Photo: Colin Smith · CC BY-SA 2.0Older than 88% of UK towns: half of Wells is over 50.7
In Wells, 22% of households have dependent children, beside 29% across England’s towns. There were 5,750 households locally at the 2021 Census, home to 12,097 residents. Locally, 37% of households are one person living alone. Few places have as many households in flats: 15% here, more than in just over two thirds of UK towns.
What the Census says about Wells’s people
Older than most towns
Half of Wells’s residents are under 50.7 and half over, against 44.4 in the typical UK town. 30% are 65 or over, against 18% across England’s towns. Ages ↓
Written from the data on this page: ONS Census 2021 (output areas summed to the 2022 built-up area) and ONS mid-year population estimates.
Slower than most: +7% since 2011, behind 51% of UK towns
ONS mid-year estimates, each year indexed to mid-2011 = 100. Wells’s figure is the small areas (2021 LSOAs) that make up the town.
People, mid-2011 = 100
Change by age, 2011 to 2024
About 10,500 people in 2011; 11,300 in 2024.
No year added more people than mid-2015 to mid-2016: 240. The 65 and over age group moved most (+29%); the 16 to 29 group moved least (−7%).
30% of residents are 65 or over, a share 90% of UK towns don’t reach
Share of residents in each five-year age band, Census 2021.
The biggest five-year age group is 70–74, with 7.5% of residents, 1.6 times the share across England’s towns. Measured more widely, 18% of residents are 65 or over across England’s towns. Here, one in ten residents are aged 15 to 24.
Median age of UK towns of 2,500+
■ Wells, 50.7. The typical town is 44.4.
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.
A larger share of full-time students than 72% of UK towns: 5.4%
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%.
On residents who moved in within the year, 11% here is much the same as across England’s towns. Measured more widely, 7.9% of adults are full-time students across England’s towns.
The Census was taken on 21 March 2021, in term time, so students were counted at their term addresses.
Households here average 2.1 people, below 95% 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.
For Wells, the census puts shared households of unrelated adults at 2.4%.
More households without a car or van than 67% of UK towns: 19%
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
The figure for households in detached houses is 23% in Wells and 21% across England’s towns. Households in terraced houses account for 26%. The benchmark for households without a car or van across England’s towns: 24%.
Above 72% of UK towns: 9.4% 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%
When those born abroad arrived
Main language · residents aged 3 and over
The largest groups were born in EU countries (4.3%) and in the Middle East and Asia (2.2%). The usual figure: 18% of residents were born outside the UK across England’s towns. Fewer residents whose main language is English than in nearly two thirds of UK towns: 97%. Born abroad and arrived since 2017: just over a fifth of that group, against 21% across England’s towns.
Wells sits above 63% 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: 91% of Wells · Somerset’s towns 89% · England’s towns 73%.
Religion · all residents
Against a figure of 37% across England’s towns, the share of residents with no religion in Wells comes in at 39%. Locally, just over nine in ten residents describe themselves as White British. The usual figure: 46% of residents describe themselves as Christian across England’s towns.
Fewer adults who have never married than 67% of UK towns: 30%
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
325 residents care, unpaid, for at least 50 hours a week. The usual figure: 39% of adults have never married or formed a civil partnership across England’s towns. Fewer married adults and civil partners than in 58% of UK towns: 47%. On unpaid carers, 9.3% here is much the same as across England’s towns.
Adults qualified to degree level or above: 38%
Highest qualification, residents 16 and over, Census 2021.
Highest qualification · residents 16 and over
With 38% of its adults qualified to degree level, Wells compares with 34% across England’s towns; another 14% hold no qualification (18%).
From a median age of 44 in Draycott, Westbury & Wookey to 52 in Wells Town
The town’s 3 neighbourhoods (ONS middle-layer areas with 500+ residents inside it, named by the House of Commons Library), youngest first. Census 2021.
Wells Town is the oldest area, with 30% aged 65 or over; Draycott, Westbury & Wookey the youngest (median age 44). Families with children are most common in Draycott, Westbury & Wookey (27% of households).
42nd highest median age among 432 UK towns of 8,000 to 16,000
Median age, Census 2021. Hover a dot for its students and residents born abroad; click for its page.
The youngest is Aberystwyth (25) and the oldest Sidmouth (60.4). Nearest to Wells in age: Cottingham (50.7), Poynton (50.7), Morpeth (50.8) and Wetherby (50.8).
Wells is younger than 3 of its 7 nearest neighbours
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wells | 12,097 | — | 50.7 | 30% | 22% |
| Pilton | 1,104 | 4.1 mi | 51.9 | 28% | 23% |
| Shepton Mallet | 9,645 | 4.6 mi | 41.4 | 19% | 27% |
| Glastonbury | 8,304 | 5 mi | 50.6 | 25% | 20% |
| Draycott | 1,069 | 5.5 mi | 51.5 | 28% | 25% |
| Wedmore | 1,424 | 7.2 mi | 56.6 | 38% | 21% |
| Street | 12,707 | 7.2 mi | 41.9 | 21% | 26% |
| Chilcompton | 1,857 | 7.3 mi | 48.1 | 23% | 29% |
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 Wells’s figures, so households in open countryside are left out. The population trend compares with the whole county and nation.
- Estimates since 2021 are modelled. The ONS builds mid-year estimates from the Census, births, deaths and migration records. Wells’s trend uses the small areas (2021 LSOAs) with most of their people inside it: 11,138 people in 2021, against 12,097 in the built-up area.
- 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 Wells’s residents
What is the population of Wells?
The 2021 Census counted 12,097 people in Wells’s built-up area. The ONS estimates the same small areas held 11,300 people in mid-2024, 7% more than in 2011.
What is the average age in Wells?
The median age was 50.7 at the 2021 Census, older than 88% of UK towns. 9.6% of residents were 15 to 24 and 30% were 65 or over.
How diverse is Wells?
91% of residents described themselves as White British in 2021, against 73% across England’s towns and 89% across Somerset’s towns. 9.4% were born outside the UK.
What religion are people in Wells?
39% said they had no religion and 52% that they were Christian at the 2021 Census; 0.2% were Muslim and 6.6% didn’t answer.
Is Wells good for families?
22% of households had dependent children in 2021, against 29% across England’s towns. Families are most common in Draycott, Westbury & Wookey (27% of households). Schools are on Wells’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) · ONS mid-year population estimates for 2021 LSOAs, mid-2011 to mid-2024 · House of Commons Library MSOA names. 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.