Photo: David Dixon · CC BY-SA 2.0More terraced houses than 98% of UK towns: 54% of households
With households in detached houses at 12%, Earby is behind 90% of UK towns on that count. Residents with no religion are more common here than in 81% of UK towns. At the 2021 Census, 4,416 people lived in the town, in 1,979 households. Across Earby, just over a quarter of households have dependent children.
Below 58% of UK towns: 21% of residents are 65 or over
Share of residents in each five-year age band, Census 2021.
With a median age of 44.9, Earby is older than 53% of UK towns. Typically, 18% of residents are 65 or over across England’s towns. Residents aged 15 to 24 account for 9.6%. In Garstang, the oldest of Lancashire’s towns by this measure, it is 39%.
Median age of UK towns of 2,500+
■ Earby, 44.9. The typical town is 44.4.
Broad ages · share of residents
Women and men · all residents
51% women, 49% men
About 96 men for every 100 women. Across England, 51% of residents are women.
Earby ranks below 86% of UK towns on full-time students: 3.9%
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%.
Across England’s towns, a third of adults are in managerial and professional jobs and 24% in routine work; in Earby, 28% and 30%. Residents who moved in within the year account for 7.1%. Elsewhere, 7.9% of adults are full-time students across England’s towns.
Earby households average 2.2 people, smaller than in 67% 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.
Across England’s towns, the share of one-person households is 30%; Earby has 32%. Against a figure of 4.3% across England’s towns, the share of shared households of unrelated adults in Earby comes in at 2.2%.
Earby sits below 68% of UK towns for households in flats (7.7%)
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
16% of households have no car or van, against 24% across England’s towns. For households in flats, the comparison across England’s towns is 23%.
In Earby, 3.6% of residents were born outside the UK, fewer than in 83% 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
Among residents born abroad, the largest groups were born in EU countries (2.6%) and in Africa (0.3%). Across England’s towns, residents born outside the UK come to 18%. At 99%, the share of residents whose main language is English is higher than in nearly three quarters of UK towns. 2.5% of the town’s residents born abroad came in 2017 or later, set against 21% across England’s towns.
Above 87% of UK towns: 96% of residents describe themselves as White British
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 Earby · Lancashire’s towns 82% · England’s towns 73%.
Religion · all residents
Here 47% of residents describe themselves as Christian, where the figure across England’s towns is 46%. Against that, 73% of residents describe themselves as White British across England’s towns. Other than White British, most residents describe themselves as Other White (2.3%), Mixed or multiple (0.8%) and Pakistani (0.5%).
Earby sits above 59% of UK towns for adults who have never married (34%)
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 number giving 50 or more hours of unpaid care a week is 122. For comparison, 39% of adults have never married or formed a civil partnership across England’s towns. Earby has fewer married adults and civil partners than 69% of UK towns, at 45%. Meanwhile, the figure for unpaid carers is 9.7% in Earby and 8.7% across England’s towns.
26% of adults hold a degree-level qualification
Highest qualification, residents 16 and over, Census 2021.
Highest qualification · residents 16 and over
With 26% of its adults qualified to degree level, Earby compares with 34% across England’s towns; another 21% hold no qualification (18%).
249th lowest median age among 695 UK towns of 3,000 to 6,000
Median age, Census 2021. Hover a dot for its students and residents born abroad; click for its page.
At the ends of the range sit Bailrigg (18.9), the youngest, and Sutton on Sea and Trusthorpe (64.7), the oldest. Nearest to Earby in age: Ramsey (44.8), Chudleigh (44.8), Pilsley and Lower Pilsley (44.9) and Willaston (Cheshire East) (44.9).
A younger town than 4 of the 7 around it: Earby
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Earby | 4,416 | — | 44.9 | 21% | 26% |
| Barnoldswick | 10,915 | 1.8 mi | 43.4 | 21% | 27% |
| Foulridge | 1,212 | 2.9 mi | 49.5 | 24% | 23% |
| Colne | 18,914 | 4 mi | 42 | 20% | 27% |
| Carleton-in-Craven | 1,060 | 4.5 mi | 50.8 | 25% | 23% |
| Cowling | 1,439 | 4.7 mi | 38 | 13% | 34% |
| Trawden | 1,204 | 4.9 mi | 49.6 | 22% | 25% |
| Gargrave | 1,502 | 5 mi | 56.5 | 36% | 17% |
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 Earby’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 Earby’s residents
What is the population of Earby?
The 2021 Census counted 4,416 people in Earby’s built-up area.
What is the average age in Earby?
The median age was 44.9 at the 2021 Census, older than 53% of UK towns. 9.6% of residents were 15 to 24 and 21% were 65 or over.
How diverse is Earby?
96% of residents described themselves as White British in 2021, against 73% across England’s towns and 82% across Lancashire’s towns. 3.6% were born outside the UK.
What religion are people in Earby?
46% said they had no religion and 47% that they were Christian at the 2021 Census; 0.5% were Muslim and 5.9% didn’t answer.
Is Earby good for families?
26% of households had dependent children in 2021, against 29% across England’s towns. Schools are on Earby’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.