% | 27% |
| Grain | 1,728 | 2.5 mi | 41.4 | 18% | 32% |
| Iwade | 4,533 | 4.4 mi | 36.1 | 11% | 45% |
| Eastchurch | 3,381 | 4.9 mi | 36.3 | 9.2% | 32% |
| Allhallows | 1,684 | 5.6 mi | 49.2 | 28% | 24% |
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 Sheerness’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. Sheerness’s trend uses the small areas (2021 LSOAs) with most of their people inside it: 13,253 people in 2021, against 13,253 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 Sheerness’s residents
What is the population of Sheerness?
The 2021 Census counted 13,253 people in Sheerness’s built-up area. The ONS estimates the same small areas held 13,500 people in mid-2024, 12% more than in 2011.
What is the average age in Sheerness?
The median age was 34.5 at the 2021 Census, younger than 96% of UK towns. 12% of residents were 15 to 24 and 13% were 65 or over.
How diverse is Sheerness?
89% of residents described themselves as White British in 2021, against 73% across England’s towns and 82% across Kent’s towns. 8.2% were born outside the UK.
What religion are people in Sheerness?
55% said they had no religion and 37% that they were Christian at the 2021 Census; 1.4% were Muslim and 4.8% didn’t answer.
Is Sheerness good for families?
35% of households had dependent children in 2021, against 29% across England’s towns. Schools are on Sheerness’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.