Photo: Mick Garratt · CC BY-SA 2.0A median age of 61.5: Scalby is older than 99% of UK towns
The share of households in detached houses is 69%, against 21% across England’s towns. At the 2021 Census, 1,790 people lived in Scalby, in 864 households. Households with dependent children account for 14%. The village has fewer residents with no religion than 96% of UK towns, at 27%.
What the Census says about Scalby’s people
Older than most towns
Half of Scalby’s residents are under 61.5 and half over, against 44.4 in the typical UK town. 44% 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).
In Scalby, 44% of residents are 65 or over, more than in 99% of UK towns
Share of residents in each five-year age band, Census 2021.
No age band is larger than 70–74: just over one in ten residents, 2.5 times the share across England’s towns. Here, 7.3% of residents are aged 15 to 24. Set beside that, 18% of residents are 65 or over across England’s towns.
Broad ages · share of residents
Women and men · all residents
51% women, 49% men
About 95 men for every 100 women. Across England, 51% of residents are women.
In Scalby, 3.4% of adults are full-time students, fewer than in 96% 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%.
Across England’s towns, a third of adults are in managerial and professional jobs and 24% in routine or semi-routine work; Scalby has 44% and 15%. Residents who moved in within the year are rarer here than in 69% of UK towns. Set beside that, 7.9% of adults are full-time students across England’s towns.
Scalby households average 2.1 people, smaller than in 96% 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.
With one-person households at 33%, Scalby is ahead of 72% of UK towns on that count. Locally, 2% of households are unrelated adults sharing a home.
Only 6.1% of households live in a terraced house in Scalby
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 flat or apartment; in Scalby, 9%. Lower than in 73% of UK towns: 11% of households have no car or van. To put it in context, 24% of households live in a terraced house across England’s towns.
Scalby ranks above 93% of UK towns on 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
Compared with 18% across England’s towns, 3.6% of residents were born outside the UK here. The wider picture: nine in ten residents have English as their main language across England’s towns. By birthplace, the largest groups from abroad were born in EU countries (1.3%) and in the Middle East and Asia (0.7%).
A higher share of residents who describe themselves as Christian than 98% of UK towns, at 65%
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 Scalby · North Yorkshire’s towns 90% · England’s towns 73%.
Religion · all residents
96% of residents describe themselves as White British, against 73% across England’s towns. To put it in context, 46% of residents describe themselves as Christian across England’s towns. After White British, the most common groups are Other White (1.6%), Mixed or multiple (1.1%) and Indian (0.7%).
19% of adults have never married or formed a civil partnership, fewer than in 99% 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 carers giving 50 hours or more a week: 42. 61% of adults are married or in a civil partnership, more than in 99% of UK towns. The usual figure: 39% of adults have never married or formed a civil partnership across England’s towns. On unpaid carers, 9.3% here is much the same as across England’s towns.
Degree level: the highest qualification of 42% of adults
Highest qualification, residents 16 and over, Census 2021.
Highest qualification · residents 16 and over
42% of Scalby’s adults have a degree-level qualification, against 34% across England’s towns; 15% have none (18%).
Scalby is older than every town around it
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Scalby | 1,790 | — | 61.5 | 44% | 14% |
| Burniston | 1,470 | 1.5 mi | 54.2 | 30% | 22% |
| Scarborough | 59,505 | 2.3 mi | 46.2 | 24% | 23% |
| East Ayton and West Ayton | 2,809 | 3.8 mi | 51.2 | 32% | 25% |
| Seamer (Scarborough) | 2,120 | 4.2 mi | 52.3 | 31% | 23% |
| Filey | 6,664 | 8.6 mi | 57.8 | 38% | 17% |
| Hunmanby | 2,900 | 9.8 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 Scalby’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 Scalby’s residents
What is the population of Scalby?
The 2021 Census counted 1,790 people in Scalby’s built-up area.
What is the average age in Scalby?
The median age was 61.5 at the 2021 Census. 7.3% of residents were 15 to 24 and 44% were 65 or over.
How diverse is Scalby?
96% of residents described themselves as White British in 2021, against 73% across England’s towns and 90% across North Yorkshire’s towns. 3.6% were born outside the UK.
What religion are people in Scalby?
27% said they had no religion and 65% that they were Christian at the 2021 Census; 0.8% were Muslim and 4.9% didn’t answer.
Is Scalby good for families?
14% of households had dependent children in 2021, against 29% across England’s towns. Schools are on Scalby’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.