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The Square, GrassingtonPhoto: Graham Robson · CC BY-SA 2.0
58.6Median age
Who lives here · ONS Census 2021

Older than 99% of UK towns: half of Grassington is over 58.6

With residents who describe themselves as Christian at 57%, Grassington is ahead of 86% of UK towns on that count. One-person households: 42% of the total. At 22%, the share of adults who have never married is lower than in 98% of UK towns. Census day 2021: 1,107 residents and 560 households here.

What stands out · In brief

What the Census says about Grassington’s people

Older than most towns

Half of Grassington’s residents are under 58.6 and half over, against 44.4 in the typical UK town. 39% 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).

Ages

Grassington sits above 99% of UK towns for residents aged 65 and over (39%)

Share of residents in each five-year age band, Census 2021.

GrassingtonEngland’s towns
0–410–1420–2430–3440–4450–5460–6470–7480–84

Residents aged 15 to 24: 6.4% here and 12% across England’s towns. For comparison, 18% of residents are 65 or over across England’s towns.

Broad ages · share of residents

Under 1511%
15 to 246.4%
25 to 4415%
45 to 6429%
65 and over39%
GrassingtonNorth Yorkshire’s townsEngland’s towns

Women and men · all residents

53% women, 47% men

Grassington
England
WomenMen

About 88 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.

Students & newcomers

Grassington ranks below 95% of UK towns on full-time students: 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

Full-time students3.5%
Higher managerial and professional15%
Lower managerial and professional26%
Intermediate8.6%
Small employers and self-employed16%
Supervisory and technical6.2%
Semi-routine11%
Routine8.1%
Never worked or long-term unemployed6.2%
GrassingtonNorth Yorkshire’s townsEngland’s towns

Address a year before the Census

Residents who lived somewhere else a year earlier. The bar runs to 25%.

Grassington
7%
England’s towns
11%
Moved within the UKTerm-time addressMoved from abroad
Moved in within a year
71
residents, 6.4%; England’s towns 11%
Of them from abroad
6
0.6× England’s share

6.4% of residents lived at another address a year before the Census, against 11% across England’s towns. The wider picture: 7.9% of adults are full-time students across England’s towns.

Households

Grassington sits below 99% of UK towns for households with dependent children (15%)

Household make-up at the 2021 Census. Each square is 1% of households.

Living alone, 66+ 28%Living alone, under 66 15%Families with dependent children 15%Couples and families, no young children 40%Shared houses and other 2.7%

Against North Yorkshire’s towns and England’s towns

Grassington
North Yorkshire’s towns
England’s towns

People per household

1 person42%
2 people37%
3 people8.8%
4 people7.4%
5 or more4.1%

England’s towns.

The share of shared households of unrelated adults is 2.7%, against 4.3% across England’s towns. Across England’s towns, 29% of households have dependent children. Each household has 1.9 people on average.

Homes & cars

19% of households live in a flat or apartment, more than in 82% of UK towns

Accommodation type and cars or vans per household, Census 2021. Owning and renting are on Cost of living.

Type of home

Grassington
North Yorkshire’s towns
England’s towns
DetachedSemi-detachedTerracedFlat or maisonetteCaravan or other

Cars or vans · share of households

No car or van18%
One47%
Two26%
Three or more9.2%
GrassingtonNorth Yorkshire’s townsEngland’s towns

27% of households live in a detached house, against 21% across England’s towns. The census found that 18% of households have no car or van in Grassington. For households in flats, the comparison across England’s towns is 23%.

Where people were born

3.5% born outside the UK, fewer than in 84% 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%

Grassington
3.5%
North Yorkshire’s towns
8%
England’s towns
18%
EU countriesRest of EuropeMiddle East and AsiaAfricaAmericas, Oceania, other

Main language · residents aged 3 and over

English is main language99%
Another main language, speaks English very well or well0.6%
Another main language, little or no English0.4%
GrassingtonNorth Yorkshire’s townsEngland’s towns

Among residents born abroad, the largest groups were born in EU countries (1.7%) and in the Americas, Oceania and elsewhere (0.7%). Few places have as many residents whose main language is English: 99% here, more than in 87% of UK towns. The wider picture: 18% of residents were born outside the UK across England’s towns.

