Photo: Gordon Hatton · CC BY-SA 2.0A median age of 60.7: Whittingham is older than 99% of UK towns
In Whittingham the average household is 2 people, beside 2.4 across England’s towns. 228 residents in 119 households: that is Whittingham at the 2021 Census. Across Whittingham, 17% of households have dependent children. Few places have as many residents who describe themselves as Christian: 62% here, more than in 96% of UK towns.
42% of residents are 65 or over, more than in 99% of UK towns
Share of residents in each five-year age band, Census 2021.
Residents aged 15 to 24: 5.8% here and 12% across England’s towns. Across the comparison, 18% of residents are 65 or over across England’s towns.
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.
Full-time students: 0.5%, a lower share than 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%.
With residents who moved in within the year at 2.6%, Whittingham is behind 99% of UK towns on that count. Set beside that, 7.9% of adults are full-time students across England’s towns.
34% of households are one person living alone, more than in 80% of UK towns
Household make-up at the 2021 Census. Each square is 1% of households.
Against Northumberland’s towns and England’s towns
People per household
England’s towns.
Shared households of unrelated adults: 2.5% here and 4.3% across England’s towns. Measured more widely, 30% of households are one person living alone across England’s towns.
40% of households live in a detached house, more than in 75% 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
Households in flats are rarer here than in 99% of UK towns. The share of households without a car or van stands at 12%. By way of comparison, 21% of households live in a detached house across England’s towns. Against a figure of 24% across England’s towns, the share of households in terraced houses in Whittingham comes in at 18%.
Fewer residents born abroad than 99% of UK towns: 1.8%
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 90% across England’s towns, 100% of residents have English as their main language here. The largest groups were born in the Americas, Oceania and elsewhere (0.9%) and in EU countries (0.4%). For residents born outside the UK, the comparison across England’s towns is 18%.
99% of residents describe themselves as White British, more than in 99% 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: 99% of Whittingham · Northumberland’s towns 96% · England’s towns 73%.
Religion · all residents
29% of residents said they have no religion, against 37% across England’s towns. The share of residents who describe themselves as White British across England’s towns is 73%.
Adults who have never married make up 18% in Whittingham, less 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
In Whittingham, 62% of adults are married or in a civil partnership, beside 44% across England’s towns. Unpaid care takes 50 hours a week or more for 8 people. Adults who have never married make up 39% across England’s towns.
Degree-level qualifications: 29% of adults
Highest qualification, residents 16 and over, Census 2021.
Highest qualification · residents 16 and over
Whittingham’s adults: 29% with a degree-level qualification and 19% with none, against 34% and 18% across England’s towns.
Whittingham 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Whittingham | 228 | — | 60.7 | 42% | 17% |
| Rothbury | 2,025 | 6.2 mi | 57.7 | 36% | 17% |
| Alnwick | 8,432 | 7.5 mi | 50.5 | 28% | 20% |
| Longframlington | 1,357 | 7.7 mi | 55.5 | 32% | 20% |
| Shilbottle | 1,787 | 8.3 mi | 46.2 | 20% | 27% |
| Felton | 1,270 | 9.9 mi | 55 | 29% | 23% |
| Longhoughton | 1,173 | 11 mi | 45.5 | 18% | 30% |
| Wooler | 1,930 | 11.2 mi | 59.9 | 41% | 13% |
Health, work and homes have their own pages
What this data can and can’t tell you
- “Northumberland’s towns” and “England’s towns” mean their built-up areas. Census comparisons pool every built-up area in Northumberland (or England), summed the same way as Whittingham’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 Whittingham’s residents
What is the population of Whittingham?
The 2021 Census counted 228 people in Whittingham’s built-up area.
What is the average age in Whittingham?
The median age was 60.7 at the 2021 Census. 5.8% of residents were 15 to 24 and 42% were 65 or over.
How diverse is Whittingham?
99% of residents described themselves as White British in 2021, against 73% across England’s towns and 96% across Northumberland’s towns. 1.8% were born outside the UK.
What religion are people in Whittingham?
29% said they had no religion and 62% that they were Christian at the 2021 Census; 0.4% were Muslim and 8% didn’t answer.
Is Whittingham good for families?
17% of households had dependent children in 2021, against 29% across England’s towns. Schools are on Whittingham’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.