Photo: 93gregsonl · Public domainA median age of 50.6: Banks is older than 88% of UK towns
Households in terraced houses: 7.2% here and 24% across England’s towns. 62% of residents describe themselves as Christian, a higher share than in 96% of UK towns. Banks is home to 4,439 residents in 1,989 households, by the 2021 Census. Census figures put households with dependent children at 22% locally.
What the Census says about Banks’s people
Older than most towns
Half of Banks’s residents are under 50.6 and half over, against 44.4 in the typical UK town. 26% are 65 or over, against 18% across England’s towns. Ages ↓
Growing faster than most
ONS mid-year estimates put Banks at 4,100 in 2011 and 5,100 in 2024, up 24%, against 10% for England: faster growth than in 90% of UK towns. Since 2011 ↓
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.
Growth of +24% since 2011 puts Banks ahead of 90% of UK towns
ONS mid-year estimates, each year indexed to mid-2011 = 100. Banks’s figure is the small areas (2021 LSOAs) that make up the town.
People, mid-2011 = 100
Change by age, 2011 to 2024
About 4,100 people in 2011; 5,100 in 2024.
The largest rise in a single year came from mid-2015 to mid-2016: 200 people. The 65 and over age group changed most (+51%) and the 45 to 64 least (+7%).
8.7% of residents are aged 15 to 24, fewer than in 81% of UK towns
Share of residents in each five-year age band, Census 2021.
Just over a quarter of residents are 65 or over, against 18% across England’s towns. As a reference point, 12% of residents are aged 15 to 24 across England’s towns.
Median age of UK towns of 2,500+
■ Banks, 50.6. 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.
A smaller share of full-time students than 78% of UK towns: 4.2%
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%.
Residents who moved in within the year: 7.8% here and 11% across England’s towns. By way of comparison, 7.9% of adults are full-time students across England’s towns.
Smaller households than 78% of UK towns: 2.2 people on average
Household make-up at the 2021 Census. Each square is 1% of households.
Against Lancashire’s towns and England’s towns
People per household
England’s towns.
Here 2.1% of households are unrelated adults sharing a home, where the figure across England’s towns is 4.3%. The census found that 29% of households are one person living alone in Banks.
Fewer car-free households than 79% of UK towns: 10%
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
Nearly a quarter of households live in a flat or apartment across England’s towns, against 6.8% in Banks. As a yardstick, nearly a quarter of households have no car or van across England’s towns. Across Banks, 31% of households live in a detached house.
A lower share of residents born outside the UK than 64% of UK towns, at 5%
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
Recent arrivals (2017 or later) make up 7.4% of those born abroad (England’s towns: 21%). Against that, 18% of residents were born outside the UK across England’s towns. Among residents born abroad, the largest groups were born in EU countries (3.5%) and in the Middle East and Asia (0.8%).
In Banks, 31% of residents said they have no religion, fewer than in 91% 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: 94% of Banks · Lancashire’s towns 82% · England’s towns 73%.
Religion · all residents
Beyond White British, the biggest groups are Other White (3.6%), Mixed or multiple (1.1%) and Chinese (0.2%). As a reference point, 37% of residents said they have no religion across England’s towns. On residents who describe themselves as White British, Banks sits higher than 67% of UK towns: 94%.
Banks sits above 90% of UK towns for unpaid carers (11%)
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
With adults who have never married at 30%, Banks is behind 64% of UK towns on that count. Married adults and civil partners are more common here than in 62% of UK towns. The usual figure: 8.7% of residents give unpaid care across England’s towns. 155 residents give 50 hours or more of unpaid care each week.
29% 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 29% of Banks’s adults, against 34% across England’s towns; 20% have no qualification (18%).
695 UK towns of 3,000 to 6,000 people: this is the 131st oldest
Median age, Census 2021. Hover a dot for its students and residents born abroad; click for its page.
Bailrigg is the youngest (18.9); Sutton on Sea and Trusthorpe the oldest (64.7). Nearest to Banks in age: Gunnislake and St Ann's Chapel (50.5), Swanland (50.6), Holton le Clay (50.6) and Alderley Edge (50.7).
3 of the 7 nearest towns are older than Banks
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Banks | 4,439 | — | 50.6 | 26% | 22% |
| Tarleton and Hesketh Bank | 8,756 | 3.6 mi | 48.7 | 26% | 26% |
| Southport | 94,438 | 4 mi | 48.4 | 26% | 23% |
| Rufford | 1,562 | 5 mi | 52.4 | 28% | 23% |
| Warton (Fylde) | 4,180 | 5.4 mi | 41.2 | 20% | 29% |
| Freckleton | 4,478 | 5.6 mi | 54.6 | 32% | 20% |
| Croston | 2,793 | 5.9 mi | 47.4 | 24% | 29% |
| Lytham St Anne's | 42,693 | 6.2 mi | 54.4 | 32% | 19% |
Health, work and homes have their own pages
What this data can and can’t tell you
- “Lancashire’s towns” and “England’s towns” mean their built-up areas. Census comparisons pool every built-up area in Lancashire (or England), summed the same way as Banks’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. Banks’s trend uses the small areas (2021 LSOAs) with most of their people inside it: 4,686 people in 2021, against 4,439 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 Banks’s residents
What is the population of Banks?
The 2021 Census counted 4,439 people in Banks’s built-up area. The ONS estimates the same small areas held 5,100 people in mid-2024, 24% more than in 2011.
What is the average age in Banks?
The median age was 50.6 at the 2021 Census, older than 88% of UK towns. 8.7% of residents were 15 to 24 and 26% were 65 or over.
How diverse is Banks?
94% of residents described themselves as White British in 2021, against 73% across England’s towns and 82% across Lancashire’s towns. 5% were born outside the UK.
What religion are people in Banks?
31% said they had no religion and 62% that they were Christian at the 2021 Census; 0.4% were Muslim and 6.1% didn’t answer.
Is Banks good for families?
22% of households had dependent children in 2021, against 29% across England’s towns. Schools are on Banks’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.