Photo: Stephen Craven · CC BY-SA 2.0A median age of 57.8: Filey is older than 98% of UK towns
Households in Filey hold 2 people on average (England’s towns: 2.4). Here, 17% of households have dependent children. Compared with other places, adults who have never married are scarce here: 25%, fewer than in 93% of UK towns. Its 3,280 households held 6,664 residents at the 2021 Census.
What the Census says about Filey’s people
Older than most towns
Half of Filey’s residents are under 57.8 and half over, against 44.4 in the typical UK town. 38% are 65 or over, against 18% across England’s towns. Ages ↓
Many carers
757 residents gave unpaid care to someone with an illness, disability or old age in 2021, 12% of those 5 and over: more than in 95% of UK towns. Relationships & caring ↓
Written from the data on this page: ONS Census 2021 (output areas summed to the 2022 built-up area) and ONS mid-year population estimates.
Filey changed by +4% from 2011 to 2024, slower than 65% of UK towns
ONS mid-year estimates, each year indexed to mid-2011 = 100. Filey’s figure is the small areas (2021 LSOAs) that make up the town.
People, mid-2011 = 100
Change by age, 2011 to 2024
About 6,500 people in 2011; 6,800 in 2024.
The biggest one-year rise was mid-2015 to mid-2016, 140 people.
Filey ranks above 98% of UK towns on residents aged 65 and over: 38%
Share of residents in each five-year age band, Census 2021.
More residents are 70–74 than any other five-year age: 10% of residents, 2.1 times the share across England’s towns. For comparison, 18% of residents are 65 or over across England’s towns. Census figures put residents aged 15 to 24 at 7.2% in Filey.
Median age of UK towns of 2,500+
■ Filey, 57.8. The typical town is 44.4.
Broad ages · share of residents
Women and men · all residents
53% women, 47% men
About 90 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.
A smaller share of full-time students than 95% of UK towns: 3.5%
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%.
Across England’s towns, 33% of adults are in managerial and professional jobs and 24% in routine work; in Filey, 26% and 31%. 8% of residents lived at another address a year earlier. To put it in context, 7.9% of adults are full-time students across England’s towns.
Filey: 35% of households are one person living alone, above 89% of UK towns
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.
In Filey, 2% of households are unrelated adults sharing a home, beside 4.3% across England’s towns. By way of comparison, 30% of households are one person living alone across England’s towns.
More flats than 84% of UK towns: 20% of households in Filey
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
Across England’s towns, nearly a quarter of households live in a terraced house; in Filey, 18%. Households in flats make up 23% across England’s towns. Here, 25% of households live in a detached house.
In Filey, 2.5% of residents were born outside the UK, fewer than in 96% 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
Across England’s towns, the share of residents whose main language is English is 90%; Filey has 99%. For residents born outside the UK, the comparison across England’s towns is 18%. By birthplace, the largest groups from abroad were born in EU countries (1.1%) and in the Middle East and Asia (0.5%).
Residents who describe themselves as White British: 98%, a higher share than 99% 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: 98% of Filey · North Yorkshire’s towns 90% · England’s towns 73%.
Religion · all residents
37% of residents said they have no religion, about the same as across England’s towns. Across England’s towns, the share of residents who describe themselves as White British is 73%. Here, 56% of residents describe themselves as Christian.
In Filey, 12% of residents give unpaid care, more than in 95% 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
Unpaid care takes 50 hours a week or more for 262 people. Elsewhere, 8.7% of residents give unpaid care across England’s towns. Married adults and civil partners are more common here than in nearly two thirds of UK towns.
24% of adults are qualified to degree level
Highest qualification, residents 16 and over, Census 2021.
Highest qualification · residents 16 and over
Across England’s towns, 34% of adults have a degree-level qualification; in Filey, 24%, and 24% have none, against 18%.
Of 473 UK towns its size (5,000 to 9,000 people), the 13th oldest
Median age, Census 2021. Hover a dot for its students and residents born abroad; click for its page.
Red Lodge is the youngest (30.9); Barton on Sea the oldest (65.3). Nearest to Filey in age: West Mersea (56.6), Walton-on-the-Naze (57.3), Hemsby (57.9) and Littlestone-on-Sea (57.9).
Filey sits below 2 of its 7 closest neighbours on median age
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Filey | 6,664 | — | 57.8 | 38% | 17% |
| Hunmanby | 2,900 | 2.4 mi | 56.2 | 35% | 20% |
| Seamer (Scarborough) | 2,120 | 6.2 mi | 52.3 | 31% | 23% |
| Scarborough | 59,505 | 6.3 mi | 46.2 | 24% | 23% |
| Bempton | 1,023 | 7.2 mi | 61.6 | 44% | 16% |
| East Ayton and West Ayton | 2,809 | 8 mi | 51.2 | 32% | 25% |
| Scalby | 1,790 | 8.6 mi | 61.5 | 44% | 14% |
| Bridlington | 34,831 | 9.2 mi | 52.3 | 32% | 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 Filey’s figures, so households in open countryside are left out. The population trend compares with the whole county and nation.
- Estimates since 2021 are modelled. The ONS builds mid-year estimates from the Census, births, deaths and migration records. Filey’s trend uses the small areas (2021 LSOAs) with most of their people inside it: 6,664 people in 2021, against 6,664 in the built-up area.
- 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 Filey’s residents
What is the population of Filey?
The 2021 Census counted 6,664 people in Filey’s built-up area. The ONS estimates the same small areas held 6,800 people in mid-2024, 4% more than in 2011.
What is the average age in Filey?
The median age was 57.8 at the 2021 Census, older than 98% of UK towns. 7.2% of residents were 15 to 24 and 38% were 65 or over.
How diverse is Filey?
98% of residents described themselves as White British in 2021, against 73% across England’s towns and 90% across North Yorkshire’s towns. 2.5% were born outside the UK.
What religion are people in Filey?
37% said they had no religion and 56% that they were Christian at the 2021 Census; 0.2% were Muslim and 6.2% didn’t answer.
Is Filey good for families?
17% of households had dependent children in 2021, against 29% across England’s towns. Schools are on Filey’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) · ONS mid-year population estimates for 2021 LSOAs, mid-2011 to mid-2024. 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.