Photo: Jaggery · CC BY-SA 2.0Pencoed ranks above 97% of UK towns on residents with no religion: 52%
Households in terraced houses make up 11%, against 29% across Wales’s towns. On households in flats, Pencoed sits lower than 72% of UK towns: 7%. 9,119 residents in 3,901 households: that is Pencoed at the 2021 Census. In Pencoed, 27% of households are one person living alone.
What the Census says about Pencoed’s people
Fewer people than in 2011
ONS mid-year estimates put Pencoed at 10,100 in 2011 and 10,000 in 2024, down 1%, against 4% for Wales: slower growth than in 90% 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.
Pencoed changed by −1% from 2011 to 2024, slower than 90% of UK towns
ONS mid-year estimates, each year indexed to mid-2011 = 100. Pencoed’s figure is the small areas (2021 LSOAs) that make up the town.
People, mid-2011 = 100
Change by age, 2011 to 2024
About 10,100 people in 2011; 10,000 in 2024.
The 65 and over age group moved most (+31%); the 30 to 44 group moved least (−16%).
Pencoed: 10% of residents are aged 15 to 24, above 69% of UK towns
Share of residents in each five-year age band, Census 2021.
The median age in Pencoed is 45.5, higher than in 58% of UK towns. The wider picture: 12% of residents are aged 15 to 24 across Wales’s towns. Locally, nearly a quarter of residents are 65 or over. In Porthcawl, the oldest of Mid Glamorgan’s towns by this measure, it is 33%.
Median age of UK towns of 2,500+
■ Pencoed, 45.5. The typical town is 44.4.
Broad ages · share of residents
Women and men · all residents
51% women, 49% men
About 96 men for every 100 women. Across Wales, 51% of residents are women.
A higher share of full-time students than 84% of UK towns, at 5.9%
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 33% of adults here, routine and semi-routine work 27% (Wales’s towns: 29% and 27%). Against that, 8% of adults are full-time students across Wales’s towns. Census figures put residents who moved in within the year at 7.1% in Pencoed.
The Census was taken on 21 March 2021, in term time, so students were counted at their term addresses.
2.3 people per household, more than in 61% of UK towns
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.
By its share of shared households of unrelated adults (1.9%), Pencoed is below 73% of UK towns. For Pencoed, the census puts households with dependent children at 28%.
Pencoed ranks below 64% of UK towns on households without a car or van: 13%
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
27% of households live in a detached house, against 24% across Wales’s towns. Households without a car or van: 21% across Wales’s towns, for comparison.
3.4% of residents were born outside the UK, below 86% 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
Residents born abroad were most often born in EU countries (1.6%), then in the Middle East and Asia (0.8%). For comparison, 7.4% of residents were born outside the UK across Wales’s towns. Higher than in 87% of UK towns: 99% of residents have English as their main language. Among those born abroad, the share arriving in 2017 or later is 13% (Wales’s towns: 23%).
9.7% of residents speak Welsh in Pencoed
Welsh language skills, residents aged 3 and over, Census 2021.
Welsh language skills · residents aged 3 and over
Against 16% across Welsh towns, 9.7% of residents aged 3 and over can speak Welsh here (863 people): fewer than in 73% of Welsh towns. In Mid Glamorgan, Pontyclun has the highest share (20%).
Above 89% of UK towns: 96% of residents describe themselves as White British
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: 96% of Pencoed · Mid Glamorgan’s towns 95% · Wales’s towns 90%.
Religion · all residents
Where 43% of residents describe themselves as Christian across Wales’s towns, Pencoed has 41%. The next-largest groups, after White British, are Other White (1.5%), Mixed or multiple (0.8%) and Chinese (0.4%). As a yardstick, 90% of residents describe themselves as White British across Wales’s towns.
Pencoed: 50% of adults are married or in a civil partnership, above 62% 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
325 people care, unpaid, for 50 hours or more a week. The share of married adults and civil partners across Wales’s towns is 43%. Unpaid carers are more common here than in 84% of UK towns. Across Wales’s towns, the share of adults who have never married is 38%; Pencoed has 31%.
A degree-level qualification for 30% of adults
Highest qualification, residents 16 and over, Census 2021.
Highest qualification · residents 16 and over
Degree-level qualifications cover 30% of adults in Pencoed, 31% across Wales’s towns; 20% have no qualification, against 20%.
199th oldest of 482 UK towns of 6,000 to 12,000 people
Median age, Census 2021. Hover a dot for its students and residents born abroad; click for its page.
Ages run from 28.4 in Tidworth to 65.3 in Barton on Sea. Nearest to Pencoed in age: Chipping Norton (45.5), Gerrards Cross (45.5), Crawcrook and Greenside (45.6) and Crigglestone and Durkar (45.6).
Pencoed is younger than 1 of its 7 nearest neighbours
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pencoed | 9,119 | — | 45.5 | 23% | 28% |
| Llanharan and Brynna | 8,106 | 2.3 mi | 38 | 15% | 36% |
| Bridgend | 51,751 | 3.2 mi | 40.2 | 17% | 29% |
| Llanharry | 3,747 | 3.5 mi | 37.7 | 15% | 37% |
| Sarn | 11,867 | 3.7 mi | 41.4 | 18% | 29% |
| Pen-y-fai | 2,301 | 3.8 mi | 48.6 | 24% | 28% |
| Llangeinor | 1,016 | 4.4 mi | 40.2 | 18% | 29% |
| Hendreforgan | 2,445 | 4.4 mi | 41.1 | 19% | 31% |
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 Pencoed’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. Pencoed’s trend uses the small areas (2021 LSOAs) with most of their people inside it: 10,013 people in 2021, against 9,119 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 Pencoed’s residents
What is the population of Pencoed?
The 2021 Census counted 9,119 people in Pencoed’s built-up area. The ONS estimates the same small areas held 10,000 people in mid-2024, 1% fewer than in 2011.
What is the average age in Pencoed?
The median age was 45.5 at the 2021 Census, older than 58% of UK towns. 10% of residents were 15 to 24 and 23% were 65 or over.
How diverse is Pencoed?
96% of residents described themselves as White British in 2021, against 90% across Wales’s towns and 95% across Mid Glamorgan’s towns. 3.4% were born outside the UK.
What religion are people in Pencoed?
52% said they had no religion and 41% that they were Christian at the 2021 Census; 0.5% were Muslim and 5.6% didn’t answer.
Is Pencoed good for families?
28% of households had dependent children in 2021, against 27% across Wales’s towns. Schools are on Pencoed’s schools page.
How many people speak Welsh in Pencoed?
863 residents aged 3 and over, 9.7%, 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.