Ethnicity & religion

More residents who describe themselves as White British than 91% of UK towns: 96%

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

GrassingtonNorth Yorkshire’s townsEngland’s towns
Other White2.2%
Asian0.4%
Mixed0.7%
Black0.1%
Other0.4%
0%6%12%

White British, not charted: 96% of Grassington · North Yorkshire’s towns 90% · England’s towns 73%.

Religion · all residents

GrassingtonNorth Yorkshire’s townsEngland’s towns
No religion37%
Christian57%
Muslim0.3%
Hindu, Sikh, Jewish, Buddhist0.5%
Other religion0.4%
Didn’t answer5.8%
0%35%70%

Residents with no religion: 37%, near enough the figure across England’s towns. On average, 73% of residents describe themselves as White British across England’s towns. After White British, the most common groups are Other White (2.2%), Mixed or multiple (0.7%) and Pakistani (0.3%).

Relationships & caring

Above 80% of UK towns: 11% of residents give unpaid care

Legal partnership status (residents 16 and over) and unpaid care (residents 5 and over), Census 2021.

Partnership status · residents 16 and over

Never married or in a civil partnership22%
Married or civil partnership49%
Separated2.2%
Divorced14%
Widowed13%
GrassingtonNorth Yorkshire’s townsEngland’s towns
115residents give unpaid care to someone with an illness, disability or old age: 11%, against 8.7% in England’s towns

Unpaid care given · share of residents 5 and over

Up to 19 hours a week6.2%
20 to 49 hours2.1%
50 hours or more2.3%

Unpaid carers giving 50 hours or more a week: 25. The benchmark for unpaid carers across England’s towns: 8.7%. Married adults and civil partners make up 49%, against 44% across England’s towns.

Qualifications

Degree level: the highest qualification of 41% of adults

Highest qualification, residents 16 and over, Census 2021.

Highest qualification · residents 16 and over

No qualifications13%
Apprenticeship4.5%
A levels or similar16%
Degree level41%
GrassingtonNorth Yorkshire’s townsEngland’s towns

Degree-level qualifications are held by 41% of Grassington’s adults, against 34% across England’s towns; 13% have no qualification (18%).

Neighbours

No nearby town is as old as Grassington

Nearby built-up areas coloured by median age, Census 2021. Tap a town for its page.

EmbsayGargraveSkiptonCarleton-in-CravenLow BradleyPateley BridgeAddinghamGrassington
under 3838–4444–5050–5656+
TownPeopleAwayMedian age65+Homes with children
Grassington1,107—58.639%15%
Embsay1,7236.5 mi49.327%27%
Gargrave1,5027.5 mi56.536%17%
Skipton15,0507.9 mi45.924%23%
Carleton-in-Craven1,0609.1 mi50.825%23%
Low Bradley1,2039.6 mi55.933%21%
Pateley Bridge1,3439.7 mi54.633%19%
Addingham3,2479.9 mi57.138%19%
More about Grassington’s residents

Health, work and homes have their own pages

How to read these numbers

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 Grassington’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 Grassington’s residents

What is the population of Grassington?

The 2021 Census counted 1,107 people in Grassington’s built-up area.

What is the average age in Grassington?

The median age was 58.6 at the 2021 Census. 6.4% of residents were 15 to 24 and 39% were 65 or over.

How diverse is Grassington?

96% of residents described themselves as White British in 2021, against 73% across England’s towns and 90% across North Yorkshire’s towns. 3.5% were born outside the UK.

What religion are people in Grassington?

37% said they had no religion and 57% that they were Christian at the 2021 Census; 0.3% were Muslim and 5.8% didn’t answer.

Is Grassington good for families?

15% of households had dependent children in 2021, against 29% across England’s towns. Schools are on Grassington’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.