Photo: John Salmon · CC BY-SA 2.0Only 5.6% of residents are aged 15 to 24 in Wereham
By its share of households in flats (1.3%), Wereham is below 99% of UK towns. Locally, 53% of households live in a detached house. More married adults and civil partners than in 91% of UK towns: 56%. At the 2021 Census, 716 people lived in the village, in 308 households.
A median age of 50: Wereham is older than 84% of UK towns
Share of residents in each five-year age band, Census 2021.
More residents are 55–59 than any other five-year age: one in ten residents, 1.5 times the share across England’s towns. The share of residents aged 65 and over stands at 26%.
Broad ages · share of residents
Women and men · all residents
51% women, 49% men
About an even split. Across England, 51% of residents are women.
2.1% 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, a third of adults are in managerial and professional jobs and 24% in routine and semi-routine work (England’s towns: 33% and 24%). Across England’s towns, 7.9% of adults are full-time students. The share of residents who moved in within the year stands at 11%.
Shared households of unrelated adults make up 1.6% in Wereham, less than in 87% 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.
28% of households are one person living alone, against 30% across England’s towns. Across England’s towns, the share of shared households of unrelated adults is 4.3%. The share of households with dependent children stands at 24%.
Fewer car-free households than 95% of UK towns: 7.1%
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
Compared with 24% across England’s towns, 14% of households live in a terraced house here.
Wereham: 99% of residents have English as their main language, above 91% 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 the Americas, Oceania and elsewhere (2.5%) and in EU countries (2.2%). As a yardstick, nine in ten residents have English as their main language across England’s towns. 6.6% of residents were born outside the UK, a higher share than in 52% of UK towns.
Above 65% of UK towns: 52% 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: 93% of Wereham · Norfolk’s towns 88% · England’s towns 73%.
Religion · all residents
Residents with no religion: 39% here and 37% across England’s towns. Compared with other places, residents who describe themselves as White British are common here: 93%, more than in 60% of UK towns. As a yardstick, 46% of residents describe themselves as Christian across England’s towns. Other than White British, most residents describe themselves as Other White (3.8%), Mixed or multiple (1.4%) and Indian (0.4%).
Fewer adults who have never married than 94% of UK towns: 24%
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
Heavy unpaid care, 50 hours a week or more, falls to 24 residents. Typically, nearly two in five adults have never married or formed a civil partnership across England’s towns. 11% of residents give unpaid care, a higher share than in 84% of UK towns.
Adults with a degree-level qualification: 30%
Highest qualification, residents 16 and over, Census 2021.
Highest qualification · residents 16 and over
With 30% of its adults qualified to degree level, Wereham compares with 34% across England’s towns; another 25% hold no qualification (18%).
A younger town than 1 of the 7 around it: Wereham
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wereham | 716 | — | 50 | 26% | 24% |
| Stoke Ferry | 1,191 | 1.5 mi | 51.8 | 27% | 21% |
| Downham Market | 11,349 | 4.5 mi | 48.2 | 30% | 22% |
| Methwold | 1,044 | 5.2 mi | 43.1 | 19% | 28% |
| Southery | 1,258 | 5.4 mi | 44.7 | 22% | 27% |
| Marham | 2,608 | 5.6 mi | 30.1 | 9.8% | 39% |
| Feltwell | 2,919 | 7 mi | 38.5 | 20% | 33% |
| Watlington | 2,593 | 7.2 mi | 43.3 | 20% | 28% |
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 Wereham’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 Wereham’s residents
What is the population of Wereham?
The 2021 Census counted 716 people in Wereham’s built-up area.
What is the average age in Wereham?
The median age was 50 at the 2021 Census. 5.6% of residents were 15 to 24 and 26% were 65 or over.
How diverse is Wereham?
93% of residents described themselves as White British in 2021, against 73% across England’s towns and 88% across Norfolk’s towns. 6.6% were born outside the UK.
What religion are people in Wereham?
39% said they had no religion and 52% that they were Christian at the 2021 Census; 0% were Muslim and 7% didn’t answer.
Is Wereham good for families?
24% of households had dependent children in 2021, against 29% across England’s towns. Schools are on Wereham’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.