Photo: Colin Grice · CC BY-SA 2.0Older than 96% of UK towns: half of Stokesley is over 54.2
A fifth of households have dependent children; across England’s towns the figure is 29%. Census day 2021: 4,906 residents and 2,357 households in Stokesley. Shared households of unrelated adults account for 1.4%. Higher than in 95% of UK towns: 61% of residents describe themselves as Christian.
What the Census says about Stokesley’s people
Older than most towns
Half of Stokesley’s residents are under 54.2 and half over, against 44.4 in the typical UK town. 32% 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).
Stokesley sits above 94% of UK towns for residents aged 65 and over (32%)
Share of residents in each five-year age band, Census 2021.
Against a figure of 12% across England’s towns, the share of residents aged 15 to 24 in Stokesley comes in at 8.9%. Set beside that, 18% of residents are 65 or over across England’s towns.
Median age of UK towns of 2,500+
■ Stokesley, 54.2. The typical town is 44.4.
Broad ages · share of residents
Women and men · all residents
52% women, 48% men
About 93 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.
More full-time students than 51% of UK towns: 4.8%
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%.
Just over one in ten residents lived at another address a year earlier, about the same as across England’s towns. Measured more widely, 7.9% of adults are full-time students across England’s towns.
Households here average 2.1 people, below 94% 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.
Here 35% of households are one person living alone, where the figure across England’s towns is 30%.
More households in detached houses than 81% of UK towns: 43%
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
7.8% of households live in a flat or apartment, against 23% across England’s towns. Here, 19% of households live in a terraced house. Elsewhere, just over a fifth of households live in a detached house across England’s towns.
99% of residents have English as their main language, more than in 87% 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%
When those born abroad arrived
Main language · residents aged 3 and over
Residents born abroad were most often born in EU countries (2.1%), then in the Middle East and Asia (0.7%). For residents whose main language is English, the comparison across England’s towns is 90%. Stokesley has fewer residents born outside the UK than 76% of UK towns, at 4.1%. The newest arrivals, from 2017 or later, are 14% of those born abroad (against 21% across England’s towns).
In Stokesley, 33% of residents said they have no religion, fewer than in 87% of UK towns
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 Stokesley · North Yorkshire’s towns 90% · England’s towns 73%.
Religion · all residents
The largest groups after White British are Other White (3%), Mixed or multiple (0.8%) and Pakistani (0.4%). As a reference point, 37% of residents said they have no religion across England’s towns. 95% of residents describe themselves as White British, more than in 78% of UK towns.
Stokesley sits below 90% 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
Unpaid carers: 10%, above 78% of UK towns. Set beside that, nearly two in five adults have never married or formed a civil partnership across England’s towns. Census figures put married adults and civil partners at 53% in Stokesley.
43% of adults are qualified to degree level
Highest qualification, residents 16 and over, Census 2021.
Highest qualification · residents 16 and over
43% of Stokesley’s adults have a degree-level qualification, against 34% across England’s towns; 16% have none (18%).
55th highest median age among 810 UK towns of 3,000 to 7,000
Median age, Census 2021. Hover a dot for its students and residents born abroad; click for its page.
Bailrigg is the youngest (18.9); Barton on Sea the oldest (65.3). Nearest to Stokesley in age: Halesworth (54), Sandwich (54), Arundel (54.2) and Crumbles (54.3).
Median age: 2 of the 7 towns around Stokesley 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stokesley | 4,906 | — | 54.2 | 32% | 20% |
| Great Ayton | 4,348 | 2.6 mi | 56.1 | 35% | 19% |
| Hutton Rudby | 1,955 | 3.9 mi | 55.6 | 33% | 21% |
| Stainton | 1,817 | 4.4 mi | 48.8 | 27% | 21% |
| Middlesbrough | 148,232 | 5.5 mi | 37.5 | 17% | 30% |
| Ingleby Barwick | 23,380 | 6 mi | 38.2 | 11% | 43% |
| Thornaby-on-Tees | 23,352 | 6.4 mi | 39.5 | 19% | 28% |
| Eston | 29,625 | 6.6 mi | 42 | 20% | 28% |
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 Stokesley’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 Stokesley’s residents
What is the population of Stokesley?
The 2021 Census counted 4,906 people in Stokesley’s built-up area.
What is the average age in Stokesley?
The median age was 54.2 at the 2021 Census, older than 96% of UK towns. 8.9% of residents were 15 to 24 and 32% were 65 or over.
How diverse is Stokesley?
95% of residents described themselves as White British in 2021, against 73% across England’s towns and 90% across North Yorkshire’s towns. 4.1% were born outside the UK.
What religion are people in Stokesley?
33% said they had no religion and 61% that they were Christian at the 2021 Census; 0.5% were Muslim and 5.2% didn’t answer.
Is Stokesley good for families?
20% of households had dependent children in 2021, against 29% across England’s towns. Schools are on Stokesley’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.