Photo: Bill Nicholls · CC BY-SA 2.0Residents with no religion: 47%, a higher share than 86% of UK towns
Flats are home to a fifth of households, against 23% across England’s towns. Meanwhile, with a median age of 41.8, Wantage is younger than 70% of UK towns. The town’s 5,693 households held 13,100 residents at the 2021 Census. Here, 3% of households are unrelated adults sharing a home.
What the Census says about Wantage’s people
Growing faster than most
ONS mid-year estimates put Wantage at 11,400 in 2011 and 13,700 in 2024, up 21%, against 10% for England: faster growth than in 87% of UK towns. Since 2011 ↓
More with no religion than most
47% of residents answered “no religion” in 2021 and 45% Christian, against 37% and 46% across England’s towns. Ethnicity & religion ↓
Written from the data on this page: ONS Census 2021 (output areas summed to the 2022 built-up area) and ONS mid-year population estimates.
Wantage grew +21% from 2011 to 2024, ahead of 87% of UK towns
ONS mid-year estimates, each year indexed to mid-2011 = 100. Wantage’s figure is the small areas (2021 LSOAs) that make up the town.
People, mid-2011 = 100
Change by age, 2011 to 2024
About 11,400 people in 2011; 13,700 in 2024.
Change by age ran from +37% for the 30 to 44 to +6% for the 16 to 29. The largest rise in a single year came from mid-2022 to mid-2023: 540 people.
In Wantage, 20% of residents are 65 or over, fewer than in 61% of UK towns
Share of residents in each five-year age band, Census 2021.
No age band is larger than 30–34: 7.4% of residents. The usual figure: 18% of residents are 65 or over across England’s towns. In Goring, the oldest of Oxfordshire’s towns by this measure, it is 33%.
Median age of UK towns of 2,500+
■ Wantage, 41.8. 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.
Only 4.4% of adults are full-time students in Wantage
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%.
Managerial and professional jobs account for 42% of Wantage’s adults, routine and semi-routine work for 21%, against 33% and 24% across England’s towns. More residents who moved in within the year than in 92% of UK towns: 12%. Full-time students make up 7.9% across England’s towns.
Smaller households than 57% of UK towns: 2.3 people on average
Household make-up at the 2021 Census. Each square is 1% of households.
Against Oxfordshire’s towns and England’s towns
People per household
England’s towns.
30% of households are one person living alone across England’s towns, against 31% in Wantage. Across Wantage, 28% of households have dependent children.
Wantage ranks below 62% of UK towns on households in detached houses: 25%
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
Census figures put households in terraced houses at 21% in Wantage. Households without a car or van make up 16%, against 24% across England’s towns.
Residents born outside the UK: 10%, a higher share than 75% 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
Among residents born abroad, the largest groups were born in EU countries (4.5%) and in the Middle East and Asia (2.2%). Across the comparison, 18% of residents were born outside the UK across England’s towns. Lower than in 70% of UK towns: 96% of residents have English as their main language.
Fewer residents who describe themselves as White British than 70% of UK towns: 88%
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: 88% of Wantage · Oxfordshire’s towns 76% · England’s towns 73%.
Religion · all residents
Leading the other groups after White British: Other White (5.8%), Mixed or multiple (1.8%) and African (0.7%). Elsewhere, 73% of residents describe themselves as White British across England’s towns. 45% of residents describe themselves as Christian, fewer than in 80% of UK towns.
Wantage ranks above 59% of UK towns on adults who have never married: 34%
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 care takes 50 hours a week or more for 272 people. For comparison, nearly two in five adults have never married or formed a civil partnership across England’s towns. Fewer unpaid carers than in 79% of UK towns: 8.3%. Where 44% of adults are married or in a civil partnership across England’s towns, Wantage has 47%.
39% of adults have qualifications at degree level
Highest qualification, residents 16 and over, Census 2021.
Highest qualification · residents 16 and over
Across England’s towns, 34% of adults have a degree-level qualification; in Wantage, 39%, and 14% have none, against 18%.
From a median age of 30 in Grove to 44 in Wantage Town
The town’s 3 neighbourhoods (ONS middle-layer areas with 500+ residents inside it, named by the House of Commons Library), youngest first. Census 2021.
Wantage Town is the oldest area, with 22% aged 65 or over; Grove the youngest (median age 30). Families with children are most common in Grove (54% of households).
Among 406 UK towns of 9,000 to 18,000 people, the 103rd youngest
Median age, Census 2021. Hover a dot for its students and residents born abroad; click for its page.
Aberystwyth is the youngest (25); Sidmouth the oldest (60.4). Nearest to Wantage in age: Pembroke Dock (41.7), Buckhurst Hill (41.8), Helston (41.8) and Tonyrefail (41.8).
Wantage is younger than 2 of its 7 nearest neighbours
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wantage | 13,100 | — | 41.8 | 20% | 28% |
| Grove | 7,942 | 1 mi | 40.8 | 20% | 28% |
| East Challow | 1,031 | 1.2 mi | 38.6 | 17% | 36% |
| East Hanney | 1,233 | 3.4 mi | 41.1 | 19% | 33% |
| East Hendred | 1,367 | 3.7 mi | 44.8 | 20% | 32% |
| Steventon | 2,211 | 4.8 mi | 41.1 | 18% | 32% |
| Stanford in the Vale | 2,302 | 4.9 mi | 45.8 | 22% | 28% |
| Chilton | 1,378 | 5.3 mi | 37 | 13% | 42% |
Health, work and homes have their own pages
What this data can and can’t tell you
- “Oxfordshire’s towns” and “England’s towns” mean their built-up areas. Census comparisons pool every built-up area in Oxfordshire (or England), summed the same way as Wantage’s figures, so households in open countryside are left out. The population trend compares with the whole county and nation.
- Estimates since 2021 are modelled. The ONS builds mid-year estimates from the Census, births, deaths and migration records. Wantage’s trend uses the small areas (2021 LSOAs) with most of their people inside it: 12,308 people in 2021, against 13,100 in the built-up area.
- 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 Wantage’s residents
What is the population of Wantage?
The 2021 Census counted 13,100 people in Wantage’s built-up area. The ONS estimates the same small areas held 13,700 people in mid-2024, 21% more than in 2011.
What is the average age in Wantage?
The median age was 41.8 at the 2021 Census, younger than 70% of UK towns. 9.9% of residents were 15 to 24 and 20% were 65 or over.
How diverse is Wantage?
88% of residents described themselves as White British in 2021, against 73% across England’s towns and 76% across Oxfordshire’s towns. 10% were born outside the UK.
What religion are people in Wantage?
47% said they had no religion and 45% that they were Christian at the 2021 Census; 0.7% were Muslim and 6.4% didn’t answer.
Is Wantage good for families?
28% of households had dependent children in 2021, against 29% across England’s towns. Families are most common in Grove (54% of households). Schools are on Wantage’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) · ONS mid-year population estimates for 2021 LSOAs, mid-2011 to mid-2024 · House of Commons Library MSOA names. 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.