Photo: Jo and Steve Turner · CC BY-SA 2.0A median age of 51.6: Cherry Willingham is older than 91% of UK towns
Terraced houses are home to 3.5% of households, against 24% across England’s towns. Cherry Willingham counted 3,446 residents and 1,548 households at the 2021 Census. Census figures put households with dependent children at 22% here. Adults who have never married are rarer here than in 96% of UK towns.
What the Census says about Cherry Willingham’s people
Older than most towns
Half of Cherry Willingham’s residents are under 51.6 and half over, against 44.4 in the typical UK town. 33% are 65 or over, against 18% across England’s towns. Ages ↓
Written from the data on this page: ONS Census 2021 (output areas summed to the 2022 built-up area).
A higher share of residents aged 65 and over than 95% of UK towns, at 33%
Share of residents in each five-year age band, Census 2021.
The share of residents aged 15 to 24 trails 95% of UK towns: 7.7%. By way of comparison, 18% of residents are 65 or over across England’s towns.
Median age of UK towns of 2,500+
■ Cherry Willingham, 51.6. 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.
3.9% of adults are full-time students, below 87% 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%.
Where 11% of residents lived at another address a year earlier across England’s towns, Cherry Willingham has 8.1%. For comparison, 7.9% of adults are full-time students across England’s towns.
Households here average 2.2 people, below 78% of UK towns
Household make-up at the 2021 Census. Each square is 1% of households.
Against Lincolnshire’s towns and England’s towns
People per household
England’s towns.
Where 4.3% of households are unrelated adults sharing a home across England’s towns, Cherry Willingham has 2%. Locally, 30% of households are one person living alone.
74% of households live in a detached house, a share 99% of UK towns don’t reach
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
Against a figure of 24% across England’s towns, the share of households without a car or van in Cherry Willingham comes in at 12%. 4% of households live in a flat, less than in 88% of UK towns; 74% in a detached house, against 21% across England’s towns.
Above 71% of UK towns: 99% of residents have English as their main language
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
The newest arrivals, from 2017 or later, are 7% of those born abroad (against 21% across England’s towns). The usual figure: 90% of residents have English as their main language across England’s towns. In Cherry Willingham, 5.2% of residents were born outside the UK.
57% describe themselves as Christian, more than in 88% 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: 95% of Cherry Willingham · Lincolnshire’s towns 89% · England’s towns 73%.
Religion · all residents
After White British, the largest groups are Other White (1.8%), Mixed or multiple (1.4%) and Indian (0.6%). Higher than in 72% of UK towns: 95% of residents describe themselves as White British. The wider picture: 46% of residents describe themselves as Christian across England’s towns. With residents with no religion at 35%, Cherry Willingham is behind 80% of UK towns on that count.
A larger share of married adults and civil partners than 87% of UK towns: 55%
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 share of unpaid carers tops 80% of UK towns: 11%. Married adults and civil partners: 44% across England’s towns, for comparison. Heavy unpaid care, 50 hours a week or more, falls to 113 residents.
Adults with a degree-level qualification: 27%
Highest qualification, residents 16 and over, Census 2021.
Highest qualification · residents 16 and over
Degree-level qualifications are held by 27% of adults in Cherry Willingham (England’s towns: 34%), and no qualification by 18% (England’s towns: 18%).
Ranked by age, 114th oldest of 749 UK towns this size
Median age, Census 2021. Hover a dot for its students and residents born abroad; click for its page.
Ages run from 18.9 in Bailrigg to 64.6 in Milford on Sea. Nearest to Cherry Willingham in age: Kirkbymoorside (51.5), Newlyn (51.5), Bottesford (51.6) and Saltford (51.6).
Cherry Willingham and its 7 nearest towns: 2 of them are older
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cherry Willingham | 3,446 | — | 51.6 | 33% | 22% |
| Fiskerton | 1,202 | 1.2 mi | 52.3 | 30% | 23% |
| Washingborough and Heighington | 6,386 | 1.7 mi | 50.7 | 29% | 24% |
| Sudbrooke | 1,737 | 2 mi | 49.4 | 26% | 29% |
| Nettleham | 3,418 | 2.2 mi | 55.4 | 36% | 21% |
| Branston | 4,285 | 3.2 mi | 50 | 29% | 24% |
| Dunholme | 1,869 | 4 mi | 47 | 24% | 29% |
| Lincoln | 104,553 | 4.1 mi | 33.7 | 14% | 25% |
Health, work and homes have their own pages
What this data can and can’t tell you
- “Lincolnshire’s towns” and “England’s towns” mean their built-up areas. Census comparisons pool every built-up area in Lincolnshire (or England), summed the same way as Cherry Willingham’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 Cherry Willingham’s residents
What is the population of Cherry Willingham?
The 2021 Census counted 3,446 people in Cherry Willingham’s built-up area.
What is the average age in Cherry Willingham?
The median age was 51.6 at the 2021 Census, older than 91% of UK towns. 7.7% of residents were 15 to 24 and 33% were 65 or over.
How diverse is Cherry Willingham?
95% of residents described themselves as White British in 2021, against 73% across England’s towns and 89% across Lincolnshire’s towns. 5.2% were born outside the UK.
What religion are people in Cherry Willingham?
35% said they had no religion and 57% that they were Christian at the 2021 Census; 0.4% were Muslim and 6.1% didn’t answer.
Is Cherry Willingham good for families?
22% of households had dependent children in 2021, against 29% across England’s towns. Schools are on Cherry Willingham’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.