Photo: Noisar · CC BY-SA 2.0Whitchurch ranks above 93% of UK towns on residents who describe themselves as Christian: 59%
Compared with 4.3% across England’s towns, 1.7% of households are unrelated adults sharing a home here. There were 4,435 households in Whitchurch at the 2021 Census, home to 9,856 residents. For Whitchurch, the census puts households with dependent children at 24%. Residents aged 65 and over are more common here than in nearly two thirds of UK towns.
A +3% change since 2011: slower than 70% of UK towns
ONS mid-year estimates, each year indexed to mid-2011 = 100. Whitchurch’s figure is the small areas (2021 LSOAs) that make up the town.
People, mid-2011 = 100
Change by age, 2011 to 2024
About 9,900 people in 2011; 10,200 in 2024.
Mid-2018 to mid-2019 brought the biggest yearly rise, 160 people. Growth was strongest among the 65 and over (+33%) and weakest among the 16 to 29 (−16%).
Older than 69% of UK towns: half of Whitchurch is over 47
Share of residents in each five-year age band, Census 2021.
The biggest five-year age group is 50–54, with 8% of residents. In Church Stretton, the oldest of Shropshire’s towns by this measure, it is 43%.
Median age of UK towns of 2,500+
■ Whitchurch, 47. The typical town is 44.4.
Broad ages · share of residents
Women and men · all residents
51% women, 49% men
About 96 men for every 100 women. Across England, 51% of residents are women.
Full-time students make up 4.2% in Whitchurch, less than in 76% 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%.
28% of Whitchurch’s adults are in managerial and professional jobs and 32% in routine and semi-routine work, against 33% and 24% across England’s towns. Full-time students make up 7.9% across England’s towns. The census found that 9.3% of residents lived at another address a year earlier here.
2.2 people per household, fewer than in 78% of UK towns
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.
By its share of one-person households (33%), Whitchurch is above 74% of UK towns.
Whitchurch sits above 63% of UK towns for households without a car or van (18%)
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
Across England’s towns, 23% of households live in a flat or apartment; in Whitchurch, 13%. To put it in context, 24% of households have no car or van across England’s towns. Households in detached houses: nearly a third of the total.
97% of residents have English as their main language, below 64% 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
Of residents born abroad, 19% arrived in 2017 or later, against 21% across England’s towns. As a reference point, nine in ten residents have English as their main language across England’s towns. The two biggest birthplaces abroad are in EU countries (3.6%) and in the Middle East and Asia (1.1%).
No religion: 34% of residents, a lower share than 84% of UK towns
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: 93% of Whitchurch · Shropshire’s towns 88% · England’s towns 73%.
Religion · all residents
The next-largest groups, after White British, are Other White (4%), Mixed or multiple (0.9%) and Indian (0.3%). Compared with other places, residents who describe themselves as White British are common here: 93%, more than in 61% of UK towns. The comparison figure for residents with no religion is 37% across England’s towns.
Fewer married adults and civil partners than 63% of UK towns: 46%
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
Heavy unpaid care, 50 hours a week or more, falls to 214 residents. Compared with other places, unpaid carers are scarce here: 8.8%, fewer than in nearly two thirds of UK towns. As a yardstick, 44% of adults are married or in a civil partnership across England’s towns. Across England’s towns, the share of adults who have never married is 39%; Whitchurch has 33%.
27% 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, 27% of adults here have a degree-level qualification, while 21% hold no qualification (18%).
Of 413 UK towns its size (7,000 to 13,000 people), the 116th oldest
Median age, Census 2021. Hover a dot for its students and residents born abroad; click for its page.
Tidworth is the youngest (28.4); Seaton the oldest (61). Nearest to Whitchurch in age: Codsall (46.9), Sprotbrough (47), Penkridge (47) and Pelsall (47).
Median age: 5 of the 7 towns around Whitchurch 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Whitchurch | 9,856 | — | 47 | 24% | 24% |
| Prees Higher Heath | 1,226 | 3.8 mi | 53.2 | 31% | 21% |
| Malpas | 1,361 | 4.9 mi | 51.3 | 32% | 20% |
| Prees | 1,013 | 5 mi | 50.8 | 27% | 22% |
| Audlem | 1,833 | 7.6 mi | 58.2 | 39% | 19% |
| Wem | 6,287 | 7.9 mi | 47.6 | 27% | 22% |
| Market Drayton | 12,062 | 9.2 mi | 45.8 | 25% | 26% |
| Nantwich | 18,741 | 9.7 mi | 46.1 | 24% | 24% |
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 Whitchurch’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. Whitchurch’s trend uses the small areas (2021 LSOAs) with most of their people inside it: 10,143 people in 2021, against 9,856 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 Whitchurch’s residents
What is the population of Whitchurch?
The 2021 Census counted 9,856 people in Whitchurch’s built-up area. The ONS estimates the same small areas held 10,200 people in mid-2024, 3% more than in 2011.
What is the average age in Whitchurch?
The median age was 47 at the 2021 Census, older than 69% of UK towns. 9.6% of residents were 15 to 24 and 24% were 65 or over.
How diverse is Whitchurch?
93% of residents described themselves as White British in 2021, against 73% across England’s towns and 88% across Shropshire’s towns. 5.8% were born outside the UK.
What religion are people in Whitchurch?
34% said they had no religion and 59% that they were Christian at the 2021 Census; 0.4% were Muslim and 5.3% didn’t answer.
Is Whitchurch good for families?
24% of households had dependent children in 2021, against 29% across England’s towns. Schools are on Whitchurch’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. 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.