Photo: Trevor Littlewood · CC BY-SA 2.0Older than 97% of UK towns: half of Knayton is over 54.9
Here nearly two thirds of households live in a detached house, where the figure across England’s towns is 21%. The 2021 Census counted 329 residents in 143 households. Locally, 24% of residents said they have no religion. Few places have so few one-person households: 23% here, fewer than in 93% of UK towns.
32% of residents are 65 or over, more than in 94% of UK towns
Share of residents in each five-year age band, Census 2021.
Where just over one in ten residents are aged 15 to 24 across England’s towns, Knayton has 7.9%. Against that, 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.
A smaller share of full-time students than 96% of UK towns: 3.4%
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%.
The figure for residents who moved in within the year is 4.3% in Knayton and 11% across England’s towns. Full-time students: 7.9% across England’s towns, for comparison.
18% of households have dependent children, below 97% 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.
1.4% of households are unrelated adults sharing a home, against 4.3% across England’s towns. Elsewhere, 29% of households have dependent children across England’s towns. A household here holds 2.2 people on average.
Knayton sits below 99% of UK towns for households without a car or van (3.4%)
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
Where 23% of households live in a flat or apartment across England’s towns, Knayton has 2.1%. In Knayton, 9.1% of households live in a terraced house. Households without a car or van: 24% across England’s towns, for comparison.
Knayton sits above 99% of UK towns for residents whose main language is English (100%)
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
3.3% of residents were born outside the UK, against 18% across England’s towns. Typically, nine in ten residents have English as their main language across England’s towns. Most residents from abroad were born in EU countries (1.8%) or in the Middle East and Asia (0.6%).
More residents who describe themselves as White British than 99% of UK towns: 98%
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 Knayton · North Yorkshire’s towns 90% · England’s towns 73%.
Religion · all residents
Against a figure of 46% across England’s towns, the share of residents who describe themselves as Christian in Knayton comes in at 65%. On average, 73% of residents describe themselves as White British across England’s towns.
Knayton sits below 99% of UK towns for adults who have never married (20%)
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
6 people give 50 hours or more of unpaid care a week. Across the comparison, nearly two in five adults have never married or formed a civil partnership across England’s towns. At 61%, the share of married adults and civil partners is higher than in 99% of UK towns. On unpaid carers, 8% here is much the same as across England’s towns.
Qualified to degree level: 42% of adults
Highest qualification, residents 16 and over, Census 2021.
Highest qualification · residents 16 and over
15% of Knayton’s adults have no qualification (18% across England’s towns), and 42% have one at degree level (34%).
Every nearby town is younger than Knayton
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Knayton | 329 | — | 54.9 | 32% | 18% |
| Thirsk | 5,891 | 3.5 mi | 47.3 | 24% | 21% |
| Sowerby | 4,727 | 4.2 mi | 45 | 25% | 26% |
| Northallerton | 13,314 | 5.3 mi | 47 | 25% | 24% |
| Romanby | 3,825 | 5.4 mi | 52.4 | 30% | 22% |
| Brompton | 2,034 | 6.3 mi | 46.7 | 22% | 23% |
| Leeming | 1,712 | 7.5 mi | 29.1 | 8.5% | 40% |
| Leeming Bar | 1,063 | 9.1 mi | 43.4 | 22% | 26% |
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 Knayton’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 Knayton’s residents
What is the population of Knayton?
The 2021 Census counted 329 people in Knayton’s built-up area.
What is the average age in Knayton?
The median age was 54.9 at the 2021 Census. 7.9% of residents were 15 to 24 and 32% were 65 or over.
How diverse is Knayton?
98% of residents described themselves as White British in 2021, against 73% across England’s towns and 90% across North Yorkshire’s towns. 3.3% were born outside the UK.
What religion are people in Knayton?
24% said they had no religion and 65% that they were Christian at the 2021 Census; 0.3% were Muslim and 10% didn’t answer.
Is Knayton good for families?
18% of households had dependent children in 2021, against 29% across England’s towns. Schools are on Knayton’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.