Photo: Geographer · CC BY-SA 2.0Older than 94% of UK towns: half of Hingham is over 53.2
The share of households in terraced houses trails 96% of UK towns: 6.3%. Compared with other places, households in detached houses are common here: 46%, more than in 86% of UK towns. The 2021 Census put Hingham’s population at 2,304, in 1,097 households. Census figures put households with dependent children at 20% locally.
What the Census says about Hingham’s people
Older than most towns
Half of Hingham’s residents are under 53.2 and half over, against 44.4 in the typical UK town. 33% 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).
33% of residents are 65 or over, more than in 95% of UK towns
Share of residents in each five-year age band, Census 2021.
Compared with 12% across England’s towns, 8.7% of residents are aged 15 to 24 here. As a yardstick, 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 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.
Full-time students: 3.6%, a lower share than 94% 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%.
Just over one in ten residents lived at another address a year earlier across England’s towns, against 7.3% in Hingham. Full-time students: 7.9% across England’s towns, for comparison.
2.1 people per household, fewer than in 95% 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.
One-person households: 33% here and 30% across England’s towns. Across Hingham, 1.7% of households are unrelated adults sharing a home.
A lower share of households without a car or van than 71% of UK towns, at 12%
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 flats: 8.2% here and 23% across England’s towns. On average, nearly a quarter of households have no car or van across England’s towns.
Hingham ranks above 73% of UK towns on 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
18% of residents were born outside the UK across England’s towns, against 4.8% in Hingham. By way of comparison, 90% of residents have English as their main language across England’s towns. The largest groups were born in EU countries (2.2%) and in the Middle East and Asia (0.8%).
96% of residents describe themselves as White British, more than in 85% 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 Hingham · Norfolk’s towns 88% · England’s towns 73%.
Religion · all residents
Asked about religion, 42% answered none, against 37% across England’s towns. Across England’s towns, 73% of residents describe themselves as White British. In Hingham, just over half of residents describe themselves as Christian.
Below 82% of UK towns: 28% 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
63 people give 50 hours or more of unpaid care a week. Typically, 39% of adults have never married or formed a civil partnership across England’s towns. Unpaid carers are more common here than in two thirds of UK towns.
Degree-level qualifications: 31% of adults
Highest qualification, residents 16 and over, Census 2021.
Highest qualification · residents 16 and over
Hingham’s adults: 31% with a degree-level qualification and 21% with none, against 34% and 18% across England’s towns.
Every nearby town is younger than Hingham
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hingham | 2,304 | — | 53.2 | 33% | 20% |
| Besthorpe | 1,007 | 4.5 mi | 46 | 24% | 29% |
| Attleborough | 11,236 | 4.7 mi | 43.2 | 23% | 26% |
| Shipdham | 2,459 | 5 mi | 48.6 | 28% | 25% |
| Griston | 1,361 | 5.6 mi | 37.5 | 12% | 30% |
| Mattishall | 2,203 | 5.7 mi | 51.9 | 31% | 19% |
| Wymondham | 16,334 | 5.9 mi | 43 | 21% | 29% |
| Watton | 11,549 | 6.3 mi | 43.1 | 24% | 25% |
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 Hingham’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 Hingham’s residents
What is the population of Hingham?
The 2021 Census counted 2,304 people in Hingham’s built-up area.
What is the average age in Hingham?
The median age was 53.2 at the 2021 Census. 8.7% of residents were 15 to 24 and 33% were 65 or over.
How diverse is Hingham?
96% of residents described themselves as White British in 2021, against 73% across England’s towns and 88% across Norfolk’s towns. 4.8% were born outside the UK.
What religion are people in Hingham?
42% said they had no religion and 51% that they were Christian at the 2021 Census; 0.1% were Muslim and 6.3% didn’t answer.
Is Hingham good for families?
20% of households had dependent children in 2021, against 29% across England’s towns. Schools are on Hingham’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.