Photo: Redvers · CC BY 3.0Below 99% of UK towns: 2.1% of households live in a terraced house
With adults who have never married at 24%, Meols is behind 96% of UK towns on that count. Higher than in 98% of UK towns: 65% of residents describe themselves as Christian. In 2021, the Census found 5,023 residents in the town, living in 2,036 households. Here, 4.3% of households live in a flat or apartment.
What the Census says about Meols’s people
Older than most towns
Half of Meols’s residents are under 51 and half over, against 44.4 in the typical UK town. 27% are 65 or over, against 18% across England’s towns. Ages ↓
Fewer people than in 2011
ONS mid-year estimates put Meols at 4,900 in 2011 and 4,800 in 2024, down 2%, against 10% for England: slower growth than in 90% of UK towns. Since 2011 ↓
Many carers
545 residents gave unpaid care to someone with an illness, disability or old age in 2021, 11% of those 5 and over: more than in 92% 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, 90% of UK towns grew faster than Meols: −2%
ONS mid-year estimates, each year indexed to mid-2011 = 100. Meols’s figure is the small areas (2021 LSOAs) that make up the town.
People, mid-2011 = 100
Change by age, 2011 to 2024
About 4,900 people in 2011; 4,800 in 2024.
Split by age, the 65 and over changed most (+24%) and the 16 to 29 least (−17%).
A median age of 51: Meols is older than 89% of UK towns
Share of residents in each five-year age band, Census 2021.
Here 27% of residents are 65 or over, where the figure across England’s towns is 18%. Residents aged 15 to 24 are rarer here than in 78% of UK towns.
Median age of UK towns of 2,500+
■ Meols, 51. The typical town is 44.4.
Broad ages · share of residents
Women and men · all residents
52% women, 48% men
About 94 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.
6% of residents lived at another address a year earlier, fewer than in 97% 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%.
In Meols, just over half of adults work in managerial and professional jobs and 13% in routine and semi-routine work, against 33% and 24% across England’s towns. On average, just over one in ten residents lived at another address a year earlier across England’s towns. Full-time students account for 5%.
The Census was taken on 21 March 2021, in term time, so students were counted at their term addresses.
A smaller share of one-person households than 91% of UK towns: 24%
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.
The share of shared households of unrelated adults is 1.7%, against 4.3% across England’s towns. Households average 2.4 people. Few places have so few households with dependent children: 27% here, fewer than in 53% of UK towns. One-person households: 30% across England’s towns, for comparison.
Meols sits below 90% of UK towns for households without a car or van (8.3%)
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
34% of households live in a detached house, against 21% across England’s towns. As a reference point, 24% of households have no car or van across England’s towns.
Residents whose main language is English make up 99% in Meols, more than in 96% 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
Born abroad and arrived since 2017: nearly a tenth of that group, against 21% across England’s towns. For Meols, the census puts residents born outside the UK at 3.6%. Against that, 90% of residents have English as their main language across England’s towns.
Meols ranks below 95% of UK towns on residents with no religion: 28%
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 Meols · Merseyside’s towns 87% · England’s towns 73%.
Religion · all residents
Beyond White British, the biggest groups are Other White (2.7%), Mixed or multiple (1.3%) and Indian (0.5%). On residents who describe themselves as White British, Meols sits higher than 72% of UK towns: 95%. The share of residents with no religion across England’s towns is 37%.
Married adults and civil partners: 60%, a higher share than 98% of UK towns
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
Where nearly one in ten residents give unpaid care across England’s towns, Meols has 11%. Heavy unpaid care, 50 hours a week or more, falls to 132 residents. For comparison, 44% of adults are married or in a civil partnership across England’s towns.
48% of adults hold a degree-level qualification
Highest qualification, residents 16 and over, Census 2021.
Highest qualification · residents 16 and over
Degree-level qualifications cover 48% of adults in Meols, 34% across England’s towns; 9.6% have no qualification, against 18%.
516 UK towns of 4,000 to 7,000 people: this is the 76th oldest
Median age, Census 2021. Hover a dot for its students and residents born abroad; click for its page.
The youngest is Bailrigg (18.9) and the oldest Barton on Sea (65.3). Nearest to Meols in age: West Hallam (50.9), Windermere (51), Brinsley and Underwood (51) and Brundall (51).
Nearby, 3 of 7 towns have older populations than Meols
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Meols | 5,023 | — | 51 | 27% | 27% |
| Hoylake | 5,311 | 0.9 mi | 50 | 27% | 22% |
| West Kirby | 13,383 | 2 mi | 50.4 | 28% | 25% |
| Greasby | 9,175 | 2.4 mi | 51.4 | 30% | 24% |
| Caldy | 1,227 | 2.9 mi | 55.4 | 34% | 24% |
| Wallasey | 85,619 | 4.3 mi | 43.2 | 20% | 27% |
| Birkenhead | 109,854 | 4.6 mi | 40.9 | 19% | 28% |
| Heswall | 29,082 | 4.9 mi | 52.2 | 31% | 23% |
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 Meols’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. Meols’s trend uses the small areas (2021 LSOAs) with most of their people inside it: 4,729 people in 2021, against 5,023 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 Meols’s residents
What is the population of Meols?
The 2021 Census counted 5,023 people in Meols’s built-up area. The ONS estimates the same small areas held 4,800 people in mid-2024, 2% fewer than in 2011.
What is the average age in Meols?
The median age was 51 at the 2021 Census, older than 89% of UK towns. 8.9% of residents were 15 to 24 and 27% were 65 or over.
How diverse is Meols?
95% of residents described themselves as White British in 2021, against 73% across England’s towns and 87% across Merseyside’s towns. 3.6% were born outside the UK.
What religion are people in Meols?
28% said they had no religion and 65% that they were Christian at the 2021 Census; 0.2% were Muslim and 5.3% didn’t answer.
Is Meols good for families?
27% of households had dependent children in 2021, against 29% across England’s towns. Schools are on Meols’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. 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.