Photo: Simon Burchell · CC BY-SA 4.05.5% of households have no car or van, below 98% of UK towns
Set against 30% across England’s towns, nearly a quarter of households are one person living alone in Sparkford. The 2021 Census counted 557 residents in 223 households. Married adults and civil partners account for 56%. 47% of households live in a detached house, more than in 87% of UK towns.
A median age of 40.9: Sparkford is younger than 76% of UK towns
Share of residents in each five-year age band, Census 2021.
Against a figure of 18% across England’s towns, the share of residents aged 65 and over in Sparkford comes in at 22%. One in ten residents are aged 15 to 24.
Broad ages · share of residents
Women and men · all residents
50% women, 50% men
About an even split. Across England, 51% of residents are women.
A lower share of full-time students than 66% of UK towns, at 4.5%
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%.
The share of residents who moved in within the year tops 92% of UK towns: 12%. The usual figure: 7.9% of adults are full-time students across England’s towns.
Larger households than 91% of UK towns: 2.5 people on average
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.
Where 4.3% of households are unrelated adults sharing a home across England’s towns, Sparkford has 2.2%. For Sparkford, the census puts households with dependent children at 31%.
Sparkford ranks below 96% of UK towns on households in flats: 2.3%
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
Terraced houses are home to 23% of households, against 24% across England’s towns.
96% of residents have English as their main language, fewer than in 70% 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%
Main language · residents aged 3 and over
Here 7.4% of residents were born outside the UK, where the figure across England’s towns is 18%. By way of comparison, nine in ten residents have English as their main language across England’s towns. Among residents born abroad, the largest groups were born in EU countries (3.8%) and in the Americas, Oceania and elsewhere (1.3%).
Sparkford ranks above 78% of UK towns on residents who describe themselves as White British: 95%
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 Sparkford · Somerset’s towns 89% · England’s towns 73%.
Religion · all residents
Beyond White British, the biggest groups are Other White (4.5%), Chinese (0.2%) and Mixed or multiple (0.2%). Compared with other places, residents who describe themselves as Christian are common here: 52%, more than in 64% of UK towns. Residents who describe themselves as White British make up 73% across England’s towns. 41% of residents said they have no religion (England’s towns: 37%).
27% of adults have never married or formed a civil partnership, below 86% 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 are about as common here as across England’s towns, at 7.7%. For adults who have never married, the comparison across England’s towns is 39%. 16 people care, unpaid, for 50 hours or more a week.
Degree-level qualifications: held by 35% of adults
Highest qualification, residents 16 and over, Census 2021.
Highest qualification · residents 16 and over
Degree-level qualifications cover 35% of adults in Sparkford, 34% across England’s towns; 12% have no qualification, against 18%.
Among its 7 nearest neighbours, 6 are older than Sparkford
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sparkford | 557 | — | 40.9 | 22% | 31% |
| Castle Cary | 3,451 | 4.5 mi | 51.9 | 32% | 21% |
| Keinton Mandeville | 1,216 | 4.6 mi | 50.7 | 26% | 27% |
| Ilchester | 2,062 | 5.4 mi | 35.3 | 14% | 37% |
| Sherborne | 10,359 | 6.1 mi | 50.2 | 32% | 20% |
| Milborne Port | 3,207 | 6.1 mi | 47.8 | 26% | 24% |
| Wincanton | 6,744 | 6.7 mi | 41.9 | 22% | 28% |
| Templecombe | 1,657 | 6.8 mi | 46.9 | 25% | 24% |
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 Sparkford’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 Sparkford’s residents
What is the population of Sparkford?
The 2021 Census counted 557 people in Sparkford’s built-up area.
What is the average age in Sparkford?
The median age was 40.9 at the 2021 Census. 10% of residents were 15 to 24 and 22% were 65 or over.
How diverse is Sparkford?
95% of residents described themselves as White British in 2021, against 73% across England’s towns and 89% across Somerset’s towns. 7.4% were born outside the UK.
What religion are people in Sparkford?
41% said they had no religion and 52% that they were Christian at the 2021 Census; 0% were Muslim and 6.6% didn’t answer.
Is Sparkford good for families?
31% of households had dependent children in 2021, against 29% across England’s towns. Schools are on Sparkford’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.