Photo: Nigel Thompson · CC BY-SA 2.0Only 20% of households have dependent children in Forres
57% of residents said they have no religion (Scotland’s towns: 51%). The census found that just over two in five households are one person living alone in Forres. On households without a car or van, Forres sits higher than 82% of UK towns: 23%. The town had 9,290 residents in 4,664 households at the 2022 Census.
What the Census says about Forres’s people
Older than most towns
Half of Forres’s residents are under 50.5 and half over, against 44.4 in the typical UK town. 27% are 65 or over, against 19% across Scotland’s towns. Ages ↓
Written from the data on this page: Scotland’s Census 2022 (output areas summed to the 2022 locality).
Forres is older than 87% of UK towns: a median age of 50.5
Share of residents in each five-year age band, Census 2022.
Across Scotland’s towns, the share of residents aged 15 to 24 is 12%; Forres has 9%. Residents aged 65 and over account for 27%.
Median age of UK towns of 2,500+
■ Forres, 50.5. 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 Scotland, 51% of residents are women.
Fewer full-time students than 87% of UK towns: 3.9%
What adults did at the 2022 Census (the NS-SEC classes).
Adults by occupation class · residents 16 and over
30% of Forres’s adults are in managerial and professional jobs and 31% in routine and semi-routine work, against 33% and 25% across Scotland’s towns. The wider picture: 9.4% of adults are full-time students across Scotland’s towns.
Forres households average 2 people, smaller than in 99% of UK towns
Household make-up at the 2022 Census. Each square is 1% of households.
Against Moray’s towns and Scotland’s towns
People per household
Scotland’s towns.
In Forres, 1.8% of households are unrelated adults sharing a home, beside 3.5% across Scotland’s towns.
19% of households live in a flat, more than in 82% of UK towns
Accommodation type and cars or vans per household, Census 2022. Owning and renting are on Cost of living.
Type of home
Cars or vans · share of households
22% of households live in a terraced house (Scotland’s towns: 19%). Against that, nearly two in five households live in a flat or apartment across Scotland’s towns. Households in detached houses: 30% of the total.
In Forres, 7.4% of residents were born outside the UK, more than in 59% of UK towns
Country of birth, year of arrival and main language, Census 2022.
Born outside the UK, by region · share of all residents; the bar runs to 15%
When those born abroad arrived
Main language · residents aged 3 and over
16% of the town’s residents born abroad came in 2017 or later, set against 34% across Scotland’s towns. To put it in context, just over one in ten residents were born outside the UK across Scotland’s towns. Among residents born abroad, the largest groups were born in EU countries (4.6%) and in the Middle East and Asia (1.1%). Compared with other places, residents whose main language is English are scarce here: 97%, fewer than in 59% of UK towns.
Residents who describe themselves as Christian make up 35% in Forres, less than in 98% of UK towns
How residents described themselves at the 2022 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 Forres · Moray’s towns 93% · Scotland’s towns 86%.
Religion · all residents
Here 93% of residents describe themselves as White British, where the figure across Scotland’s towns is 86%. Against that, nearly two in five residents describe themselves as Christian across Scotland’s towns. The next-largest groups, after White British, are Other White (4.7%), Mixed or multiple (0.6%) and Chinese (0.4%).
Fewer married adults and civil partners than 71% of UK towns: 45%
Legal partnership status (residents 16 and over) and unpaid care (residents 3 and over), Census 2022.
Partnership status · residents 16 and over
Unpaid care given · share of residents 3 and over
31% of adults have never married or formed a civil partnership, against 40% across Scotland’s towns. For married adults and civil partners, the comparison across Scotland’s towns is 42%. The census found that 11% of residents give unpaid care in Forres.
28% of adults have a degree-level qualification
Highest qualification, residents 16 and over, Census 2022.
Highest qualification · residents 16 and over
At degree level, Forres counts 28% of its adults, against 32% across Scotland’s towns; at the other end, 18% have no qualification (17%).
Ranked by age, 44th oldest of 414 UK towns this size
Median age, Census 2022. Hover a dot for its students and residents born abroad; click for its page.
At the ends of the range sit Tidworth (28.4), the youngest, and Seaton (61), the oldest. Nearest to Forres in age: Bridgnorth (50.5), Bude (50.5), Whitby (50.6) and Glastonbury (50.6).
Forres and its 2 nearest towns: 1 of them are older
Nearby towns coloured by median age, Census 2022. Tap a town for its page.
Health, work and homes have their own pages
What this data can and can’t tell you
- “Moray’s towns” and “Scotland’s towns” mean their towns. Census comparisons pool every locality in Moray (or Scotland), summed the same way as Forres’s figures, so households in open countryside are left out.
- Small counts are blurred. National Records of Scotland adjusts small 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 Forres’s residents
What is the population of Forres?
The 2022 Census counted 9,290 people in Forres’s locality.
What is the average age in Forres?
The median age was 50.5 at the 2022 Census, older than 87% of UK towns. 9% of residents were 15 to 24 and 27% were 65 or over.
How diverse is Forres?
93% of residents described themselves as White British in 2022, against 86% across Scotland’s towns and 93% across Moray’s towns. 7.4% were born outside the UK.
What religion are people in Forres?
57% said they had no religion and 35% that they were Christian at the 2022 Census; 0.4% were Muslim and 6.6% didn’t answer.
Is Forres good for families?
20% of households had dependent children in 2022, against 24% across Scotland’s towns. Schools are on Forres’s schools page.
Sources: Scotland’s Census 2022 (National Records of Scotland), output areas summed to the NRS 2022 locality (UV101b, UV103, UV104, UV113, UV201, UV204b, UV205, UV212, UV301, UV402, UV405, UV406, UV501, UV607, UV801). 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.