Photo: Stephen Craven · CC BY-SA 2.0Older than 99% of UK towns: half of Settle is over 58.2
30% of households are one person living alone across England’s towns, against 42% in Settle. At the 2021 Census, 2,710 people lived locally, in 1,402 households. Households in terraced houses account for 35%. Lower than in 88% of UK towns: 33% of residents said they have no religion.
What the Census says about Settle’s people
Older than most towns
Half of Settle’s residents are under 58.2 and half over, against 44.4 in the typical UK town. 37% 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).
A larger share of residents aged 65 and over than 98% of UK towns: 37%
Share of residents in each five-year age band, Census 2021.
The largest age band is 60–64: 9.7% of residents, 1.7 times the share across England’s towns. Across the comparison, 18% of residents are 65 or over across England’s towns. For Settle, the census puts residents aged 15 to 24 at 7.1%.
Median age of UK towns of 2,500+
■ Settle, 58.2. 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.
2.7% of adults are full-time students, fewer than in 99% 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%, above 77% of UK towns. Across England’s towns, the share of full-time students is 7.9%.
A smaller share of households with dependent children than 99% of UK towns: 14%
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.
The figure for shared households of unrelated adults is 2% in Settle and 4.3% across England’s towns. The share of households with dependent children across England’s towns is 29%. Households here average 1.9 people each.
In Settle, 20% of households live in a flat or apartment, more than in 84% of UK towns
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
Little separates the share of households without a car or van here, 24%, from the figure across England’s towns. For households in flats, the comparison across England’s towns is 23%. Here, 17% of households live in a detached house.
Fewer residents born outside the UK than 59% of UK towns: 5.5%
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
Here 98% of residents have English as their main language, where the figure across England’s towns is 90%. Set beside that, 18% of residents were born outside the UK across England’s towns. The two biggest birthplaces abroad are in EU countries (2.6%) and in the Middle East and Asia (1.1%).
A larger share of residents who describe themselves as Christian than 88% of UK towns: 57%
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: 95% of Settle · North Yorkshire’s towns 90% · England’s towns 73%.
Religion · all residents
Besides White British, the main groups are Other White (3.4%), Indian (0.6%) and Mixed or multiple (0.5%). Residents who describe themselves as Christian make up 46% across England’s towns. More residents who describe themselves as White British than in 73% of UK towns: 95%.
Settle sits below 89% 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
10% of residents give unpaid care, against 8.7% across England’s towns. Against that, 39% of adults have never married or formed a civil partnership across England’s towns. Married adults and civil partners: nearly half of the total.
Adults qualified to degree level or above: 34%
Highest qualification, residents 16 and over, Census 2021.
Highest qualification · residents 16 and over
20% of Settle’s adults have no qualification (18% across England’s towns), and 34% have one at degree level (34%).
Ranked by age, 14th oldest of 514 UK towns this size
Median age, Census 2021. Hover a dot for its students and residents born abroad; click for its page.
At the ends of the range sit Keele (20.6), the youngest, and West Chiltington (63.1), the oldest. Nearest to Settle in age: Corbridge (57.9), Westward Ho! (58), Bakewell (58.2) and Mundesley (58.7).
Settle and its 7 nearest towns: 1 of them are older
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Settle | 2,710 | — | 58.2 | 37% | 14% |
| Giggleswick | 1,075 | 0.5 mi | 54.2 | 33% | 18% |
| Hellifield | 1,478 | 4.8 mi | 49.6 | 27% | 24% |
| Gargrave | 1,502 | 9.2 mi | 56.5 | 36% | 17% |
| Ingleton | 1,751 | 9.5 mi | 51.2 | 30% | 20% |
| High Bentham | 1,701 | 10 mi | 48.5 | 25% | 22% |
| Barnoldswick | 10,915 | 11 mi | 43.4 | 21% | 27% |
| Grassington | 1,107 | 11.4 mi | 58.6 | 39% | 15% |
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 Settle’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 Settle’s residents
What is the population of Settle?
The 2021 Census counted 2,710 people in Settle’s built-up area.
What is the average age in Settle?
The median age was 58.2 at the 2021 Census, older than 99% of UK towns. 7.1% of residents were 15 to 24 and 37% were 65 or over.
How diverse is Settle?
95% of residents described themselves as White British in 2021, against 73% across England’s towns and 90% across North Yorkshire’s towns. 5.5% were born outside the UK.
What religion are people in Settle?
33% said they had no religion and 57% that they were Christian at the 2021 Census; 0.1% were Muslim and 8.9% didn’t answer.
Is Settle good for families?
14% of households had dependent children in 2021, against 29% across England’s towns. Schools are on Settle’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.