Photo: Jaggery · CC BY-SA 2.084% of households live in a terraced house, more than in 99% of UK towns
Households without a car or van make up 26%, against 21% across Wales’s towns. In 2021, the Census found 4,301 residents in Ferndale, living in 1,949 households. 98% of residents describe themselves as White British. This Mid Glamorgan town has more one-person households than 83% of UK towns, at 34%.
What the Census says about Ferndale’s people
More with no religion than most
59% of residents answered “no religion” in 2021 and 32% Christian, against 47% and 43% across Wales’s towns. Ethnicity & religion ↓
Fewer people than in 2011
ONS mid-year estimates put Ferndale at 4,200 in 2011 and 4,000 in 2024, down 4%, against 4% for Wales: slower growth than in 95% of UK towns. Since 2011 ↓
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.
Ferndale’s population moved −4% on 2011, less than in 95% of UK towns
ONS mid-year estimates, each year indexed to mid-2011 = 100. Ferndale’s figure is the small areas (2021 LSOAs) that make up the town.
People, mid-2011 = 100
Change by age, 2011 to 2024
About 4,200 people in 2011; 4,000 in 2024.
The 65 and over age group changed most (+26%) and the 16 to 29 least (−13%).
24% of residents are 65 or over, more than in 63% of UK towns
Share of residents in each five-year age band, Census 2021.
The largest age band is 50–54: 7.4% of residents. Residents aged 15 to 24 are more common here than in 76% of UK towns. To put it in context, 21% of residents are 65 or over across Wales’s towns. In Porthcawl, the oldest of Mid Glamorgan’s towns by this measure, it is 33%.
Median age of UK towns of 2,500+
■ Ferndale, 45.4. 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 Wales, 51% of residents are women.
Ferndale ranks below 98% of UK towns on residents who moved in within the year: 5.8%
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%.
Across Wales’s towns, 29% of adults are in managerial and professional jobs and 27% in routine or semi-routine work; Ferndale has 23% and 33%. The share of full-time students stands at 5.6%. For comparison, nearly one in ten residents lived at another address a year earlier across Wales’s towns.
The Census was taken on 21 March 2021, in term time, so students were counted at their term addresses.
A smaller share of shared households of unrelated adults than 92% of UK towns: 1.5%
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.
Here just over a quarter of households have dependent children, where the figure across Wales’s towns is 27%. The average household has 2.2 people. Shared households of unrelated adults: 3.1% across Wales’s towns, for comparison.
A lower share of households in detached houses than 98% of UK towns, at 5.1%
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
In Ferndale, 3.6% of households live in a flat or apartment, beside 14% across Wales’s towns. Typically, nearly a quarter of households live in a detached house across Wales’s towns.
Below 99% of UK towns: 1.7% of residents were born outside the UK
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%
Main language · residents aged 3 and over
By birthplace, the largest groups from abroad were born in EU countries (0.5%) and in the Middle East and Asia (0.5%). Residents whose main language is English are more common here than in 96% of UK towns. For residents born outside the UK, the comparison across Wales’s towns is 7.4%.
11% of people in Ferndale speak Welsh
Welsh language skills, residents aged 3 and over, Census 2021.
Welsh language skills · residents aged 3 and over
Across Welsh towns, 16% of residents can speak Welsh; here 447 people, 11% of those aged 3 and over, said they can: fewer than in 64% of Welsh towns. Top of Mid Glamorgan: Pontyclun, at 20%.
59% said they have no religion, 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: 98% of Ferndale · Mid Glamorgan’s towns 95% · Wales’s towns 90%.
Religion · all residents
Nearly a third of residents describe themselves as Christian; across Wales’s towns the figure is 43%. As a yardstick, 47% of residents said they have no religion across Wales’s towns.
More unpaid carers than 91% of UK towns: 11%
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
Heavy unpaid care, 50 hours a week or more, falls to 186 residents. Compared with other places, married adults and civil partners are scarce here: 42%, fewer than in 86% of UK towns. As a reference point, one in ten residents give unpaid care across Wales’s towns. Little separates the share of adults who have never married here, 38%, from the figure across Wales’s towns.
Degree level: the highest qualification of 23% of adults
Highest qualification, residents 16 and over, Census 2021.
Highest qualification · residents 16 and over
Across Wales’s towns, 20% of adults have no qualification; in Ferndale, 26%, while 23% hold one at degree level (31%).
285th youngest of 695 UK towns of 3,000 to 6,000 people
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 Sutton on Sea and Trusthorpe (64.7). Nearest to Ferndale in age: Cuckfield (45.4), Pwllheli (45.4), Moor Park (45.5) and Pangbourne (45.5).
Ferndale is older than every town around it
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ferndale | 4,301 | — | 45.4 | 24% | 26% |
| Tylorstown and Pontygwaith | 3,551 | 1.4 mi | 39.6 | 17% | 27% |
| Maerdy | 2,843 | 1.7 mi | 41.7 | 21% | 27% |
| Rhondda | 13,271 | 1.7 mi | 42.3 | 20% | 27% |
| Wattstown | 1,105 | 2.2 mi | 38.9 | 17% | 31% |
| Treorchy | 7,645 | 2.7 mi | 44.2 | 22% | 26% |
| Tonypandy | 17,209 | 3.1 mi | 40.3 | 19% | 30% |
| Mountain Ash | 13,002 | 3.2 mi | 41.2 | 19% | 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 Ferndale’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. Ferndale’s trend uses the small areas (2021 LSOAs) with most of their people inside it: 4,019 people in 2021, against 4,301 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 Ferndale’s residents
What is the population of Ferndale?
The 2021 Census counted 4,301 people in Ferndale’s built-up area. The ONS estimates the same small areas held 4,000 people in mid-2024, 4% fewer than in 2011.
What is the average age in Ferndale?
The median age was 45.4 at the 2021 Census, older than 57% of UK towns. 11% of residents were 15 to 24 and 24% were 65 or over.
How diverse is Ferndale?
98% of residents described themselves as White British in 2021, against 90% across Wales’s towns and 95% across Mid Glamorgan’s towns. 1.7% were born outside the UK.
What religion are people in Ferndale?
59% said they had no religion and 32% that they were Christian at the 2021 Census; 0.4% were Muslim and 6.9% didn’t answer.
Is Ferndale good for families?
26% of households had dependent children in 2021, against 27% across Wales’s towns. Schools are on Ferndale’s schools page.
How many people speak Welsh in Ferndale?
447 residents aged 3 and over, 11%, 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. 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.