Photo: Bernd Jatzwauk Pommes104 · CC BY-SA 3.0In Surlingham, 0.4% of households live in a flat or apartment, fewer than in 99% of UK towns
Just over a fifth of households live in a detached house across England’s towns, against 69% in Surlingham. Locally, a fifth of households are one person living alone. The median age locally is 48.3, higher than in 76% of UK towns. The village counted 573 residents and 226 households at the 2021 Census.
Fewer young people than 65% of UK towns: 9.3% are 15 to 24
Share of residents in each five-year age band, Census 2021.
55–59 is the most common age band: 9.7% of residents, 1.5 times the share across England’s towns. The usual figure: 12% of residents are aged 15 to 24 across England’s towns. Locally, 23% of residents are 65 or over.
Broad ages · share of residents
Women and men · all residents
47% women, 53% men
About 115 men for every 100 women. Across England, 51% of residents are women.
Surlingham sits below 86% of UK towns for residents who moved in within the year (6.9%)
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%.
Full-time students make up 4.9%, against 7.9% across England’s towns. On average, 11% of residents lived at another address a year earlier across England’s towns.
Fewer family households than 79% of UK towns: 24% in Surlingham
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.
A household here has 2.5 people on average; across England’s towns, 2.4. Shared households of unrelated adults: 2.2% of the total. Across England’s towns, 29% of households have dependent children.
Households in terraced houses: 5.3%, a lower share than 98% 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
Against a figure of 24% across England’s towns, the share of households without a car or van in Surlingham comes in at 9.9%.
Residents born outside the UK: 5.2%, a lower share than 62% 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
The largest groups were born in EU countries (3.7%) and in the Americas, Oceania and elsewhere (1.1%). The usual figure: 18% of residents were born outside the UK across England’s towns. On residents whose main language is English, Surlingham sits lower than just over half of UK towns: 98%.
More residents with no religion than 80% of UK towns: 46%
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: 93% of Surlingham · Norfolk’s towns 88% · England’s towns 73%.
Religion · all residents
The groups that follow White British are Other White (4%), Mixed or multiple (1.8%) and African (0.2%). Lower than in just over four fifths of UK towns: 44% of residents describe themselves as Christian. As a yardstick, 37% of residents said they have no religion across England’s towns. The share of residents who describe themselves as White British is 93%, against 73% across England’s towns.
Surlingham ranks above 98% of UK towns on married adults and civil partners: 60%
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 carers make up 8.9%, close to the figure across England’s towns. The share of married adults and civil partners across England’s towns is 44%. In Surlingham, nearly a quarter of adults have never married or formed a civil partnership.
Degree-level qualifications: held by 45% of adults
Highest qualification, residents 16 and over, Census 2021.
Highest qualification · residents 16 and over
14% of Surlingham’s adults have no qualification (18% across England’s towns), and 45% have one at degree level (34%).
4 of the 7 nearest towns are older than Surlingham
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Surlingham | 573 | — | 48.3 | 23% | 24% |
| Brundall | 4,378 | 1.2 mi | 51 | 30% | 24% |
| Blofield | 2,667 | 2.2 mi | 45.3 | 25% | 29% |
| Little Plumstead | 1,915 | 2.8 mi | 37.5 | 16% | 36% |
| Lingwood | 2,368 | 2.9 mi | 48.4 | 27% | 25% |
| Blofield Heath | 1,430 | 3.1 mi | 54.4 | 33% | 23% |
| Thorpe End | 1,173 | 3.8 mi | 53.2 | 29% | 23% |
| Poringland | 7,105 | 4.2 mi | 45.6 | 24% | 27% |
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 Surlingham’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 Surlingham’s residents
What is the population of Surlingham?
The 2021 Census counted 573 people in Surlingham’s built-up area.
What is the average age in Surlingham?
The median age was 48.3 at the 2021 Census. 9.3% of residents were 15 to 24 and 23% were 65 or over.
How diverse is Surlingham?
93% of residents described themselves as White British in 2021, against 73% across England’s towns and 88% across Norfolk’s towns. 5.2% were born outside the UK.
What religion are people in Surlingham?
46% said they had no religion and 44% that they were Christian at the 2021 Census; 0.7% were Muslim and 5.6% didn’t answer.
Is Surlingham good for families?
24% of households had dependent children in 2021, against 29% across England’s towns. Schools are on Surlingham’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.