Photo: Robert Eva · CC BY-SA 2.0Older than 96% of UK towns: half of Burniston is over 54.2
By its share of shared households of unrelated adults (1.2%), Burniston is below 98% of UK towns. Census day 2021: 1,470 residents and 686 households here. The census found that 8.4% of households live in a terraced house locally. Compared with other places, residents who describe themselves as Christian are common here: 59%, more than in 92% of UK towns.
What the Census says about Burniston’s people
Older than most towns
Half of Burniston’s residents are under 54.2 and half over, against 44.4 in the typical UK town. 30% 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).
Burniston ranks below 99% of UK towns on residents aged 15 to 24: 7%
Share of residents in each five-year age band, Census 2021.
18% of residents are 65 or over across England’s towns, against 30% in Burniston. As a yardstick, 12% of residents are aged 15 to 24 across England’s towns.
Broad ages · share of residents
Women and men · all residents
52% women, 48% men
About 92 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 make up 3.6% in Burniston, less than in 93% 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%.
Compared with 11% across England’s towns, 8% of residents lived at another address a year earlier here. Against that, 7.9% of adults are full-time students across England’s towns.
Only 22% of households in Burniston have dependent children
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.
One-person households: 29% here and 30% across England’s towns. A household here holds 2.2 people on average.
Burniston sits above 88% of UK towns for households in detached houses (49%)
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
The share of households without a car or van trails 80% of UK towns: 10%. The comparison figure for households in detached houses is 21% across England’s towns. Here, 4.6% of households live in a flat or apartment.
Burniston sits above 92% 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%
Main language · residents aged 3 and over
Residents born abroad were most often born in EU countries (1.6%), then in the Middle East and Asia (1.2%). Lower than in 80% of UK towns: 3.8% of residents were born outside the UK. To put it in context, nine in ten residents have English as their main language across England’s towns.
Residents who describe themselves as White British make up 96% in Burniston, more than in 84% 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 Burniston · North Yorkshire’s towns 90% · England’s towns 73%.
Religion · all residents
Residents with no religion: 36% here and 37% across England’s towns. Across the comparison, 73% of residents describe themselves as White British across England’s towns. Besides White British, the main groups are Other White (1.8%), Mixed or multiple (1.2%) and Indian (0.6%).
Adults who have never married make up 24% in Burniston, less than in 96% 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
44% of adults are married or in a civil partnership across England’s towns, against 58% in Burniston. Here, 10% of residents give unpaid care. Typically, nearly two in five adults have never married or formed a civil partnership across England’s towns.
Among adults, 34% hold a degree-level qualification
Highest qualification, residents 16 and over, Census 2021.
Highest qualification · residents 16 and over
At degree level, Burniston counts 34% of its adults, against 34% across England’s towns; at the other end, 16% have no qualification (18%).
Older than Burniston: 3 of the 6 towns nearby
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Burniston | 1,470 | — | 54.2 | 30% | 22% |
| Scalby | 1,790 | 1.5 mi | 61.5 | 44% | 14% |
| Scarborough | 59,505 | 3.7 mi | 46.2 | 24% | 23% |
| East Ayton and West Ayton | 2,809 | 5.2 mi | 51.2 | 32% | 25% |
| Seamer (Scarborough) | 2,120 | 5.8 mi | 52.3 | 31% | 23% |
| Filey | 6,664 | 9.8 mi | 57.8 | 38% | 17% |
| Hunmanby | 2,900 | 11.2 mi | 56.2 | 35% | 20% |
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 Burniston’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 Burniston’s residents
What is the population of Burniston?
The 2021 Census counted 1,470 people in Burniston’s built-up area.
What is the average age in Burniston?
The median age was 54.2 at the 2021 Census. 7% of residents were 15 to 24 and 30% were 65 or over.
How diverse is Burniston?
96% of residents described themselves as White British in 2021, against 73% across England’s towns and 90% across North Yorkshire’s towns. 3.8% were born outside the UK.
What religion are people in Burniston?
36% said they had no religion and 59% that they were Christian at the 2021 Census; 0.1% were Muslim and 4.6% didn’t answer.
Is Burniston good for families?
22% of households had dependent children in 2021, against 29% across England’s towns. Schools are on Burniston’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.