Photo: Adrian S Pye · CC BY-SA 2.0A median age of 53.3: Beetley is older than 94% of UK towns
Flats are home to 0.7% of households, against 23% across England’s towns. 959 residents in 405 households: that is Beetley at the 2021 Census. For Beetley, the census puts households in detached houses at 75%. The village has fewer adults who have never married than 99% of UK towns, at 21%.
Beetley sits above 91% of UK towns for residents aged 65 and over (30%)
Share of residents in each five-year age band, Census 2021.
60–64 is the most common age band: nearly one in ten residents, 1.6 times the share across England’s towns. At 8.4%, the share of residents aged 15 to 24 is lower than in 88% of UK towns. The usual figure: 18% of residents are 65 or over across England’s towns.
Broad ages · share of residents
Women and men · all residents
51% women, 49% men
About an even split. Across England, 51% of residents are women.
Full-time students: 3.7%, a lower share than 92% 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%.
Residents who moved in within the year: 5.1%, below 99% of UK towns. Across England’s towns, full-time students come to 7.9%.
Fewer one-person households than 97% of UK towns: 20%
Household make-up at the 2021 Census. Each square is 1% of households.
Against Norfolk’s towns and England’s towns
People per household
England’s towns.
There is little gap on shared households of unrelated adults: 3.5%, about the same as across England’s towns. Few places have so few households with dependent children: 23% here, fewer than in 84% of UK towns. To put it in context, 30% of households are one person living alone across England’s towns. The average household has 2.4 people.
Beetley ranks below 99% of UK towns on households in terraced houses: 1.7%
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
Households without a car or van make up 7%, against 24% across England’s towns.
Beetley ranks above 97% of UK towns on residents whose main language is English: 99%
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%
Main language · residents aged 3 and over
Residents born outside the UK make up 4.7%, against 18% across England’s towns. The largest groups were born in EU countries (2.4%) and in Africa (1.2%). For residents whose main language is English, the comparison across England’s towns is 90%.
Beetley ranks above 97% of UK towns on residents who describe themselves as White British: 97%
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: 97% of Beetley · Norfolk’s towns 88% · England’s towns 73%.
Religion · all residents
Residents who describe themselves as Christian: 50%, above 54% of UK towns. Add to that, 43% of residents said they have no religion, a higher share than in 64% of UK towns. For comparison, 73% of residents describe themselves as White British across England’s towns.
Above 99% of UK towns: 61% of adults are married or in a civil partnership
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
40 people care, unpaid, for 50 hours or more a week. At 11%, the share of unpaid carers is higher than in 88% of UK towns. The comparison figure for married adults and civil partners is 44% across England’s towns.
Degree-level qualifications: 26% of adults
Highest qualification, residents 16 and over, Census 2021.
Highest qualification · residents 16 and over
19% of Beetley’s adults have no qualification (18% across England’s towns), and 26% have one at degree level (34%).
2 in 7 nearby towns have a higher median age than Beetley
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Beetley | 959 | — | 53.3 | 30% | 23% |
| North Elmham | 1,172 | 2.2 mi | 53.5 | 32% | 22% |
| Swanton Morley | 2,175 | 2.5 mi | 41.5 | 24% | 28% |
| Dereham | 20,788 | 2.8 mi | 44.7 | 24% | 27% |
| Foulsham | 1,025 | 5.7 mi | 48.5 | 23% | 23% |
| Mattishall | 2,203 | 5.8 mi | 51.9 | 31% | 19% |
| Shipdham | 2,459 | 6 mi | 48.6 | 28% | 25% |
| Necton | 1,742 | 7.8 mi | 57.3 | 38% | 19% |
Health, work and homes have their own pages
What this data can and can’t tell you
- “Norfolk’s towns” and “England’s towns” mean their built-up areas. Census comparisons pool every built-up area in Norfolk (or England), summed the same way as Beetley’s figures, so households in open countryside are left out.
- 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 Beetley’s residents
What is the population of Beetley?
The 2021 Census counted 959 people in Beetley’s built-up area.
What is the average age in Beetley?
The median age was 53.3 at the 2021 Census. 8.4% of residents were 15 to 24 and 30% were 65 or over.
How diverse is Beetley?
97% of residents described themselves as White British in 2021, against 73% across England’s towns and 88% across Norfolk’s towns. 4.7% were born outside the UK.
What religion are people in Beetley?
43% said they had no religion and 50% that they were Christian at the 2021 Census; 0.1% were Muslim and 6.2% didn’t answer.
Is Beetley good for families?
23% of households had dependent children in 2021, against 29% across England’s towns. Schools are on Beetley’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). 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.