Photo: Helen Steed · CC BY-SA 2.0Only 22% of households have dependent children in Beccles
36% of households are one person living alone; across England’s towns the figure is 30%. Beccles’s 4,618 households held 9,807 residents at the 2021 Census. Here, 46% of residents said they have no religion. The median age locally is 48.6, higher than in 77% of UK towns.
What the Census says about Beccles’s people
Many older residents
28% of residents were 65 or over in 2021, more than in 86% of UK towns; 18% of households are someone 66 or over living alone. 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.
+2% since 2011: slower than 78% of UK towns
ONS mid-year estimates, each year indexed to mid-2011 = 100. Beccles’s figure is the small areas (2021 LSOAs) that make up the town.
People, mid-2011 = 100
Change by age, 2011 to 2024
About 10,100 people in 2011; 10,300 in 2024.
Split by age, the 65 and over changed most (+17%) and the 0 to 15 least (−13%). In one year, mid-2022 to mid-2023, the population rose by 70, the most of any year.
Above 86% of UK towns: 28% of residents are 65 or over
Share of residents in each five-year age band, Census 2021.
70–74 is the most common age band: 7.8% of residents, 1.6 times the share across England’s towns. For comparison, 18% of residents are 65 or over across England’s towns. Locally, nearly one in ten residents are aged 15 to 24.
Median age of UK towns of 2,500+
■ Beccles, 48.6. The typical town is 44.4.
Broad ages · share of residents
Women and men · all residents
52% women, 48% men
About 92 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.
In Beccles, 4.2% of adults are full-time students, fewer than in 75% 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%.
By class, 28% of adults are in managerial and professional jobs and 32% in routine and semi-routine work (England’s towns: 33% and 24%). The benchmark for full-time students across England’s towns: 7.9%. Across Beccles, 8.2% of residents lived at another address a year earlier.
Beccles households average 2.1 people, smaller than in 90% of UK towns
Household make-up at the 2021 Census. Each square is 1% of households.
Against Suffolk’s towns and England’s towns
People per household
England’s towns.
Across England’s towns, 4.3% of households are unrelated adults sharing a home; in Beccles, 1.7%.
Beccles ranks above 86% of UK towns on households in terraced houses: 32%
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 share of households without a car or van is 20%, against 24% across England’s towns. Households in flats: 7.3% of the total. Beccles has fewer households in detached houses than 53% of UK towns, at 28%.
A smaller share of residents born outside the UK than 70% of UK towns: 4.5%
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
By birthplace, the largest groups from abroad were born in EU countries (1.9%) and in the Middle East and Asia (1.4%). Residents born outside the UK make up 18% across England’s towns. 99% of residents have English as their main language, more than in 74% of UK towns. Among those born abroad, the share arriving in 2017 or later is 15% (England’s towns: 21%).
Residents who describe themselves as White British make up 94% in Beccles, more than in 71% 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: 94% of Beccles · Suffolk’s towns 86% · England’s towns 73%.
Religion · all residents
The largest groups after White British are Other White (2.5%), Mixed or multiple (1.3%) and Chinese (0.5%). Residents who describe themselves as Christian are rarer here than in 76% of UK towns. Elsewhere, 73% of residents describe themselves as White British across England’s towns.
Beccles sits below 57% of UK towns for adults who have never married (31%)
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
Where 8.7% of residents give unpaid care across England’s towns, Beccles has 9.8%. On average, 39% of adults have never married or formed a civil partnership across England’s towns. Census figures put married adults and civil partners at 45% here.
Qualified to degree level: 24% of adults
Highest qualification, residents 16 and over, Census 2021.
Highest qualification · residents 16 and over
Degree-level qualifications cover 24% of adults in Beccles, 34% across England’s towns; 22% have no qualification, against 18%.
413 UK towns of 7,000 to 13,000 people: this is the 83rd oldest
Median age, Census 2021. Hover a dot for its students and residents born abroad; click for its page.
At the ends of the range sit Tidworth (28.4), the youngest, and Seaton (61), the oldest. Nearest to Beccles in age: Polegate (48.4), Gillingham (48.5), Torpoint (48.6) and Stakeford (48.7).
Older than Beccles: 5 of the 7 towns nearby
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Beccles | 9,807 | — | 48.6 | 28% | 22% |
| Worlingham | 3,618 | 0.9 mi | 50.1 | 29% | 24% |
| Bungay | 5,012 | 5.3 mi | 49.2 | 29% | 23% |
| Thurlton | 1,145 | 5.4 mi | 49.4 | 24% | 27% |
| Ditchingham | 1,997 | 5.4 mi | 51.2 | 31% | 19% |
| Lowestoft | 71,308 | 6.6 mi | 46 | 25% | 25% |
| Kessingland | 4,242 | 6.6 mi | 55 | 34% | 18% |
| Loddon | 2,247 | 6.9 mi | 44.2 | 22% | 26% |
Health, work and homes have their own pages
What this data can and can’t tell you
- “Suffolk’s towns” and “England’s towns” mean their built-up areas. Census comparisons pool every built-up area in Suffolk (or England), summed the same way as Beccles’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. Beccles’s trend uses the small areas (2021 LSOAs) with most of their people inside it: 10,061 people in 2021, against 9,807 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 Beccles’s residents
What is the population of Beccles?
The 2021 Census counted 9,807 people in Beccles’s built-up area. The ONS estimates the same small areas held 10,300 people in mid-2024, 2% more than in 2011.
What is the average age in Beccles?
The median age was 48.6 at the 2021 Census, older than 77% of UK towns. 9.3% of residents were 15 to 24 and 28% were 65 or over.
How diverse is Beccles?
94% of residents described themselves as White British in 2021, against 73% across England’s towns and 86% across Suffolk’s towns. 4.5% were born outside the UK.
What religion are people in Beccles?
46% said they had no religion and 45% that they were Christian at the 2021 Census; 0.3% were Muslim and 6.7% didn’t answer.
Is Beccles good for families?
22% of households had dependent children in 2021, against 29% across England’s towns. Schools are on Beccles’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. 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.