Photo: Original uploader was Pommes104 at en.wikipedia (Original text : Bernd Jatzwauk Pommes104 ) · CC BY-SA 3.0Fewer households with dependent children than 99% of UK towns: 12%
Here 4.3% of residents give unpaid care, where the figure across England’s towns is 8.7%. 19% of households are unrelated adults sharing a home. With a median age of 37.7, Colney is younger than 90% of UK towns. The village’s 78 households held 215 residents at the 2021 Census.
Residents aged 65 and over make up 27% in Colney, more than in 82% of UK towns
Share of residents in each five-year age band, Census 2021.
No age band is larger than 25–29: 15% of residents, 2.3 times the share across England’s towns. On average, 18% of residents are 65 or over across England’s towns.
Broad ages · share of residents
Women and men · all residents
53% women, 47% men
About 89 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.
30% of residents moved in within a year, more than in 99% 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%.
Compared with 7.9% across England’s towns, 5.1% of adults are full-time students here. Across England’s towns, just over one in ten residents lived at another address a year earlier.
The Census was taken on 21 March 2021, in term time, so students were counted at their term addresses.
Bigger households than 69% of UK towns: 2.4 people each on average
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.
In Colney, 32% of households are one person living alone, beside 30% across England’s towns.
More car-free households than 90% of UK towns: 27% in Colney
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 in terraced houses make up 18%, against 24% across England’s towns. One household in 4 has no car or van. On households in flats, Colney sits higher than 84% of UK towns: 21%.
Colney sits above 99% of UK towns for residents born outside the UK (42%)
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 50%
Main language · residents aged 3 and over
The two biggest birthplaces abroad are in the Middle East and Asia (24%) and in Africa (8.7%). Colney has fewer residents whose main language is English than 98% of UK towns, at 81%. Across England’s towns, residents born outside the UK come to 18%.
55% of residents describe themselves as White British, below 97% 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: 55% of Colney · Norfolk’s towns 88% · England’s towns 73%.
Religion · all residents
The largest groups after White British are Indian (20%), Other White (5.1%) and Pakistani (3.7%). Residents who describe themselves as White British: 73% across England’s towns, for comparison. On residents with no religion, Colney sits lower than 94% of UK towns: 30%. What’s more, the figure for residents who describe themselves as Christian is 43% in Colney and 46% across England’s towns.
Above 90% of UK towns: 40% of adults have never married or formed 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
43% of adults are married or in a civil partnership, against 44% across England’s towns. Set beside that, 39% of adults have never married or formed a civil partnership across England’s towns.
58% of adults have a degree-level qualification
Highest qualification, residents 16 and over, Census 2021.
Highest qualification · residents 16 and over
Degree-level qualifications are held by 58% of Colney’s adults, against 34% across England’s towns; 11% have no qualification (18%).
Nearby, 6 of 7 towns have older populations than Colney
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Colney | 215 | — | 37.7 | 27% | 12% |
| Cringleford | 4,686 | 1.2 mi | 40.4 | 20% | 36% |
| Little Melton | 1,049 | 1.4 mi | 48.9 | 25% | 27% |
| Hethersett | 7,018 | 2.2 mi | 42.5 | 24% | 29% |
| Costessey | 2,608 | 2.7 mi | 49.4 | 27% | 25% |
| Norwich | 200,744 | 3.1 mi | 37.9 | 18% | 23% |
| Easton | 1,436 | 3.4 mi | 45.9 | 22% | 28% |
| Queen's Hills | 4,465 | 3.5 mi | 30.8 | 2.8% | 44% |
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.
- “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 Colney’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 Colney’s residents
What is the population of Colney?
The 2021 Census counted 215 people in Colney’s built-up area.
What is the average age in Colney?
The median age was 37.7 at the 2021 Census. 9.4% of residents were 15 to 24 and 27% were 65 or over.
How diverse is Colney?
55% of residents described themselves as White British in 2021, against 73% across England’s towns and 88% across Norfolk’s towns. 42% were born outside the UK.
What religion are people in Colney?
30% said they had no religion and 43% that they were Christian at the 2021 Census; 7.4% were Muslim and 7.4% didn’t answer.
Is Colney good for families?
12% of households had dependent children in 2021, against 29% across England’s towns. Schools are on Colney’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.