Photo: Neil Owen · CC BY-SA 2.0Older than 92% of UK towns: half of Downside is over 52.2
Nearly a quarter of households have no car or van across England’s towns, against 3.5% in Downside. Households with dependent children account for 19%. Lower than in 96% of UK towns: 37% of residents describe themselves as Christian. The village had 127 residents in 58 households at the 2021 Census.
28% of residents are 65 or over, a share 84% of UK towns don’t reach
Share of residents in each five-year age band, Census 2021.
50–54 is the most common age band: 14% of residents, 2 times the share across England’s towns. For comparison, 18% of residents are 65 or over across England’s towns. Residents aged 15 to 24: just over a tenth of the total.
Broad ages · share of residents
Women and men · all residents
47% women, 53% men
About 111 men for every 100 women. Across England, 51% of residents are women.
A smaller share of full-time students than 99% of UK towns: 2.6%
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 Downside, a third of adults work in managerial and professional jobs and 18% in routine and semi-routine work, against 33% and 24% across England’s towns. Residents who moved in within the year: 6.3% of the total. The benchmark for full-time students across England’s towns: 7.9%.
Fewer shared households of unrelated adults than 83% of UK towns: 1.7%
Household make-up at the 2021 Census. Each square is 1% of households.
Against Somerset’s towns and England’s towns
People per household
England’s towns.
The average household has 2.2 people, against 2.4 across England’s towns. One-person households are more common here than in 73% of UK towns. Set beside that, 4.3% of households are unrelated adults sharing a home across England’s towns.
Downside: 77% of households live in a detached house, above 99% of UK towns
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 flats is 23%; Downside has 7%. The comparison figure for households in detached houses is 21% across England’s towns. Households in terraced houses: 8.8% of the total.
A larger share of residents whose main language is English than 99% of UK towns: 100%
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
By birthplace, the largest groups from abroad were born in the Americas, Oceania and elsewhere (3.2%) and in EU countries (1.6%). Across England’s towns, the share of residents whose main language is English is 90%. Downside has fewer residents born outside the UK than nearly three fifths of UK towns, at 5.5%.
54% said they have no religion, more than in 98% 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: 97% of Downside · Somerset’s towns 89% · England’s towns 73%.
Religion · all residents
Next after White British come Other White (1.6%), Caribbean (0.8%) and Mixed or multiple (0.8%). The usual figure: 37% of residents said they have no religion across England’s towns. 97% of residents describe themselves as White British, more than in 96% of UK towns.
More unpaid carers than 99% of UK towns: 13% of residents
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
In Downside, 52% of adults are married or in a civil partnership, beside 44% across England’s towns. The share of unpaid carers across England’s towns is 8.7%. Locally, 31% of adults have never married or formed a civil partnership.
Among adults, 27% hold a degree-level qualification
Highest qualification, residents 16 and over, Census 2021.
Highest qualification · residents 16 and over
Degree-level qualifications cover 27% of adults in Downside, 34% across England’s towns; 22% have no qualification, against 18%.
The towns around Downside are all younger
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Downside | 127 | — | 52.2 | 28% | 19% |
| Backwell | 4,347 | 2.4 mi | 46.7 | 24% | 34% |
| Wrington | 1,997 | 3.2 mi | 49.5 | 27% | 26% |
| Long Ashton | 5,184 | 3.3 mi | 42.6 | 19% | 37% |
| Nailsea | 15,919 | 3.8 mi | 50.9 | 30% | 24% |
| Chew Magna | 1,249 | 4.2 mi | 51.7 | 31% | 25% |
| Blagdon | 1,056 | 4.3 mi | 49.3 | 27% | 27% |
| Congresbury | 2,795 | 4.6 mi | 49.2 | 28% | 25% |
Health, work and homes have their own pages
What this data can and can’t tell you
- “Somerset’s towns” and “England’s towns” mean their built-up areas. Census comparisons pool every built-up area in Somerset (or England), summed the same way as Downside’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 Downside’s residents
What is the population of Downside?
The 2021 Census counted 127 people in Downside’s built-up area.
What is the average age in Downside?
The median age was 52.2 at the 2021 Census. 12% of residents were 15 to 24 and 28% were 65 or over.
How diverse is Downside?
97% of residents described themselves as White British in 2021, against 73% across England’s towns and 89% across Somerset’s towns. 5.5% were born outside the UK.
What religion are people in Downside?
54% said they had no religion and 37% that they were Christian at the 2021 Census; 0% were Muslim and 7.1% didn’t answer.
Is Downside good for families?
19% of households had dependent children in 2021, against 29% across England’s towns. Schools are on Downside’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.