Photo: Chris Heaton · CC BY-SA 2.0Wheelton is older than 92% of UK towns: a median age of 52.1
9.3% of households have no car or van (England’s towns: 24%). Wheelton’s 473 households held 983 residents at the 2021 Census. Households in terraced houses: 47% of the total. On residents who describe themselves as White British, Wheelton sits higher than 98% of UK towns: 97%.
Wheelton sits below 92% of UK towns for residents aged 15 to 24 (8%)
Share of residents in each five-year age band, Census 2021.
The biggest five-year age group is 60–64, with 10% of residents, 1.8 times the share across England’s towns. 29% of residents are 65 or over. By way of comparison, 12% of residents are aged 15 to 24 across England’s towns.
Broad ages · share of residents
Women and men · all residents
53% women, 47% men
About 89 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.
In Wheelton, 9.7% of residents lived at another address a year earlier, more than in 69% 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%.
Across England’s towns, 33% of adults are in managerial and professional jobs and 24% in routine work; in Wheelton, 49% and 15%. Against that, 11% of residents lived at another address a year earlier across England’s towns. 4.8% of adults are full-time students.
Households with dependent children: 22%, a lower share than 89% 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.
2.1% of households are unrelated adults sharing a home, against 4.3% across England’s towns. Locally, 33% of households are one person living alone. Across England’s towns, households with dependent children come to 29%.
Wheelton sits below 98% of UK towns for households in flats (1.5%)
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
The share of households in detached houses is 27%, against 21% across England’s towns. Across the comparison, nearly a quarter of households live in a flat or apartment across England’s towns.
Residents born outside the UK: 1.9%, a lower share than 99% 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%
Main language · residents aged 3 and over
Across England’s towns, the share of residents whose main language is English is 90%; Wheelton has 100%. Elsewhere, 18% of residents were born outside the UK across England’s towns. Residents born abroad were most often born in EU countries (0.9%), then in the Middle East and Asia (0.4%).
Residents who describe themselves as Christian: 60%, a higher share than 94% 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: 97% of Wheelton · Lancashire’s towns 82% · England’s towns 73%.
Religion · all residents
Residents with no religion: 35% here and 37% across England’s towns. Across England’s towns, the share of residents who describe themselves as Christian is 46%.
More unpaid carers than 97% of UK towns: 12%
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
29% of adults have never married or formed a civil partnership; across England’s towns the figure is 39%. Still, on married adults and civil partners, Wheelton sits higher than 76% of UK towns: 52%. The comparison figure for unpaid carers is 8.7% across England’s towns. Unpaid care takes 50 hours a week or more for 22 people.
Degree-level qualifications: held by 47% of adults
Highest qualification, residents 16 and over, Census 2021.
Highest qualification · residents 16 and over
Degree-level qualifications are held by 47% of Wheelton’s adults, against 34% across England’s towns; 11% have no qualification (18%).
Wheelton sits below 1 of its 7 closest neighbours on median age
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wheelton | 983 | — | 52.1 | 29% | 22% |
| Whittle-le-Woods | 4,388 | 1.2 mi | 45.1 | 17% | 31% |
| Brinscall | 1,332 | 1.7 mi | 49.3 | 26% | 25% |
| Chorley | 39,539 | 2.5 mi | 42.2 | 20% | 28% |
| Euxton | 17,519 | 2.6 mi | 37.9 | 15% | 35% |
| Gregson Lane | 2,073 | 3.4 mi | 52.6 | 29% | 24% |
| Bamber Bridge | 40,359 | 3.7 mi | 43.5 | 20% | 27% |
| Leyland | 39,281 | 3.9 mi | 42.7 | 20% | 27% |
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 Wheelton’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 Wheelton’s residents
What is the population of Wheelton?
The 2021 Census counted 983 people in Wheelton’s built-up area.
What is the average age in Wheelton?
The median age was 52.1 at the 2021 Census. 8% of residents were 15 to 24 and 29% were 65 or over.
How diverse is Wheelton?
97% of residents described themselves as White British in 2021, against 73% across England’s towns and 82% across Lancashire’s towns. 1.9% were born outside the UK.
What religion are people in Wheelton?
35% said they had no religion and 60% that they were Christian at the 2021 Census; 0.2% were Muslim and 4.3% didn’t answer.
Is Wheelton good for families?
22% of households had dependent children in 2021, against 29% across England’s towns. Schools are on Wheelton’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.