Photo: Mike Pennington · CC BY-SA 2.0More car-free households than 98% of UK towns: 35% in Kirkby
Residents with no religion: 28% here and 37% across England’s towns. On the census count, 49% of adults have never married or formed a civil partnership. Kirkby has more households in terraced houses than 91% of UK towns, at 36%. At the 2021 Census Kirkby was home to 45,559 people in 19,164 households.
What the Census says about Kirkby’s people
Younger than most towns
Half of Kirkby’s residents are under 37.9 and half over, against 44.4 in the typical UK town. 12% are 15 to 24 and 15% are 65 or over. Ages ↓
Many carers
4,932 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.
Faster growth than 63% of UK towns: Kirkby changed by +11% since 2011
ONS mid-year estimates, each year indexed to mid-2011 = 100. Kirkby’s figure is the small areas (2021 LSOAs) that make up the town.
People, mid-2011 = 100
Change by age, 2011 to 2024
About 44,700 people in 2011; 49,400 in 2024.
The 65 and over age group changed most (+40%) and the 16 to 29 least (−3%). Mid-2023 to mid-2024 brought the biggest yearly rise, 720 people.
Half of Kirkby is under 37.9, younger than 89% of UK towns
Share of residents in each five-year age band, Census 2021.
Little separates the share of residents aged 15 to 24 here, 12%, from the figure across England’s towns. 30–34 is the most common age band: 7.5% of residents. Residents aged 65 and over are rarer here than in 90% of UK towns.
Median age of UK towns of 2,500+
■ Kirkby, 37.9. The typical town is 44.4.
Broad ages · share of residents
Women and men · all residents
52% women, 48% men
About 91 men for every 100 women. Across England, 51% of residents are women.
More students than 84% of UK towns: 5.9% of adults in Kirkby
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%.
The figure for residents who moved in within the year is 7.4% in Kirkby and 11% across England’s towns. Typically, 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.
Households with dependent children make up 32% in Kirkby, more than in 86% of UK towns
Household make-up at the 2021 Census. Each square is 1% of households.
Against Merseyside’s towns and England’s towns
People per household
England’s towns.
4.3% of households are unrelated adults sharing a home across England’s towns, against 2.7% in Kirkby. As a yardstick, 29% of households have dependent children across England’s towns. There are 2.4 people in the average household. Higher than in 55% of UK towns: 30% of households are one person living alone.
Households in detached houses make up 14% in Kirkby, less than in 86% of UK towns
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 figure for households in flats is 8.3% in Kirkby and 23% across England’s towns. For households in detached houses, the comparison across England’s towns is 21%.
Fewer residents born abroad than 65% of UK towns: 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%
When those born abroad arrived
Main language · residents aged 3 and over
The two biggest birthplaces abroad are in EU countries (2.6%) and in the Americas, Oceania and elsewhere (0.8%). Compared with other places, residents whose main language is English are scarce here: 97%, fewer than in 66% of UK towns. For comparison, 18% of residents were born outside the UK across England’s towns. Among those born abroad, the share arriving in 2017 or later is 27% (England’s towns: 21%).
Residents who describe themselves as Christian make up 67% in Kirkby, more than in 99% 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: 93% of Kirkby · Merseyside’s towns 87% · England’s towns 73%.
Religion · all residents
The next-largest groups, after White British, are Other White (3.3%), Mixed or multiple (1.6%) and African (0.7%). On residents who describe themselves as White British, Kirkby sits higher than 58% of UK towns: 93%. Set beside that, 46% of residents describe themselves as Christian across England’s towns.
A smaller share of married adults and civil partners than 98% of UK towns: 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
Unpaid carers giving 50 hours or more a week: 1,893. Kirkby has more unpaid carers than 94% of UK towns, at 12%. The usual figure: 44% of adults are married or in a civil partnership across England’s towns.
A degree-level qualification for 20% of adults
Highest qualification, residents 16 and over, Census 2021.
Highest qualification · residents 16 and over
Degree-level qualifications are held by 20% of Kirkby’s adults, against 34% across England’s towns; 30% have no qualification (18%).
From a median age of 33 in Kirkby North East to 42 in Aintree East & Waddicar
The town’s 6 neighbourhoods (ONS middle-layer areas with 500+ residents inside it, named by the House of Commons Library), youngest first. Census 2021.
Aintree East & Waddicar is the oldest area, with 16% aged 65 or over; Kirkby North East the youngest (median age 33). Families with children are most common in Kirkby North East (40% of households).
159 UK towns of 32,000 to 62,000 people: this is the 25th youngest
Median age, Census 2021. Hover a dot for its students and residents born abroad; click for its page.
Ages run from 27.5 in Canterbury to 56.2 in Rustington. Nearest to Kirkby in age: Bicester (37.8), Ashton-under-Lyne (37.9), Chadderton (38) and Redhill (38).
No nearby town is as young as Kirkby
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.
- “Merseyside’s towns” and “England’s towns” mean their built-up areas. Census comparisons pool every built-up area in Merseyside (or England), summed the same way as Kirkby’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. Kirkby’s trend uses the small areas (2021 LSOAs) with most of their people inside it: 47,186 people in 2021, against 45,559 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 Kirkby’s residents
What is the population of Kirkby?
The 2021 Census counted 45,559 people in Kirkby’s built-up area. The ONS estimates the same small areas held 49,400 people in mid-2024, 11% more than in 2011.
What is the average age in Kirkby?
The median age was 37.9 at the 2021 Census, younger than 89% of UK towns. 12% of residents were 15 to 24 and 15% were 65 or over.
How diverse is Kirkby?
93% of residents described themselves as White British in 2021, against 73% across England’s towns and 87% across Merseyside’s towns. 5% were born outside the UK.
What religion are people in Kirkby?
28% said they had no religion and 67% that they were Christian at the 2021 Census; 0.5% were Muslim and 4.4% didn’t answer.
Is Kirkby good for families?
32% of households had dependent children in 2021, against 29% across England’s towns. Families are most common in Kirkby North East (40% of households). Schools are on Kirkby’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.