Photo: David Long · CC BY-SA 2.0A larger share of residents who describe themselves as Christian than 98% of UK towns: 64%
Here 8.2% of residents are aged 15 to 24, where the figure across England’s towns is 12%. Caton is home to 2,552 residents in 1,164 households, by the 2021 Census. One in ten households have no car or van. Fewer households in flats than in 88% of UK towns: 3.9%.
What the Census says about Caton’s people
Many older residents
28% of residents were 65 or over in 2021, more than in 87% of UK towns; 20% of households are someone 66 or over living alone. Ages ↓
Written from the data on this page: ONS Census 2021 (output areas summed to the 2022 built-up area).
Caton is older than 83% of UK towns: a median age of 49.6
Share of residents in each five-year age band, Census 2021.
Residents aged 65 and over: 28% here and 18% across England’s towns. The largest age band is 50–54: 7.5% of residents.
Median age of UK towns of 2,500+
■ Caton, 49.6. The typical town is 44.4.
Broad ages · share of residents
Women and men · all residents
52% women, 48% men
About 93 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.
Full-time students make up 4.6% in Caton, less than in 60% 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%.
38% of Caton’s adults are in managerial and professional jobs and 21% in routine and semi-routine work, against 33% and 24% across England’s towns. The benchmark for full-time students across England’s towns: 7.9%. In Caton, nearly one in ten residents lived at another address a year earlier.
Households with dependent children: 24%, a lower share than 79% of UK towns
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.
One-person households: 31% here and 30% across England’s towns. Across England’s towns, the share of households with dependent children is 29%. Each household has 2.2 people on average. At 2.1%, the share of shared households of unrelated adults is lower than in nearly two thirds of UK towns.
Fewer households in terraced houses than 62% of UK towns: 17%
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
On the census count, 30% of households live in a detached house. To put it in context, 24% of households live in a terraced house across England’s towns.
Caton ranks below 84% of UK towns on residents born outside the UK: 3.5%
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%
Main language · residents aged 3 and over
By its share of residents whose main language is English (99%), Caton is above 84% of UK towns. Residents born outside the UK make up 18% across England’s towns. The two biggest birthplaces abroad are in EU countries (1.7%) and in Africa (0.7%).
Caton sits below 94% of UK towns for residents with no religion (29%)
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: 96% of Caton · Lancashire’s towns 82% · England’s towns 73%.
Religion · all residents
Beyond White British, the biggest groups are Other White (2%), Mixed or multiple (0.9%) and Pakistani (0.3%). Few places have as many residents who describe themselves as White British: 96% here, more than in 85% of UK towns. Elsewhere, 37% of residents said they have no religion across England’s towns.
Only 26% of adults have never married or formed a civil partnership in Caton
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 carers: 11%, above just over four fifths of UK towns. By way of comparison, nearly two in five adults have never married or formed a civil partnership across England’s towns. The share of married adults and civil partners stands at 52%.
The share of adults with a degree-level qualification: 38%
Highest qualification, residents 16 and over, Census 2021.
Highest qualification · residents 16 and over
Degree-level qualifications are held by 38% of adults in Caton (England’s towns: 34%), and no qualification by 14% (England’s towns: 18%).
Among 219 UK towns of 2,500 to 3,000 people, the 63rd oldest
Median age, Census 2021. Hover a dot for its students and residents born abroad; click for its page.
Ages run from 20.6 in Keele to 60.8 in St Mary's Bay. Nearest to Caton in age: Stratton (49.4), Bluntisham and Colne (49.5), Clophill (49.7) and Holme upon Spalding Moor (49.8).
Among its 7 nearest neighbours, 2 are older than Caton
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Caton | 2,552 | — | 49.6 | 28% | 24% |
| Halton | 2,652 | 1.8 mi | 44.8 | 23% | 27% |
| Bolton-le-Sands | 6,728 | 3.7 mi | 53.9 | 32% | 21% |
| Lancaster | 52,646 | 4 mi | 35 | 14% | 25% |
| Carnforth | 5,852 | 4.2 mi | 46 | 23% | 26% |
| Warton (Lancaster) | 1,801 | 5.3 mi | 54.5 | 31% | 19% |
| Bailrigg | 4,788 | 5.4 mi | 18.9 | 1.6% | 25% |
| Morecambe | 32,745 | 5.7 mi | 45.9 | 25% | 24% |
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 Caton’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 Caton’s residents
What is the population of Caton?
The 2021 Census counted 2,552 people in Caton’s built-up area.
What is the average age in Caton?
The median age was 49.6 at the 2021 Census, older than 83% of UK towns. 8.2% of residents were 15 to 24 and 28% were 65 or over.
How diverse is Caton?
96% of residents described themselves as White British in 2021, against 73% across England’s towns and 82% across Lancashire’s towns. 3.5% were born outside the UK.
What religion are people in Caton?
29% said they had no religion and 64% that they were Christian at the 2021 Census; 0.4% were Muslim and 5.6% didn’t answer.
Is Caton good for families?
24% of households had dependent children in 2021, against 29% across England’s towns. Schools are on Caton’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.