Photo: Roger Cornfoot · CC BY-SA 2.0Halse is older than 94% of UK towns: a median age of 53.4
Set against 30% across England’s towns, just over a fifth of households are one person living alone in Halse. The village is home to 296 residents in 125 households, by the 2021 Census. Households without a car or van account for 6.4%. More residents who describe themselves as White British than in 83% of UK towns: 96%.
Halse: 28% of residents are 65 or over, above 84% of UK towns
Share of residents in each five-year age band, Census 2021.
In Halse, 10% of residents are aged 15 to 24, beside 12% across England’s towns. Measured more widely, 18% of residents are 65 or over across England’s towns.
Broad ages · share of residents
Women and men · all residents
52% women, 48% men
About 91 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.
6.8% of adults are full-time students, a share 90% of UK towns don’t reach
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%.
Across England’s towns, just over one in ten residents lived at another address a year earlier; in Halse, 9.2%. The benchmark for full-time students across England’s towns: 7.9%.
The Census was taken on 21 March 2021, in term time, so students were counted at their term addresses.
Households with dependent children: 25%, a lower share than 73% of UK towns
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.
Shared households of unrelated adults are about as common here as across England’s towns, at 4%. The wider picture: 29% of households have dependent children across England’s towns. Households here average 2.4 people each.
Halse sits above 94% of UK towns for households in detached houses (56%)
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
Nearly a quarter of households live in a terraced house across England’s towns, against 10% in Halse. On top of that, on households in flats, Halse sits lower than just over three fifths of UK towns: 8.8%. Across England’s towns, 21% of households live in a detached house.
Halse: 9.5% of residents 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
Where 90% of residents have English as their main language across England’s towns, Halse has 98%. For residents born outside the UK, the comparison across England’s towns is 18%. Residents born abroad were most often born in the Americas, Oceania and elsewhere (3.7%), then in EU countries (2.4%).
Halse sits above 64% of UK towns for residents who describe themselves as Christian (52%)
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 Halse · Somerset’s towns 89% · England’s towns 73%.
Religion · all residents
After White British, the most common groups are Other White (3.4%), Mixed or multiple (0.7%) and Chinese (0.3%). Across England’s towns, 46% of residents describe themselves as Christian. Lower than in nearly three quarters of UK towns: 37% of residents said they have no religion.
More married adults and civil partners than 85% of UK towns: 54%
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
The number giving 50 or more hours of unpaid care a week is 6. Halse has more unpaid carers than 92% of UK towns, at 11%. Typically, 44% of adults are married or in a civil partnership across England’s towns. Compared with 39% across England’s towns, 27% of adults have never married or formed a civil partnership here.
Adults with a degree-level qualification: 46%
Highest qualification, residents 16 and over, Census 2021.
Highest qualification · residents 16 and over
Halse’s adults: 46% with a degree-level qualification and 5.9% with none, against 34% and 18% across England’s towns. A levels are the highest qualification of 20%, many of them students still working towards a degree.
Nearby, 1 of 7 towns have older populations than Halse
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Halse | 296 | — | 53.4 | 28% | 25% |
| Cotford St Luke | 2,411 | 1.8 mi | 36.9 | 12% | 39% |
| Milverton | 1,112 | 1.8 mi | 53.9 | 30% | 22% |
| Bishops Lydeard | 2,050 | 2.1 mi | 50.9 | 30% | 24% |
| Wiveliscombe | 2,316 | 3.6 mi | 51 | 29% | 23% |
| Norton Fitzwarren | 3,770 | 3.8 mi | 35.7 | 14% | 31% |
| Wellington | 13,815 | 4.5 mi | 45 | 24% | 25% |
| Rockwell Green | 2,854 | 5 mi | 46.7 | 22% | 27% |
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.
- “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 Halse’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 Halse’s residents
What is the population of Halse?
The 2021 Census counted 296 people in Halse’s built-up area.
What is the average age in Halse?
The median age was 53.4 at the 2021 Census. 10% of residents were 15 to 24 and 28% were 65 or over.
How diverse is Halse?
96% of residents described themselves as White British in 2021, against 73% across England’s towns and 89% across Somerset’s towns. 9.5% were born outside the UK.
What religion are people in Halse?
37% said they had no religion and 52% that they were Christian at the 2021 Census; 0% were Muslim and 9.5% didn’t answer.
Is Halse good for families?
25% of households had dependent children in 2021, against 29% across England’s towns. Schools are on Halse’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.