Photo: Chris Heaton · CC BY-SA 2.05.1% of households live in a terraced house, fewer than in 98% of UK towns
56% of adults are married or in a civil partnership, against 44% across England’s towns. Brayton counted 4,092 residents and 1,754 households at the 2021 Census. Households in detached houses: 55% of the total. Fewer shared households of unrelated adults than in 94% of UK towns: 1.4%.
Residents aged 15 to 24: 8.4%, a lower share than 87% of UK towns
Share of residents in each five-year age band, Census 2021.
With a median age of 45.9, Brayton is older than just over three fifths of UK towns. By way of comparison, 12% of residents are aged 15 to 24 across England’s towns. Residents aged 65 and over account for 25%. No age band is larger than 70–74: 7.3% of residents, 1.5 times the share across England’s towns.
Median age of UK towns of 2,500+
■ Brayton, 45.9. The typical town is 44.4.
Broad ages · share of residents
Women and men · all residents
51% women, 49% men
About 94 men for every 100 women. Across England, 51% of residents are 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%.
Where 11% of residents lived at another address a year earlier across England’s towns, Brayton has 8.3%. Elsewhere, 7.9% of adults are full-time students across England’s towns.
Only 26% of households are one person living alone in Brayton
Household make-up at the 2021 Census. Each square is 1% of households.
Against North Yorkshire’s towns and England’s towns
People per household
England’s towns.
A household here has 2.3 people on average; across England’s towns, 2.4. On average, 30% of households are one person living alone across England’s towns. 29% of households have dependent children.
A lower share of households in flats than 72% of UK towns, at 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
14% of households have no car or van, against 24% across England’s towns. Against that, 23% of households live in a flat or apartment across England’s towns.
Residents born outside the UK make up 4.4% in Brayton, less than in 72% 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%
When those born abroad arrived
Main language · residents aged 3 and over
The largest groups were born in EU countries (2.8%) and in Africa (0.6%). Residents born outside the UK make up 18% across England’s towns. The newest arrivals, from 2017 or later, are 11% of those born abroad (against 21% across England’s towns).
In Brayton, 59% of residents describe themselves as Christian, more than in 92% 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: 95% of Brayton · North Yorkshire’s towns 90% · England’s towns 73%.
Religion · all residents
The next-largest groups, after White British, are Other White (3.1%), Mixed or multiple (0.8%) and African (0.3%). Across England’s towns, residents who describe themselves as Christian come to 46%. On residents who describe themselves as White British, Brayton sits higher than 77% of UK towns: 95%. By contrast, 35% of residents said they have no religion; across England’s towns the figure is 37%.
25% of adults have never married or formed a civil partnership, fewer than in 92% 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
113 residents give 50 hours or more of unpaid care each week. Against that, nearly two in five adults have never married or formed a civil partnership across England’s towns. Brayton sits close to the norm on unpaid carers: 9.1%, about the same as across England’s towns.
33% of adults have a degree-level qualification
Highest qualification, residents 16 and over, Census 2021.
Highest qualification · residents 16 and over
Degree-level qualifications cover 33% of adults in Brayton, 34% across England’s towns; 16% have no qualification, against 18%.
Ranked by age, 305th youngest of 695 UK towns this size
Median age, Census 2021. Hover a dot for its students and residents born abroad; click for its page.
At the ends of the range sit Bailrigg (18.9), the youngest, and Sutton on Sea and Trusthorpe (64.7), the oldest. Nearest to Brayton in age: Swanmore (45.8), West Auckland (45.9), Welton (45.9) and Hungerford (45.9).
Brayton and its 7 nearest towns: 4 of them are older
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brayton | 4,092 | — | 45.9 | 25% | 29% |
| Selby | 19,480 | 1.2 mi | 39.4 | 17% | 28% |
| Thorpe Willoughby | 3,482 | 1.3 mi | 43.9 | 22% | 26% |
| Hambleton | 1,722 | 3 mi | 47.9 | 26% | 27% |
| Barlby | 3,499 | 3.1 mi | 40.2 | 19% | 28% |
| Camblesforth | 1,557 | 4.3 mi | 47.6 | 23% | 25% |
| Cawood | 1,501 | 4.6 mi | 48.3 | 24% | 26% |
| Riccall | 2,388 | 4.6 mi | 47.7 | 25% | 27% |
Health, work and homes have their own pages
What this data can and can’t tell you
- “North Yorkshire’s towns” and “England’s towns” mean their built-up areas. Census comparisons pool every built-up area in North Yorkshire (or England), summed the same way as Brayton’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 Brayton’s residents
What is the population of Brayton?
The 2021 Census counted 4,092 people in Brayton’s built-up area.
What is the average age in Brayton?
The median age was 45.9 at the 2021 Census, older than 61% of UK towns. 8.4% of residents were 15 to 24 and 25% were 65 or over.
How diverse is Brayton?
95% of residents described themselves as White British in 2021, against 73% across England’s towns and 90% across North Yorkshire’s towns. 4.4% were born outside the UK.
What religion are people in Brayton?
35% said they had no religion and 59% that they were Christian at the 2021 Census; 0.2% were Muslim and 5.6% didn’t answer.
Is Brayton good for families?
29% of households had dependent children in 2021, against 29% across England’s towns. Schools are on Brayton’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.