Photo: AtticTapestry · CC BY-SA 4.0A smaller share of households in flats than 99% of UK towns: 1.2%
The figure for residents who describe themselves as Christian is 60% in Whittington and 46% across England’s towns. Census day 2021: 1,618 residents and 672 households in the village. For Whittington, the census puts shared households of unrelated adults at 1.6%. Higher than in 87% of UK towns: 48% of households live in a detached house.
Half of Whittington is over 46.7, older than 66% of UK towns
Share of residents in each five-year age band, Census 2021.
Compared with 18% across England’s towns, nearly a quarter of residents are 65 or over here. The largest age band is 50–54: nearly one in ten residents.
Broad ages · share of residents
Women and men · all residents
53% women, 47% men
About 89 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.
Only 4.6% of adults are full-time students in Whittington
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%.
Just over one in ten residents lived at another address a year earlier; across England’s towns the figure is 11%. Typically, 7.9% of adults are full-time students across England’s towns.
In Whittington, 27% of households are one person living alone, fewer than in 75% 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.
A household here has 2.4 people on average; across England’s towns, 2.4. On households with dependent children, Whittington sits higher than 64% of UK towns: 29%. One-person households: 30% across England’s towns, for comparison.
Whittington sits below 77% of UK towns for households without a car or van (11%)
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, the share of households in terraced houses is 24%; Whittington has 14%. One household in every 9 has no car or van.
Below 79% of UK towns: 3.9% of residents were born outside the UK
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
Among residents born abroad, the largest groups were born in EU countries (1%) and in the Middle East and Asia (1%). The share of residents born outside the UK across England’s towns is 18%. 98% of residents have English as their main language, against 90% across England’s towns.
In Whittington, 32% of residents said they have no religion, fewer than in 90% 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: 95% of Whittington · Shropshire’s towns 88% · England’s towns 73%.
Religion · all residents
Leading the other groups after White British: Other White (1.4%), Mixed or multiple (1.3%) and Bangladeshi (0.3%). 95% of residents describe themselves as White British, a higher share than in 79% of UK towns. Across England’s towns, the share of residents with no religion is 37%.
Married adults and civil partners make up 53% in Whittington, more than in 82% 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
Unpaid carers giving 50 hours or more a week: 61. At 11%, the share of unpaid carers is higher than in four fifths of UK towns. The comparison figure for married adults and civil partners is 44% across England’s towns. Compared with 39% across England’s towns, 30% of adults have never married or formed a civil partnership here.
33% of adults hold a degree-level qualification
Highest qualification, residents 16 and over, Census 2021.
Highest qualification · residents 16 and over
At degree level, Whittington counts 33% of its adults, against 34% across England’s towns; at the other end, 15% have no qualification (18%).
Of the 7 towns nearest Whittington, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Whittington | 1,618 | — | 46.7 | 24% | 29% |
| Oswestry | 17,500 | 2 mi | 45.8 | 23% | 24% |
| Gobowen | 3,046 | 2.1 mi | 45.6 | 24% | 27% |
| Morda | 1,976 | 3 mi | 42.6 | 20% | 33% |
| St Martins | 2,692 | 3.5 mi | 46.3 | 24% | 26% |
| Weston Rhyn | 1,381 | 3.9 mi | 44 | 23% | 25% |
| Ellesmere | 4,268 | 5.1 mi | 49.4 | 29% | 23% |
| Chirk | 3,930 | 5.1 mi | 45.3 | 22% | 28% |
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 Whittington’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 Whittington’s residents
What is the population of Whittington?
The 2021 Census counted 1,618 people in Whittington’s built-up area.
What is the average age in Whittington?
The median age was 46.7 at the 2021 Census. 10% of residents were 15 to 24 and 24% were 65 or over.
How diverse is Whittington?
95% 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 Whittington?
32% said they had no religion and 60% that they were Christian at the 2021 Census; 0.7% were Muslim and 6% didn’t answer.
Is Whittington good for families?
29% of households had dependent children in 2021, against 29% across England’s towns. Schools are on Whittington’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.