Photo: John M · CC BY-SA 2.0A median age of 66.3: Oldbury is older than 99% of UK towns
Shared households of unrelated adults: 1.2% here and 4.3% across England’s towns. 57% of adults are married or in a civil partnership, a higher share than in 92% of UK towns. There were 162 households in Oldbury at the 2021 Census, home to 373 residents. The census found that 21% of residents said they have no religion here.
More residents aged 65 and over than 99% of UK towns: 52%
Share of residents in each five-year age band, Census 2021.
5.4% of residents are aged 15 to 24; across England’s towns the figure is 12%. Set beside that, 18% of residents are 65 or over across England’s towns.
Broad ages · share of residents
Women and men · all residents
57% women, 43% men
About 75 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.
Below 99% of UK towns: 3% of adults are full-time students
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%.
Residents who moved in within the year: 6%, below 97% of UK towns. Full-time students: 7.9% across England’s towns, for comparison.
Fewer family households than 98% of UK towns: 17% in Oldbury
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.
34% of households are one person living alone, against 30% across England’s towns. For households with dependent children, the comparison across England’s towns is 29%. There are 2 people in the average household.
Oldbury ranks below 98% of UK towns on households in terraced houses: 4.3%
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
Where nearly a quarter of households live in a flat or apartment across England’s towns, Oldbury has 24%. In Oldbury, two in five households live in a detached house. Households without a car or van are more common here than in 60% of UK towns.
Oldbury ranks below 91% of UK towns on residents born outside the UK: 3%
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
Where nine in ten residents have English as their main language across England’s towns, Oldbury has 100%. The largest groups were born in EU countries (1.3%) and in the Middle East and Asia (1.1%). Across England’s towns, the share of residents born outside the UK is 18%.
Oldbury ranks above 99% of UK towns on residents who describe themselves as Christian: 68%
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: 96% of Oldbury · Shropshire’s towns 88% · England’s towns 73%.
Religion · all residents
Of the other groups, the largest are Other White (3.2%), African (0.3%) and Caribbean (0.3%). Few places have as many residents who describe themselves as White British: 96% here, more than in 84% of UK towns. The share of residents who describe themselves as Christian across England’s towns is 46%.
15% of adults have never married or formed a civil partnership, below 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
Some 8 people give 50 hours or more of unpaid care a week. Compared with other places, unpaid carers are scarce here: 8.5%, fewer than in nearly three quarters of UK towns. Across England’s towns, 39% of adults have never married or formed a civil partnership.
Degree-level qualifications reach 30% of adults
Highest qualification, residents 16 and over, Census 2021.
Highest qualification · residents 16 and over
30% of Oldbury’s adults have a degree-level qualification, against 34% across England’s towns; 22% have none (18%).
Every neighbour of Oldbury has a younger population
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oldbury | 373 | — | 66.3 | 52% | 17% |
| Bridgnorth | 12,172 | 0.7 mi | 50.5 | 28% | 22% |
| Highley | 3,305 | 5.4 mi | 48.2 | 25% | 25% |
| Alveley | 1,505 | 5.5 mi | 56.3 | 37% | 20% |
| Broseley | 5,596 | 6.5 mi | 50.2 | 26% | 25% |
| Much Wenlock | 1,766 | 7.4 mi | 56.6 | 38% | 18% |
| Pattingham | 1,773 | 8 mi | 48.5 | 28% | 29% |
| Swindon | 1,134 | 9.3 mi | 53.3 | 30% | 19% |
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 Oldbury’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 Oldbury’s residents
What is the population of Oldbury?
The 2021 Census counted 373 people in Oldbury’s built-up area.
What is the average age in Oldbury?
The median age was 66.3 at the 2021 Census. 5.4% of residents were 15 to 24 and 52% were 65 or over.
How diverse is Oldbury?
96% of residents described themselves as White British in 2021, against 73% across England’s towns and 88% across Shropshire’s towns. 3% were born outside the UK.
What religion are people in Oldbury?
21% said they had no religion and 68% that they were Christian at the 2021 Census; 0.3% were Muslim and 9.9% didn’t answer.
Is Oldbury good for families?
17% of households had dependent children in 2021, against 29% across England’s towns. Schools are on Oldbury’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.