Photo: Michael Garlick · CC BY-SA 2.0Peebles ranks above 99% of UK towns on residents with no religion: 57%
The typical household size is 2.1 people, against 2.1 across Scotland’s towns. Half of Peebles’s residents are over 49.4, older than in 82% of UK towns. This Scottish Borders town is home to 9,117 residents in 4,300 households, by the 2022 Census. On the census count, 31% of households live in a flat or apartment.
Residents aged 15 to 24 make up 8.4% in Peebles, less than in 87% of UK towns
Share of residents in each five-year age band, Census 2022.
The biggest five-year age group is 55–59, with 8.2% of residents. Elsewhere, 12% of residents are aged 15 to 24 across Scotland’s towns. More residents aged 65 and over than in 77% of UK towns: 26%. In Kelso, the oldest of Scottish Borders’ towns by this measure, it is 33%.
Median age of UK towns of 2,500+
■ Peebles, 49.4. 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 Scotland, 51% of residents are women. Women live longer than men, so towns with many older residents have more women.
Peebles ranks above 51% of UK towns on full-time students: 4.9%
What adults did at the 2022 Census (the NS-SEC classes).
Adults by occupation class · residents 16 and over
By class, just over two in five adults are in managerial and professional jobs and 22% in routine and semi-routine work (Scotland’s towns: 33% and 25%). The benchmark for full-time students across Scotland’s towns: 9.4%.
Peebles sits below 95% of UK towns for shared households of unrelated adults (1.4%)
Household make-up at the 2022 Census. Each square is 1% of households.
Against Scottish Borders’ towns and Scotland’s towns
People per household
Scotland’s towns.
Across Scotland’s towns, 38% of households are one person living alone; in Peebles, 37%. For comparison, 3.5% of households are unrelated adults sharing a home across Scotland’s towns. In Peebles, nearly a quarter of households have dependent children.
In Peebles, 22% of households have no car or van, more than in 80% of UK towns
Accommodation type and cars or vans per household, Census 2022. Owning and renting are on Cost of living.
Type of home
Cars or vans · share of households
The figure for households in terraced houses is 17% in Peebles and 19% across Scotland’s towns. On average, 29% of households have no car or van across Scotland’s towns. The census found that 30% of households live in a detached house in the town.
97% of residents have English as their main language, fewer than in 65% of UK towns
Country of birth, year of arrival and main language, Census 2022.
Born outside the UK, by region · share of all residents; the bar runs to 15%
When those born abroad arrived
Main language · residents aged 3 and over
The largest groups were born in EU countries (4%) and in the Americas, Oceania and elsewhere (1.3%). Measured more widely, 94% of residents have English as their main language across Scotland’s towns. On residents born outside the UK, Peebles sits higher than just over three fifths of UK towns: 7.5%. The newest arrivals, from 2017 or later, are 16% of those born abroad (against 34% across Scotland’s towns).
Below 97% of UK towns: 35% of residents describe themselves as Christian
How residents described themselves at the 2022 Census. Lines join the lowest and highest of the three figures.
Ethnic groups other than White British · all residents
White British, not charted: 92% of Peebles · Scottish Borders’ towns 93% · Scotland’s towns 86%.
Religion · all residents
Of the other groups, the largest are Other White (5.8%), Mixed or multiple (0.8%) and African (0.2%). Higher than in 50% of UK towns: 92% of residents describe themselves as White British. Elsewhere, nearly two in five residents describe themselves as Christian across Scotland’s towns.
Only 27% of adults have never married or formed a civil partnership in Peebles
Legal partnership status (residents 16 and over) and unpaid care (residents 3 and over), Census 2022.
Partnership status · residents 16 and over
Unpaid care given · share of residents 3 and over
By its share of married adults and civil partners (52%), Peebles is above 75% of UK towns. Adults who have never married make up 40% across Scotland’s towns. Across Peebles, just over one in ten residents give unpaid care.
Degree-level qualifications reach 42% of adults
Highest qualification, residents 16 and over, Census 2022.
Highest qualification · residents 16 and over
Across Scotland’s towns, 17% of adults have no qualification; in Peebles, 14%, while 42% hold one at degree level (32%).
81st oldest of 483 UK towns of 6,000 to 12,000 people
Median age, Census 2022. Hover a dot for its students and residents born abroad; click for its page.
Ages run from 28.4 in Tidworth to 65.3 in Barton on Sea. Nearest to Peebles in age: Fakenham (49.4), Hollywood (49.4), Ross-on-Wye (49.6) and Chalford (49.6).
The places around Peebles
Nearby towns coloured by median age, Census 2022. Tap a town for its page.
| Town | People | Away | Median age | 65+ | Homes with children |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Peebles | 9,117 | — | 49.4 | 26% | 24% |
| Innerleithen | 3,152 | 5.6 mi | 50.4 | 26% | 22% |
Health, work and homes have their own pages
What this data can and can’t tell you
- “Scottish Borders’ towns” and “Scotland’s towns” mean their towns. Census comparisons pool every locality in Scottish Borders (or Scotland), summed the same way as Peebles’s figures, so households in open countryside are left out.
- Small counts are blurred. National Records of Scotland adjusts small 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 Peebles’s residents
What is the population of Peebles?
The 2022 Census counted 9,117 people in Peebles’s locality.
What is the average age in Peebles?
The median age was 49.4 at the 2022 Census, older than 82% of UK towns. 8.4% of residents were 15 to 24 and 26% were 65 or over.
How diverse is Peebles?
92% of residents described themselves as White British in 2022, against 86% across Scotland’s towns and 93% across Scottish Borders’ towns. 7.5% were born outside the UK.
What religion are people in Peebles?
57% said they had no religion and 35% that they were Christian at the 2022 Census; 0.3% were Muslim and 6.2% didn’t answer.
Is Peebles good for families?
24% of households had dependent children in 2022, against 24% across Scotland’s towns. Schools are on Peebles’s schools page.
Sources: Scotland’s Census 2022 (National Records of Scotland), output areas summed to the NRS 2022 locality (UV101b, UV103, UV104, UV113, UV201, UV204b, UV205, UV212, UV301, UV402, UV405, UV406, UV501, UV607, UV801). 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.