Photo: Sandy Gerrard · CC BY-SA 2.0A median age of 52.9: Great Massingham is older than 94% of UK towns
10% of households live in a terraced house; across England’s towns the figure is 24%. In 2021, the Census found 963 residents in Great Massingham, living in 430 households. Across Great Massingham, 1.2% of households live in a flat or apartment. Few places have as many residents who describe themselves as White British: 97% here, more than in 97% of UK towns.
Great Massingham ranks above 93% of UK towns on residents aged 65 and over: 31%
Share of residents in each five-year age band, Census 2021.
The biggest five-year age group is 60–64, with 9.2% of residents, 1.6 times the share across England’s towns. Few places have so few residents aged 15 to 24: 8.9% here, fewer than in 78% of UK towns. As a reference point, 18% of residents are 65 or over across England’s towns.
Broad ages · share of residents
Women and men · all residents
48% women, 52% men
About 106 men for every 100 women. Across England, 51% of residents are women.
7.2% of residents lived at another address a year earlier, fewer than in 81% 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%.
4.4% of adults are full-time students, against 7.9% across England’s towns. Across England’s towns, residents who moved in within the year come to 11%.
Households with dependent children: 22%, a lower share than 90% 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.
2.1% of households are unrelated adults sharing a home, against 4.3% across England’s towns. For comparison, 29% of households have dependent children across England’s towns. There are 2.2 people in the average household.
Great Massingham ranks below 81% of UK towns on households without a car or van: 10%
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 21% across England’s towns, the share of households in detached houses in Great Massingham comes in at 40%. The share of households without a car or van across England’s towns is 24%.
Great Massingham ranks above 99% of UK towns on residents whose main language is English: 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
Residents born abroad were most often born in EU countries (1.1%), then in the Americas, Oceania and elsewhere (1%). Fewer residents born outside the UK than in 84% of UK towns: 3.5%. Measured more widely, nine in ten residents have English as their main language across England’s towns.
Above 87% of UK towns: 57% of residents describe themselves as Christian
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 Great Massingham · Norfolk’s towns 88% · England’s towns 73%.
Religion · all residents
Of the other groups, the largest are Other White (1.6%), Mixed or multiple (1%) and Indian (0.2%). By way of comparison, 46% of residents describe themselves as Christian across England’s towns. Residents with no religion are rarer here than in 78% of UK towns.
More unpaid carers than 94% of UK towns: 12% of residents
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
Unpaid care takes 50 hours a week or more for 42 people. Compared with other places, adults who have never married are scarce here: 27%, fewer than in 83% of UK towns. As a reference point, nearly one in ten residents give unpaid care across England’s towns. The share of married adults and civil partners is 54%, against 44% across England’s towns.
Degree-level qualifications: held by 27% of adults
Highest qualification, residents 16 and over, Census 2021.
Highest qualification · residents 16 and over
Across England’s towns, 18% of adults have no qualification; in Great Massingham, 24%, while 27% hold one at degree level (34%).
2 in 7 nearby towns have a higher median age than Great Massingham
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Great Massingham | 963 | — | 52.9 | 31% | 22% |
| Gayton | 1,522 | 5.1 mi | 47.2 | 24% | 27% |
| Narborough | 1,362 | 7.2 mi | 50.7 | 30% | 23% |
| Dersingham | 4,753 | 8.1 mi | 58.6 | 41% | 17% |
| Fakenham | 8,390 | 9 mi | 49.4 | 29% | 21% |
| Swaffham | 8,434 | 9.3 mi | 51.9 | 33% | 21% |
| Snettisham | 2,709 | 9.6 mi | 59.1 | 41% | 17% |
| Marham | 2,608 | 9.7 mi | 30.1 | 9.8% | 39% |
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 Great Massingham’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 Great Massingham’s residents
What is the population of Great Massingham?
The 2021 Census counted 963 people in Great Massingham’s built-up area.
What is the average age in Great Massingham?
The median age was 52.9 at the 2021 Census. 8.9% of residents were 15 to 24 and 31% were 65 or over.
How diverse is Great Massingham?
97% of residents described themselves as White British in 2021, against 73% across England’s towns and 88% across Norfolk’s towns. 3.5% were born outside the UK.
What religion are people in Great Massingham?
36% said they had no religion and 57% that they were Christian at the 2021 Census; 0% were Muslim and 6.4% didn’t answer.
Is Great Massingham good for families?
22% of households had dependent children in 2021, against 29% across England’s towns. Schools are on Great Massingham’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.