Photo: Adrian S Pye · CC BY-SA 2.0Hales sits below 99% of UK towns for shared households of unrelated adults (0.9%)
Households in flats: 0.5% here and 23% across England’s towns. Few places have as many residents with no religion: 53% here, more than in 97% of UK towns. The 2021 Census counted 525 residents in 225 households. Across Hales, nearly a quarter of households are one person living alone.
13% of residents are aged 15 to 24, more than in 94% of UK towns
Share of residents in each five-year age band, Census 2021.
The largest age band is 55–59: 9.1% of residents, 1.4 times the share across England’s towns. Locally, 20% of residents are 65 or over. Half of Hales’s residents are over 45.6, older than in 58% of UK towns. Across the comparison, 12% of residents are aged 15 to 24 across England’s towns.
Broad ages · share of residents
Women and men · all residents
51% women, 49% men
About 96 men for every 100 women. Across England, 51% of residents are women.
A student village: 5.3% of adults study full-time
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 11% across England’s towns, nearly one in ten residents lived at another address a year earlier here. Across England’s towns, 7.9% of adults are full-time students.
The Census was taken on 21 March 2021, in term time, so students were counted at their term addresses.
Bigger households than 71% 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 Hales, 28% of households have dependent children, beside 29% across England’s towns.
Hales sits above 92% of UK towns for households in detached houses (53%)
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
The figure for households without a car or van is 8% in Hales and 24% across England’s towns. Elsewhere, just over a fifth of households live in a detached house across England’s towns. Here, 16% of households live in a terraced house.
In Hales, 3.8% of residents were born outside the UK, fewer than in 80% of UK towns
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 (2.5%), then in the Middle East and Asia (0.6%). Few places have as many residents whose main language is English: 99% here, more than in 76% of UK towns. The share of residents born outside the UK across England’s towns is 18%.
Residents who describe themselves as White British make up 96% in Hales, more than in 88% 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: 96% of Hales · Norfolk’s towns 88% · England’s towns 73%.
Religion · all residents
Next after White British come Other White (2.9%), Chinese (0.4%) and Arab (0.2%). Hales has fewer residents who describe themselves as Christian than 89% of UK towns, at 42%. Across England’s towns, the share of residents who describe themselves as White British is 73%.
Hales sits above 83% of UK towns for married adults and civil partners (54%)
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
The number giving 50 or more hours of unpaid care a week is 7. Lower than in 70% of UK towns: 30% of adults have never married or formed a civil partnership. Measured more widely, 44% of adults are married or in a civil partnership across England’s towns. Where nearly one in ten residents give unpaid care across England’s towns, Hales has 9.7%.
23% of adults have a degree-level qualification
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 Hales, 15%, while 23% hold one at degree level (34%).
Older than Hales: 5 of the 7 towns nearby
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hales | 525 | — | 45.6 | 20% | 28% |
| Loddon | 2,247 | 1.6 mi | 44.2 | 22% | 26% |
| Chedgrave | 1,053 | 1.9 mi | 57 | 39% | 20% |
| Thurlton | 1,145 | 2.1 mi | 49.4 | 24% | 27% |
| Ditchingham | 1,997 | 4.4 mi | 51.2 | 31% | 19% |
| Freethorpe | 1,050 | 4.9 mi | 41.5 | 19% | 33% |
| Bungay | 5,012 | 5.5 mi | 49.2 | 29% | 23% |
| Beccles | 9,807 | 5.5 mi | 48.6 | 28% | 22% |
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 Hales’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 Hales’s residents
What is the population of Hales?
The 2021 Census counted 525 people in Hales’s built-up area.
What is the average age in Hales?
The median age was 45.6 at the 2021 Census. 13% of residents were 15 to 24 and 20% were 65 or over.
How diverse is Hales?
96% of residents described themselves as White British in 2021, against 73% across England’s towns and 88% across Norfolk’s towns. 3.8% were born outside the UK.
What religion are people in Hales?
53% said they had no religion and 42% that they were Christian at the 2021 Census; 0.2% were Muslim and 4.4% didn’t answer.
Is Hales good for families?
28% of households had dependent children in 2021, against 29% across England’s towns. Schools are on Hales’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.