Photo: Nigel Coates · CC BY-SA 3.0Sleights is older than 99% of UK towns: a median age of 58.9
Set against 29% across England’s towns, 16% of households have dependent children in Sleights. Adults who have never married account for 21%. At 1.5%, the share of shared households of unrelated adults is lower than in 92% of UK towns. There were 936 households in the village at the 2021 Census, home to 1,928 residents.
What the Census says about Sleights’s people
Older than most towns
Half of Sleights’s residents are under 58.9 and half over, against 44.4 in the typical UK town. 37% are 65 or over, against 18% across England’s towns. Ages ↓
Many carers
213 residents gave unpaid care to someone with an illness, disability or old age in 2021, 11% of those 5 and over: more than in 92% of UK towns. Relationships & caring ↓
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.
6.2% of residents are aged 15 to 24, against 12% across England’s towns. For comparison, 18% of residents are 65 or over across England’s towns.
Broad ages · share of residents
Women and men · all residents
53% women, 47% men
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.
Only 2.5% of adults are full-time students in Sleights
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 share of residents who moved in within the year trails 62% of UK towns: 8.1%. Against that, 7.9% of adults are full-time students across England’s towns.
Smaller households than 97% of UK towns: 2 people on average
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 share of one-person households is 31%, against 30% across England’s towns.
Households in flats: 2.7%, a lower share than 95% 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
Detached houses are home to 55% of households, against 21% across England’s towns. At the same time, at 10%, the share of households in terraced houses is lower than in 88% of UK towns. The share of households in flats across England’s towns is 23%. Here, 15% of households have no car or van.
In Sleights, 2.4% of residents were born outside the UK, fewer than in 97% 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%
Main language · residents aged 3 and over
By birthplace, the largest groups from abroad were born in EU countries (1.4%) and in the Middle East and Asia (0.5%). 99% of residents have English as their main language, more than in 98% of UK towns. Set beside that, 18% of residents were born outside the UK across England’s towns.
Above 97% of UK towns: 97% of residents describe themselves as White British
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: 97% of Sleights · North Yorkshire’s towns 90% · England’s towns 73%.
Religion · all residents
The figure for residents with no religion is 34% in Sleights and 37% across England’s towns. Residents who describe themselves as White British: 73% across England’s towns, for comparison. Here, nearly three in five residents describe themselves as Christian.
A larger share of married adults and civil partners than 95% of UK towns: 58%
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 make up 11%, against 8.7% across England’s towns. As a reference point, 44% of adults are married or in a civil partnership across England’s towns. The number giving 50 or more hours of unpaid care a week is 70.
Degree-level qualifications: held by 34% of adults
Highest qualification, residents 16 and over, Census 2021.
Highest qualification · residents 16 and over
19% of Sleights’s adults have no qualification (18% across England’s towns), and 34% have one at degree level (34%).
Every nearby town is younger than Sleights
Nearby built-up areas coloured by median age, Census 2021. Tap a town for its page.
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 Sleights’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 Sleights’s residents
What is the population of Sleights?
The 2021 Census counted 1,928 people in Sleights’s built-up area.
What is the average age in Sleights?
The median age was 58.9 at the 2021 Census. 6.2% of residents were 15 to 24 and 37% were 65 or over.
How diverse is Sleights?
97% of residents described themselves as White British in 2021, against 73% across England’s towns and 90% across North Yorkshire’s towns. 2.4% were born outside the UK.
What religion are people in Sleights?
34% said they had no religion and 59% that they were Christian at the 2021 Census; 0.3% were Muslim and 6.4% didn’t answer.
Is Sleights good for families?
16% of households had dependent children in 2021, against 29% across England’s towns. Schools are on Sleights’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.