Photo: Jonathan Thacker · CC BY-SA 2.03.8% of households live in a flat or apartment, below 89% of UK towns
Where 44% of adults are married or in a civil partnership across England’s towns, Cawood has 57%. The 2021 Census counted 1,501 residents in 651 households. The census found that 96% of residents describe themselves as White British locally. The median age locally is 48.3, higher than in 76% of UK towns.
24% of residents are 65 or over, more than in 66% of UK towns
Share of residents in each five-year age band, Census 2021.
Where 12% of residents are aged 15 to 24 across England’s towns, Cawood has 9.6%. Measured more widely, 18% of residents are 65 or over across England’s towns.
Broad ages · share of residents
Women and men · all residents
50% women, 50% men
About an even split. Across England, 51% of residents are women.
Cawood: 5% of adults are full-time students, above 59% 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%.
Residents who moved in within the year: 10% here and 11% across England’s towns. The share of full-time students across England’s towns is 7.9%.
The Census was taken on 21 March 2021, in term time, so students were counted at their term addresses.
Only 26% of households are one person living alone in Cawood
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.
Across England’s towns, the share of households with dependent children is 29%; Cawood has 26%. The share of one-person households across England’s towns is 30%. Average household size: 2.3 people. On shared households of unrelated adults, Cawood sits higher than 63% of UK towns: 2.6%.
A larger share of households in detached houses than 87% of UK towns: 48%
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 is 9.1%, against 24% across England’s towns. Households in terraced houses: 22% of the total. 3.8% of households live in a flat, less than in 89% of UK towns; 48% in a detached house, against 21% across England’s towns.
99% of residents have English as their main language, more than in 94% 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 Africa (1.5%) and in EU countries (1.4%). Few places have so few residents born outside the UK: 3.8% here, fewer than in 80% of UK towns. Elsewhere, nine in ten residents have English as their main language across England’s towns.
Cawood sits above 67% of UK towns for residents who describe themselves as Christian (52%)
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 Cawood · North Yorkshire’s towns 90% · England’s towns 73%.
Religion · all residents
Compared with 37% across England’s towns, nearly two in five residents said they have no religion here. As a yardstick, 46% of residents describe themselves as Christian across England’s towns. Of the other groups, the largest are Other White (1.4%), Mixed or multiple (0.9%) and African (0.6%).
Cawood sits below 87% of UK towns for adults who have never married (26%)
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
For 35 residents, unpaid care runs to 50 hours or more a week. The usual figure: 39% of adults have never married or formed a civil partnership across England’s towns. Unpaid carers make up one in ten residents, against 8.7% across England’s towns.
Degree-level qualifications reach 44% of adults
Highest qualification, residents 16 and over, Census 2021.
Highest qualification · residents 16 and over
Degree-level qualifications cover 44% of adults in Cawood, 34% across England’s towns; 11% have no qualification, against 18%.
Every nearby town is younger than Cawood
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cawood | 1,501 | — | 48.3 | 24% | 26% |
| Riccall | 2,388 | 2.9 mi | 47.7 | 25% | 27% |
| Church Fenton | 1,643 | 3.5 mi | 38.3 | 12% | 40% |
| Thorpe Willoughby | 3,482 | 4.1 mi | 43.9 | 22% | 26% |
| Barlby | 3,499 | 4.3 mi | 40.2 | 19% | 28% |
| Selby | 19,480 | 4.3 mi | 39.4 | 17% | 28% |
| Hambleton | 1,722 | 4.4 mi | 47.9 | 26% | 27% |
| Brayton | 4,092 | 4.6 mi | 45.9 | 25% | 29% |
Health, work and homes have their own pages
What this data can and can’t tell you
- The Census was taken in a lockdown, in term time. 21 March 2021 fell in term time, and students were asked to give their term-time address, so most were counted where they study. Some may have been living with family that day.
- “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 Cawood’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 Cawood’s residents
What is the population of Cawood?
The 2021 Census counted 1,501 people in Cawood’s built-up area.
What is the average age in Cawood?
The median age was 48.3 at the 2021 Census. 9.6% of residents were 15 to 24 and 24% were 65 or over.
How diverse is Cawood?
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 Cawood?
39% said they had no religion and 52% that they were Christian at the 2021 Census; 0.5% were Muslim and 6.6% didn’t answer.
Is Cawood good for families?
26% of households had dependent children in 2021, against 29% across England’s towns. Schools are on Cawood’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.