Photo: Bernd Jatzwauk Pommes104 · CC BY-SA 3.0A median age of 60.8: Brooke is older than 99% of UK towns
Compared with 39% across England’s towns, a fifth of adults have never married or formed a civil partnership here. Brooke counted 849 residents and 401 households at the 2021 Census. The census found that 4% of households live in a flat or apartment locally. At 61%, the share of residents who describe themselves as Christian is higher than in 96% of UK towns.
Residents aged 65 and over make up 44% in Brooke, more than in 99% of UK towns
Share of residents in each five-year age band, Census 2021.
Where 12% of residents are aged 15 to 24 across England’s towns, Brooke has 7.8%. Across England’s towns, 18% of residents are 65 or over.
Broad ages · share of residents
Women and men · all residents
53% women, 47% men
About 90 men for every 100 women. Across England, 51% of residents are women. Women live longer than men, so towns with many older residents have more women.
Brooke sits above 68% of UK towns for residents who moved in within the year (9.7%)
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 England’s towns, 33% of adults are in managerial and professional jobs and 24% in routine or semi-routine work; Brooke has 47% and 16%. Measured more widely, 11% of residents lived at another address a year earlier across England’s towns. Here, 4.8% of adults are full-time students.
In Brooke, 16% of households have dependent children, fewer than in 99% of UK towns
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.
The share of one-person households tops 88% of UK towns: 35%. Typically, 29% of households have dependent children across England’s towns. Average household size: 2.1 people. 3% of households are unrelated adults sharing a home, more than in 76% of UK towns.
Households in detached houses make up 66% in Brooke, more than in 99% of UK towns
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
Against a figure of 24% across England’s towns, the share of households in terraced houses in Brooke comes in at 10%. In Brooke, just over one in ten households have no car or van. 4% of households live in a flat, less than in 88% of UK towns; 66% in a detached house, against 21% across England’s towns.
A larger share of residents whose main language is English than 99% of UK towns: 100%
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
4.7% of residents were born outside the UK, against 10% across Norfolk’s towns and 18% across England’s towns. Among residents born abroad, the largest groups were born in EU countries (1.8%) and in Africa (1.2%). The benchmark for residents whose main language is English across England’s towns: 90%.
Fewer residents with no religion than 87% of UK towns: 33%
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 Brooke · Norfolk’s towns 88% · England’s towns 73%.
Religion · all residents
Across England’s towns, 73% of residents describe themselves as White British; in Brooke, 96%. The next-largest groups, after White British, are Other White (2%), Mixed or multiple (1.5%) and Indian (0.5%). To put it in context, 37% of residents said they have no religion across England’s towns.
Brooke: 12% of residents give unpaid care, above 98% 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
Married adults and civil partners: 55% here and 44% across England’s towns. Unpaid care takes 50 hours a week or more for 46 people. For comparison, nearly one in ten residents give unpaid care across England’s towns.
The share of adults with a degree-level qualification: 37%
Highest qualification, residents 16 and over, Census 2021.
Highest qualification · residents 16 and over
37% of Brooke’s adults have a degree-level qualification, against 34% across England’s towns; 16% have none (18%).
Every neighbour of Brooke has a younger population
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brooke | 849 | — | 60.8 | 44% | 16% |
| Poringland | 7,105 | 2.5 mi | 45.6 | 24% | 27% |
| Stoke Holy Cross | 1,237 | 3.5 mi | 42.8 | 18% | 33% |
| Loddon | 2,247 | 4.3 mi | 44.2 | 22% | 26% |
| Chedgrave | 1,053 | 4.5 mi | 57 | 39% | 20% |
| Newton Flotman | 1,418 | 4.9 mi | 47.2 | 25% | 27% |
| Ditchingham | 1,997 | 5.8 mi | 51.2 | 31% | 19% |
| Mulbarton | 3,807 | 5.9 mi | 42.7 | 21% | 30% |
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 Brooke’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 Brooke’s residents
What is the population of Brooke?
The 2021 Census counted 849 people in Brooke’s built-up area.
What is the average age in Brooke?
The median age was 60.8 at the 2021 Census. 7.8% of residents were 15 to 24 and 44% were 65 or over.
How diverse is Brooke?
96% 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 Brooke?
33% said they had no religion and 61% that they were Christian at the 2021 Census; 0% were Muslim and 4.4% didn’t answer.
Is Brooke good for families?
16% of households had dependent children in 2021, against 29% across England’s towns. Schools are on Brooke’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.