Photo: Jonathan Thacker · CC BY-SA 2.0Residents with no religion: 27%, a lower share than 96% of UK towns
21% of households live in a detached house across England’s towns, against 17% in Prescot. Few places have so few shared households of unrelated adults: 1.9% here, fewer than in 74% of UK towns. Census day 2021: 39,227 residents and 17,117 households in the town. Across Prescot, one in ten residents are aged 15 to 24.
What the Census says about Prescot’s people
Many carers
4,289 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.
Prescot grew +10% from 2011 to 2024, ahead of 59% of UK towns
ONS mid-year estimates, each year indexed to mid-2011 = 100. Prescot’s figure is the small areas (2021 LSOAs) that make up the town.
People, mid-2011 = 100
Change by age, 2011 to 2024
About 37,300 people in 2011; 40,900 in 2024.
The 30 to 44 age group moved most (+20%); the 16 to 29 group moved least (+3%). In one year, mid-2023 to mid-2024, the population rose by 790, the most of any year.
In Prescot, 21% of residents are 65 or over, fewer than in 57% of UK towns
Share of residents in each five-year age band, Census 2021.
With a median age of 43.9, Prescot is younger than 55% of UK towns. For comparison, 18% of residents are 65 or over across England’s towns. In Billinge, the oldest of Merseyside’s towns by this measure, it is 34%.
Median age of UK towns of 2,500+
■ Prescot, 43.9. The typical town is 44.4.
Broad ages · share of residents
Women and men · all residents
51% women, 49% men
About 95 men for every 100 women. Across England, 51% of residents are women.
A student town: 5.4% of adults study full-time
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 Prescot, 31% of adults work in managerial and professional jobs and 26% in routine and semi-routine work, against 33% and 24% across England’s towns. Locally, 7.8% of residents lived at another address a year earlier. Full-time students make up 7.9% across England’s towns.
The Census was taken on 21 March 2021, in term time, so students were counted at their term addresses.
Prescot sits above 66% of UK towns for one-person households (32%)
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.
In Prescot the average household is 2.3 people, beside 2.4 across England’s towns. For Prescot, the census puts households with dependent children at 27%. One-person households: 30% across England’s towns, for comparison.
Prescot ranks above 85% of UK towns on households without a car or van: 24%
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 terraced houses is 25% in Prescot and 24% across England’s towns. About one household in 4 lives without a car or van. Few places have as many households in flats: 11% here, more than in 53% of UK towns.
Fewer residents born outside the UK than 61% of UK towns: 5.3%
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
Where 21% of those born abroad across England’s towns arrived in 2017 or later, here the share is 30%. To put it in context, 18% of residents were born outside the UK across England’s towns. Locally, 97% of residents have English as their main language.
Above 99% of UK towns: 66% of residents describe themselves as Christian
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 Prescot · Merseyside’s towns 87% · England’s towns 73%.
Religion · all residents
In Prescot, 93% of residents describe themselves as White British, beside 73% across England’s towns. Residents who describe themselves as Christian make up 46% across England’s towns. The largest groups after White British are Other White (2%), Indian (1.4%) and Mixed or multiple (1.4%).
Prescot: 12% of residents give unpaid care, above 94% 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
Prescot sits close to the norm on married adults and civil partners: 44%, about the same as across England’s towns. Unpaid carers: 8.7% across England’s towns, for comparison. The share of adults who have never married stands at 38%.
29% of adults have qualifications at degree level
Highest qualification, residents 16 and over, Census 2021.
Highest qualification · residents 16 and over
Degree-level qualifications are held by 29% of Prescot’s adults, against 34% across England’s towns; 21% have no qualification (18%).
From a median age of 38 in Prescot to 52 in Rainhill South
The town’s 7 neighbourhoods (ONS middle-layer areas with 500+ residents inside it, named by the House of Commons Library), youngest first. Census 2021.
Rainhill South is the oldest area, with 30% aged 65 or over; Prescot the youngest (median age 38). Families with children are most common in Whiston South (32% of households).
43rd highest median age among 193 UK towns of 27,000 to 53,000
Median age, Census 2021. Hover a dot for its students and residents born abroad; click for its page.
The youngest is Hatfield (30.3) and the oldest Rustington (56.2). Nearest to Prescot in age: Horsham (43.8), Salisbury (43.8), Cleethorpes (44) and Melton Mowbray (44.1).
Among its 7 nearest neighbours, 2 are older than Prescot
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 Prescot’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. Prescot’s trend uses the small areas (2021 LSOAs) with most of their people inside it: 38,895 people in 2021, against 39,227 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 Prescot’s residents
What is the population of Prescot?
The 2021 Census counted 39,227 people in Prescot’s built-up area. The ONS estimates the same small areas held 40,900 people in mid-2024, 10% more than in 2011.
What is the average age in Prescot?
The median age was 43.9 at the 2021 Census, younger than 55% of UK towns. 10% of residents were 15 to 24 and 21% were 65 or over.
How diverse is Prescot?
93% of residents described themselves as White British in 2021, against 73% across England’s towns and 87% across Merseyside’s towns. 5.3% were born outside the UK.
What religion are people in Prescot?
27% said they had no religion and 66% that they were Christian at the 2021 Census; 0.6% were Muslim and 5% didn’t answer.
Is Prescot good for families?
27% of households had dependent children in 2021, against 29% across England’s towns. Families are most common in Whiston South (32% of households). Schools are on Prescot’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.