Photo: Jaggery · CC BY-SA 2.0Bridgend sits above 95% of UK towns for residents with no religion (51%)
With a median age of 40.2, Bridgend is younger than 79% of UK towns. Here, 45% of adults are married or in a civil partnership. There were 21,518 households in the town at the 2021 Census, home to 51,751 residents. Households with dependent children make up 29%, against 27% across Wales’s towns.
Faster growth than 75% of UK towns: Bridgend changed by +15% since 2011
ONS mid-year estimates, each year indexed to mid-2011 = 100. Bridgend’s figure is the small areas (2021 LSOAs) that make up the town.
People, mid-2011 = 100
Change by age, 2011 to 2024
About 45,700 people in 2011; 52,400 in 2024.
In one year, mid-2019 to mid-2020, the population rose by 820, the most of any year. The 65 and over age group moved most (+30%); the 16 to 29 group moved least (−2%).
Below 81% of UK towns: 17% of residents are 65 or over
Share of residents in each five-year age band, Census 2021.
The share of residents aged 15 to 24 tops 65% of UK towns: 10%. 30–34 is the most common age band: 8% of residents.
Median age of UK towns of 2,500+
■ Bridgend, 40.2. The typical town is 44.4.
Broad ages · share of residents
Women and men · all residents
49% women, 51% men
About an even split. Across Wales, 51% of residents are women.
Full-time students: 5.4%, a higher share than 71% 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%.
Managerial and professional jobs take in 34% of adults here, routine and semi-routine work 26% (Wales’s towns: 29% and 27%). The benchmark for full-time students across Wales’s towns: 8%. Locally, nearly one in ten residents lived at another address a year earlier.
The Census was taken on 21 March 2021, in term time, so students were counted at their term addresses.
Bigger households than 58% of UK towns: 2.3 people each on average
Household make-up at the 2021 Census. Each square is 1% of households.
Against Mid Glamorgan’s towns and Wales’s towns
People per household
Wales’s towns.
Against a figure of 32% across Wales’s towns, the share of one-person households in Bridgend comes in at 29%. Shared households of unrelated adults account for 2.2%.
Bridgend sits below 60% of UK towns for households in terraced houses (17%)
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
16% of households have no car or van, against 21% across Wales’s towns. Households in terraced houses make up 29% across Wales’s towns. Locally, one in ten households live in a flat or apartment.
Residents whose main language is English make up 97% in Bridgend, less than in 65% 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 10%
When those born abroad arrived
Main language · residents aged 3 and over
The two biggest birthplaces abroad are in EU countries (3.5%) and in the Middle East and Asia (2%). Typically, 96% of residents have English as their main language across Wales’s towns. Among those born abroad, the share arriving in 2017 or later is 16% (Wales’s towns: 23%).
In Bridgend, Welsh is a language for 9.3% of residents
Welsh language skills, residents aged 3 and over, Census 2021.
Welsh language skills · residents aged 3 and over
Asked in 2021, 4,657 residents aged 3 and over, 9.3%, said they can speak Welsh; across Welsh towns, 16%: fewer than in 75% of Welsh towns. Pontyclun leads Mid Glamorgan with 20%.
A lower share of residents who describe themselves as Christian than 91% of UK towns, at 41%
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: 91% of Bridgend · Mid Glamorgan’s towns 95% · Wales’s towns 90%.
Religion · all residents
The largest groups after White British are Other White (3.5%), Mixed or multiple (1.7%) and Indian (0.7%). As a reference point, 43% of residents describe themselves as Christian across Wales’s towns. Set against 90% across Wales’s towns, 91% of residents describe themselves as White British in Bridgend.
37% of adults have never married or formed a civil partnership, a share 74% of UK towns don’t reach
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 number giving 50 or more hours of unpaid care a week is 1,671. More unpaid carers than in 67% of UK towns: 10%. As a reference point, 38% of adults have never married or formed a civil partnership across Wales’s towns.
34% of adults are qualified to degree level
Highest qualification, residents 16 and over, Census 2021.
Highest qualification · residents 16 and over
In Bridgend, 34% of adults hold a degree-level qualification, against 31% across Wales’s towns, while 17% have no qualification at all (20%).
From a median age of 35 in Pen-dre, Litchard & Coity to 44 in Pen-y-fai, Laleston & Merthyr Mawr
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.
Pen-y-fai, Laleston & Merthyr Mawr is the oldest area, with 23% aged 65 or over; Pen-dre, Litchard & Coity the youngest (median age 35). Families with children are most common in Broadlands (34% of households).
Ranked by age, 54th youngest of 132 UK towns this size
Median age, Census 2021. Hover a dot for its students and residents born abroad; click for its page.
At the ends of the range sit Canterbury (27.5), the youngest, and Lytham St Anne's (54.4), the oldest. Nearest to Bridgend in age: Royal Tunbridge Wells (40.1), Bishop's Stortford (40.2), Merthyr Tydfil (40.3) and Cheshunt (40.4).
Among its 7 nearest neighbours, 5 are older than Bridgend
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bridgend | 51,751 | — | 40.2 | 17% | 29% |
| Pen-y-fai | 2,301 | 1.4 mi | 48.6 | 24% | 28% |
| Sarn | 11,867 | 2.4 mi | 41.4 | 18% | 29% |
| Pencoed | 9,119 | 3.2 mi | 45.5 | 23% | 28% |
| Cefn Cribwr | 1,379 | 3.5 mi | 46.9 | 23% | 27% |
| Ogmore-by-Sea | 1,356 | 4.1 mi | 50.4 | 26% | 24% |
| Bettws | 2,237 | 4.3 mi | 37.4 | 16% | 32% |
| Llangeinor | 1,016 | 4.4 mi | 40.2 | 18% | 29% |
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.
- “Mid Glamorgan’s towns” and “Wales’s towns” mean their built-up areas. Census comparisons pool every built-up area in Mid Glamorgan (or Wales), summed the same way as Bridgend’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. Bridgend’s trend uses the small areas (2021 LSOAs) with most of their people inside it: 51,002 people in 2021, against 51,751 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 Bridgend’s residents
What is the population of Bridgend?
The 2021 Census counted 51,751 people in Bridgend’s built-up area. The ONS estimates the same small areas held 52,400 people in mid-2024, 15% more than in 2011.
What is the average age in Bridgend?
The median age was 40.2 at the 2021 Census, younger than 79% of UK towns. 10% of residents were 15 to 24 and 17% were 65 or over.
How diverse is Bridgend?
91% of residents described themselves as White British in 2021, against 90% across Wales’s towns and 95% across Mid Glamorgan’s towns. 6.9% were born outside the UK.
What religion are people in Bridgend?
51% said they had no religion and 41% that they were Christian at the 2021 Census; 0.9% were Muslim and 5.7% didn’t answer.
Is Bridgend good for families?
29% of households had dependent children in 2021, against 27% across Wales’s towns. Families are most common in Broadlands (34% of households). Schools are on Bridgend’s schools page.
How many people speak Welsh in Bridgend?
4,657 residents aged 3 and over, 9.3%, said they can speak Welsh at the 2021 Census, against 16% across Welsh towns.
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, TS032) · 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.