Photo: habiloid · CC BY-SA 2.0Older than 99% of UK towns: half of Heacham is over 60.1
In Heacham, 13% of households have dependent children, beside 29% across England’s towns. One-person households: 37% of the total. 97% of residents describe themselves as White British, a higher share than in 93% of UK towns. The 2021 Census counted 3,978 residents in 1,982 households.
What the Census says about Heacham’s people
Older than most towns
Half of Heacham’s residents are under 60.1 and half over, against 44.4 in the typical UK town. 43% are 65 or over, against 18% across England’s towns. Ages ↓
Written from the data on this page: ONS Census 2021 (output areas summed to the 2022 built-up area).
More residents aged 65 and over than 99% of UK towns: 43%
Share of residents in each five-year age band, Census 2021.
70–74 is the most common age band: 12% of residents, 2.4 times the share across England’s towns. For comparison, 18% of residents are 65 or over across England’s towns. Census figures put residents aged 15 to 24 at 6.7% in Heacham.
Median age of UK towns of 2,500+
■ Heacham, 60.1. The typical town is 44.4.
Broad ages · share of residents
Women and men · all residents
53% women, 47% men
About 88 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.
2.3% of adults are full-time students, fewer 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%.
By class, 27% of adults are in managerial and professional jobs and 29% in routine and semi-routine work (England’s towns: 33% and 24%). The usual figure: 7.9% of adults are full-time students across England’s towns. Locally, 8.6% of residents lived at another address a year earlier.
Households here average 2 people, below 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.
Where 4.3% of households are unrelated adults sharing a home across England’s towns, Heacham has 2.2%.
Heacham: 47% of households live in a detached house, above 87% 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
14% of households live in a terraced house, against 24% across England’s towns. At the same time, every 5th household or so has no car or van. As a yardstick, just over a fifth of households live in a detached house across England’s towns. The share of households in flats stands at 7.1%.
Heacham sits above 95% of UK towns for 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%
When those born abroad arrived
Main language · residents aged 3 and over
Residents born abroad were most often born in EU countries (1.6%), then in the Americas, Oceania and elsewhere (0.8%). The usual figure: 90% of residents have English as their main language across England’s towns. Compared with other places, residents born outside the UK are scarce here: 3.8%, fewer than in just over four fifths of UK towns. Of residents born abroad, 9.2% arrived in 2017 or later, against 21% across England’s towns.
Residents who describe themselves as Christian: 59%, a higher share than 91% 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: 97% of Heacham · Norfolk’s towns 88% · England’s towns 73%.
Religion · all residents
The share of residents with no religion trails 86% of UK towns: 34%. The next-largest groups, after White British, are Other White (2.1%), African (0.3%) and Mixed or multiple (0.3%). Across England’s towns, 46% of residents describe themselves as Christian.
Adults who have never married make up 22% in Heacham, less than in 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
The number giving 50 or more hours of unpaid care a week is 149. Adults who have never married make up 39% across England’s towns. Few places have as many married adults and civil partners: 51% here, more than in 69% of UK towns. Add to that, with unpaid carers at 10%, Heacham is ahead of 78% of UK towns on that count.
Degree-level qualifications: held by 21% of adults
Highest qualification, residents 16 and over, Census 2021.
Highest qualification · residents 16 and over
At degree level, Heacham counts 21% of its adults, against 34% across England’s towns; at the other end, 27% have no qualification (18%).
Ranked by age, 9th oldest of 530 UK towns this size
Median age, Census 2021. Hover a dot for its students and residents born abroad; click for its page.
The youngest is Bailrigg (18.9) and the oldest Milford on Sea (64.6). Nearest to Heacham in age: Woodhall Spa (59.8), Lyme Regis (59.9), Church Stretton (61.1) and Hunstanton (61.3).
A younger town than 1 of the 6 around it: Heacham
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Heacham | 3,978 | — | 60.1 | 43% | 13% |
| Hunstanton | 4,230 | 2 mi | 61.3 | 44% | 12% |
| Snettisham | 2,709 | 2.2 mi | 59.1 | 41% | 17% |
| Dersingham | 4,753 | 4.2 mi | 58.6 | 41% | 17% |
| King's Lynn | 47,604 | 10.6 mi | 39.3 | 18% | 30% |
| Gayton | 1,522 | 11.6 mi | 47.2 | 24% | 27% |
| Clenchwarton | 2,020 | 11.9 mi | 53.5 | 32% | 22% |
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 Heacham’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 Heacham’s residents
What is the population of Heacham?
The 2021 Census counted 3,978 people in Heacham’s built-up area.
What is the average age in Heacham?
The median age was 60.1 at the 2021 Census, older than 99% of UK towns. 6.7% of residents were 15 to 24 and 43% were 65 or over.
How diverse is Heacham?
97% 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 Heacham?
34% said they had no religion and 59% that they were Christian at the 2021 Census; 0% were Muslim and 6.6% didn’t answer.
Is Heacham good for families?
13% of households had dependent children in 2021, against 29% across England’s towns. Schools are on Heacham’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.