Photo: Richard Law · CC BY-SA 2.0Sheriffhales is older than 95% of UK towns: a median age of 53.7
Households in terraced houses: 5.7%, below 97% of UK towns. Here, 64% of adults are married or in a civil partnership. 4.2% of households have no car or van, fewer than in 99% of UK towns. Census day 2021: 361 residents and 148 households in Sheriffhales.
13% of residents are aged 15 to 24, more than in 95% of UK towns
Share of residents in each five-year age band, Census 2021.
More residents are 55–59 than any other five-year age: 14% of residents, 2.1 times the share across England’s towns. The census found that 22% of residents are 65 or over in Sheriffhales. For comparison, 12% of residents are aged 15 to 24 across England’s towns.
Broad ages · share of residents
Women and men · all residents
49% women, 51% men
About an even split. Across England, 51% of residents are women.
5.7% of adults are full-time students, more than in 80% 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%.
On residents who moved in within the year, 11% here is much the same as across England’s towns. The share of full-time students across England’s towns is 7.9%.
The Census was taken on 21 March 2021, in term time, so students were counted at their term addresses.
Fewer one-person households than 98% of UK towns: 20%
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.
A household here has 2.5 people on average; across England’s towns, 2.4. Census figures put households with dependent children at 21% in Sheriffhales. Few places have as many shared households of unrelated adults: 4.7% here, more than in 95% of UK towns. Against that, 30% of households are one person living alone across England’s towns.
Sheriffhales sits above 99% of UK towns for households in detached houses (70%)
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
1.4% of households live in a flat or apartment (England’s towns: 23%). Households in detached houses: 21% across England’s towns, for comparison.
3.9% of residents were born outside the UK, fewer than in 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
In Sheriffhales, 98% of residents have English as their main language, beside 90% across England’s towns. Measured more widely, 18% of residents were born outside the UK across England’s towns. Residents born abroad were most often born in EU countries (2.8%), then in the Americas, Oceania and elsewhere (0.8%).
Sheriffhales sits above 97% of UK towns for residents who describe themselves as Christian (63%)
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: 94% of Sheriffhales · Shropshire’s towns 88% · England’s towns 73%.
Religion · all residents
Behind White British, the largest groups are Other White (3.3%), Mixed or multiple (1.7%) and Chinese (0.3%). Measured more widely, 46% of residents describe themselves as Christian across England’s towns. At 32%, the share of residents with no religion is lower than in 90% of UK towns. Set against 73% across England’s towns, 94% of residents describe themselves as White British in Sheriffhales.
A larger share of unpaid carers than 96% of UK towns: 12%
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
Adults who have never married: 24%, below 95% of UK towns. As a yardstick, 8.7% of residents give unpaid care across England’s towns. Unpaid carers giving 50 hours or more a week: 10.
Adults qualified to degree level or above: 42%
Highest qualification, residents 16 and over, Census 2021.
Highest qualification · residents 16 and over
Degree-level qualifications are held by 42% of Sheriffhales’s adults, against 34% across England’s towns; 12% have no qualification (18%).
Sheriffhales 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sheriffhales | 361 | — | 53.7 | 22% | 21% |
| Shifnal | 8,973 | 2.7 mi | 41.9 | 20% | 29% |
| Newport | 14,191 | 4.4 mi | 44.4 | 24% | 26% |
| Telford | 156,890 | 4.9 mi | 39 | 16% | 31% |
| Albrighton | 6,983 | 5.5 mi | 39.3 | 21% | 25% |
| Wheaton Aston | 1,995 | 5.7 mi | 51.6 | 30% | 22% |
| Edgmond | 1,560 | 5.8 mi | 23.9 | 18% | 20% |
| Gnosall | 4,039 | 6.9 mi | 52.2 | 29% | 21% |
Health, work and homes have their own pages
What this data can and can’t tell you
- The Census was taken in a lockdown, in term time. 21 March 2021 fell in term time, and students were asked to give their term-time address, so most were counted where they study. Some may have been living with family that day.
- “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 Sheriffhales’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 Sheriffhales’s residents
What is the population of Sheriffhales?
The 2021 Census counted 361 people in Sheriffhales’s built-up area.
What is the average age in Sheriffhales?
The median age was 53.7 at the 2021 Census. 13% of residents were 15 to 24 and 22% were 65 or over.
How diverse is Sheriffhales?
94% of residents described themselves as White British in 2021, against 73% across England’s towns and 88% across Shropshire’s towns. 3.9% were born outside the UK.
What religion are people in Sheriffhales?
32% said they had no religion and 63% that they were Christian at the 2021 Census; 0% were Muslim and 3.9% didn’t answer.
Is Sheriffhales good for families?
21% of households had dependent children in 2021, against 29% across England’s towns. Schools are on Sheriffhales’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.