Manor Farmhouse with Attached Range of Outbuildings · Photo: NotFromUtrecht · CC BY-SA 3.019% of households are one person living alone, below 99% of UK towns
Nearly a quarter of households live in a flat or apartment across England’s towns, against 2.3% in Meare. The village counted 990 residents and 402 households at the 2021 Census. The share of households without a car or van stands at 5.9%. Few places have as many residents who describe themselves as White British: 97% here, more than in 94% of UK towns.
Meare sits below 95% of UK towns for residents aged 15 to 24 (7.7%)
Share of residents in each five-year age band, Census 2021.
Compared with 18% across England’s towns, 21% of residents are 65 or over here. By contrast, the median age in Meare is 45.8, higher than in 60% of UK towns. As a reference point, 12% of residents are aged 15 to 24 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.
Full-time students: 3.7%, a lower share than 92% 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%.
36% of Meare’s adults are in managerial and professional jobs and 22% in routine and semi-routine work, against 33% and 24% across England’s towns. Residents who moved in within the year: 10% of the total. To put it in context, 7.9% of adults are full-time students across England’s towns.
2.5 people per household, more than in 89% 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.
30% of households have dependent children, against 29% across England’s towns. The census found that 4.5% of households are unrelated adults sharing a home in Meare.
Households in detached houses: 57%, a higher share than 94% 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
Locally, just over a fifth of households live in a terraced house.
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
Residents born outside the UK: 4.4% here and 18% across England’s towns. 100% of residents have English as their main language.
Residents with no religion: 43%, a higher share than 61% 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 Meare · Somerset’s towns 89% · England’s towns 73%.
Religion · all residents
The groups that follow White British are Other White (2.1%), Mixed or multiple (0.9%) and Chinese (0.1%). Set beside that, 37% of residents said they have no religion across England’s towns. Lower than in 65% of UK towns: 47% of residents describe themselves as Christian.
Meare: 56% of adults are married or in a civil partnership, above 91% 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
There is little gap on unpaid carers: 9%, about the same as across England’s towns. In Meare, 26% of adults have never married or formed a civil partnership. The usual figure: 44% of adults are married or in a civil partnership across England’s towns.
Qualified to degree level: 34% of adults
Highest qualification, residents 16 and over, Census 2021.
Highest qualification · residents 16 and over
Across England’s towns, 34% of adults have a degree-level qualification; in Meare, 34%, and 15% have none, against 18%.
6 of the 7 nearest towns are older than Meare
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Meare | 990 | — | 45.8 | 21% | 30% |
| Walton | 1,149 | 3.3 mi | 47.3 | 25% | 30% |
| Glastonbury | 8,304 | 3.5 mi | 50.6 | 25% | 20% |
| Street | 12,707 | 3.9 mi | 41.9 | 21% | 26% |
| Wedmore | 1,424 | 3.9 mi | 56.6 | 38% | 21% |
| Draycott | 1,069 | 6.1 mi | 51.5 | 28% | 25% |
| Woolavington | 2,324 | 6.5 mi | 50.6 | 28% | 22% |
| Wells | 12,097 | 6.6 mi | 50.7 | 30% | 22% |
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 Meare’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 Meare’s residents
What is the population of Meare?
The 2021 Census counted 990 people in Meare’s built-up area.
What is the average age in Meare?
The median age was 45.8 at the 2021 Census. 7.7% of residents were 15 to 24 and 21% were 65 or over.
How diverse is Meare?
97% of residents described themselves as White British in 2021, against 73% across England’s towns and 89% across Somerset’s towns. 4.4% were born outside the UK.
What religion are people in Meare?
43% said they had no religion and 47% that they were Christian at the 2021 Census; 0% were Muslim and 7.5% didn’t answer.
Is Meare good for families?
30% of households had dependent children in 2021, against 29% across England’s towns. Schools are on Meare’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.