Photo: Stevew2022 · CC BY-SA 3.0Households without a car or van: 32%, a higher share than 97% of UK towns
The figure for households in terraced houses is 39% in Fleetwood and 24% across England’s towns. The town counted 26,224 residents and 11,636 households at the 2021 Census. Here, two in five adults are married or in a civil partnership. At 34%, the share of one-person households is higher than in just over four fifths of UK towns.
What the Census says about Fleetwood’s people
Many carers
2,863 residents gave unpaid care to someone with an illness, disability or old age in 2021, 12% of those 5 and over: more than in 94% of UK towns. Relationships & caring ↓
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.
From 2011 to 2024, 68% of UK towns grew faster than Fleetwood: +4%
ONS mid-year estimates, each year indexed to mid-2011 = 100. Fleetwood’s figure is the small areas (2021 LSOAs) that make up the town.
People, mid-2011 = 100
Change by age, 2011 to 2024
About 25,900 people in 2011; 26,900 in 2024.
Mid-2022 to mid-2023 brought the biggest yearly rise, 450 people. The 65 and over age group changed most (+14%) and the 16 to 29 least (−10%).
Residents aged 15 to 24: 11%, a higher share than 83% of UK towns
Share of residents in each five-year age band, Census 2021.
Where 18% of residents are 65 or over across England’s towns, Fleetwood has 23%. The wider picture: 12% of residents are aged 15 to 24 across England’s towns. The biggest five-year age group is 55–59, with 7.2% of residents. With a median age of 44.4, Fleetwood is younger than 51% of UK towns.
Median age of UK towns of 2,500+
■ Fleetwood, 44.4. The typical town is 44.4.
Broad ages · share of residents
Women and men · all residents
51% women, 49% men
About an even split. Across England, 51% of residents are women.
5.9% of adults are full-time students, more than in 83% 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%.
21% of Fleetwood’s adults are in managerial and professional jobs and 31% in routine and semi-routine work, against 33% and 24% across England’s towns. More residents who moved in within the year than in 69% of UK towns: 9.7%. As a yardstick, 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.
2.2 people per household, fewer than in 73% 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.
Against a figure of 29% across England’s towns, the share of households with dependent children in Fleetwood comes in at 26%. Locally, 2.8% of households are unrelated adults sharing a home.
Only 16% of households live in a detached house in Fleetwood
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
23% of households live in a flat or apartment across England’s towns, against 16% in Fleetwood. For comparison, 21% of households live in a detached house across England’s towns.
Only 4.8% of Fleetwood’s residents were born outside the UK
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
Residents born abroad were most often born in EU countries (2.5%), then in the Middle East and Asia (1.2%). For residents born outside the UK, the comparison across England’s towns is 18%. The newest arrivals, from 2017 or later, are 28% of those born abroad (against 21% across England’s towns).
More residents who describe themselves as White British than 69% of UK towns: 94%
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 Fleetwood · Lancashire’s towns 82% · England’s towns 73%.
Religion · all residents
Across England’s towns, 37% of residents said they have no religion; in Fleetwood, 40%. Residents who describe themselves as White British make up 73% across England’s towns. 53% of residents describe themselves as Christian.
12% of residents give unpaid care, a share 94% of UK towns don’t reach
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
38% of adults have never married or formed a civil partnership, against 39% across England’s towns. On average, nearly one in ten residents give unpaid care across England’s towns. For 1,068 residents, unpaid care runs to 50 hours or more a week.
20% of adults hold a degree-level qualification
Highest qualification, residents 16 and over, Census 2021.
Highest qualification · residents 16 and over
Degree-level qualifications are held by 20% of adults in Fleetwood (England’s towns: 34%), and no qualification by 26% (England’s towns: 18%).
From a median age of 40 in Fleetwood South East to 50 in Fleetwood Rossall & Chatsworth
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.
Fleetwood Rossall & Chatsworth is the oldest area, with 30% aged 65 or over; Fleetwood South East the youngest (median age 40). Families with children are most common in Fleetwood South East (33% of households).
Of 260 UK towns its size (18,000 to 35,000 people), the 86th oldest
Median age, Census 2021. Hover a dot for its students and residents born abroad; click for its page.
The youngest is Egham (31.1) and the oldest Rustington (56.2). Nearest to Fleetwood in age: Berkhamsted (44.3), Bishop Auckland (44.4), East Grinstead (44.4) and Bideford (44.4).
The towns around Fleetwood are all older
Nearby built-up areas coloured by median age, Census 2021. Tap a town for its page.
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.
- “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 Fleetwood’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. Fleetwood’s trend uses the small areas (2021 LSOAs) with most of their people inside it: 26,224 people in 2021, against 26,224 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 Fleetwood’s residents
What is the population of Fleetwood?
The 2021 Census counted 26,224 people in Fleetwood’s built-up area. The ONS estimates the same small areas held 26,900 people in mid-2024, 4% more than in 2011.
What is the average age in Fleetwood?
The median age was 44.4 at the 2021 Census, younger than 51% of UK towns. 11% of residents were 15 to 24 and 23% were 65 or over.
How diverse is Fleetwood?
94% of residents described themselves as White British in 2021, against 73% across England’s towns and 82% across Lancashire’s towns. 4.8% were born outside the UK.
What religion are people in Fleetwood?
40% said they had no religion and 53% that they were Christian at the 2021 Census; 0.7% were Muslim and 5.2% didn’t answer.
Is Fleetwood good for families?
26% of households had dependent children in 2021, against 29% across England’s towns. Families are most common in Fleetwood South East (33% of households). Schools are on Fleetwood’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.