Photo: Richard Webb · CC BY-SA 2.0Bishop's Castle is older than 95% of UK towns: a median age of 53.7
At 2.1 people, the average household compares with 2.4 across England’s towns. Bishop's Castle counted 1,847 residents and 862 households at the 2021 Census. Households with dependent children account for 20%. Compared with other places, households in detached houses are common here: 37%, more than in 70% of UK towns.
What the Census says about Bishop's Castle’s people
Older than most towns
Half of Bishop's Castle’s residents are under 53.7 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).
In Bishop's Castle, 32% of residents are 65 or over, more than in 94% of UK towns
Share of residents in each five-year age band, Census 2021.
70–74 is the most common age band: nearly one in ten residents, 1.8 times the share across England’s towns. To put it in context, 18% of residents are 65 or over across England’s towns. Residents aged 15 to 24: 7.7% of the total.
Broad ages · share of residents
Women and men · all residents
51% women, 49% men
About 95 men for every 100 women. Across England, 51% of residents are women.
Bishop's Castle ranks below 96% of UK towns on full-time students: 3.3%
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%.
In Bishop's Castle, 28% of adults work in managerial and professional jobs and 26% in routine and semi-routine work, against 33% and 24% across England’s towns. On average, 7.9% of adults are full-time students across England’s towns. The census found that 9.1% of residents lived at another address a year earlier locally.
37% of households are one person living alone, a share 94% of UK towns don’t reach
Household make-up at the 2021 Census. Each square is 1% of households.
Against Shropshire’s towns and England’s towns
People per household
England’s towns.
Where 4.3% of households are unrelated adults sharing a home across England’s towns, Bishop's Castle has 2%. As a yardstick, 30% of households are one person living alone across England’s towns.
Only 6.9% of households live in a flat or apartment in Bishop's Castle
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
Compared with 24% across England’s towns, 17% of households live in a terraced house here. Across England’s towns, the share of households in flats is 23%. In Bishop's Castle, 16% of households have no car or van.
Residents whose main language is English: 99%, a higher share than 79% 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
Most residents from abroad were born in EU countries (1.6%) or in the Middle East and Asia (1.1%). Residents whose main language is English make up 90% across England’s towns. Lower than in 72% of UK towns: 4.4% of residents were born outside the UK.
A larger share of residents who describe themselves as White British than 77% of UK towns: 95%
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 Bishop's Castle · Shropshire’s towns 88% · England’s towns 73%.
Religion · all residents
By its share of residents who describe themselves as Christian (51%), Bishop's Castle is above 61% of UK towns. On average, 73% of residents describe themselves as White British across England’s towns. The next-largest groups, after White British, are Other White (2.7%), Mixed or multiple (0.8%) and Chinese (0.4%).
Married adults and civil partners: 42%, a lower share than 84% 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
One in ten residents give unpaid care, against 8.7% across England’s towns. Against that, 44% of adults are married or in a civil partnership across England’s towns. Heavy unpaid care, 50 hours a week or more, falls to 39 residents.
31% of adults have qualifications at degree level
Highest qualification, residents 16 and over, Census 2021.
Highest qualification · residents 16 and over
Against 34% across England’s towns, 31% of adults here have a degree-level qualification, while 21% hold no qualification (18%).
Of the 5 towns nearest Bishop's Castle, 1 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bishop's Castle | 1,847 | — | 53.7 | 32% | 20% |
| Craven Arms | 2,563 | 7.6 mi | 45.4 | 24% | 25% |
| Church Stretton | 3,576 | 8.8 mi | 61.1 | 43% | 15% |
| Knighton | 2,911 | 10.5 mi | 51.1 | 30% | 19% |
| Minsterley | 1,719 | 10.6 mi | 43.6 | 21% | 28% |
| Pontesbury | 1,968 | 11.8 mi | 53.2 | 34% | 22% |
Health, work and homes have their own pages
What this data can and can’t tell you
- “Shropshire’s towns” and “England’s towns” mean their built-up areas. Census comparisons pool every built-up area in Shropshire (or England), summed the same way as Bishop's Castle’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 Bishop's Castle’s residents
What is the population of Bishop's Castle?
The 2021 Census counted 1,847 people in Bishop's Castle’s built-up area.
What is the average age in Bishop's Castle?
The median age was 53.7 at the 2021 Census. 7.7% of residents were 15 to 24 and 32% were 65 or over.
How diverse is Bishop's Castle?
95% of residents described themselves as White British in 2021, against 73% across England’s towns and 88% across Shropshire’s towns. 4.4% were born outside the UK.
What religion are people in Bishop's Castle?
42% said they had no religion and 51% that they were Christian at the 2021 Census; 0.3% were Muslim and 5.2% didn’t answer.
Is Bishop's Castle good for families?
20% of households had dependent children in 2021, against 29% across England’s towns. Schools are on Bishop's Castle’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.