Photo: Trevor Harris · CC BY-SA 2.0A median age of 50.1: Bildeston is older than 85% of UK towns
By its share of residents who describe themselves as White British (95%), Bildeston is above 78% of UK towns. Census figures put households without a car or van at 9.8% locally. Compared with other places, married adults and civil partners are common here: 51%, more than in two thirds of UK towns. The village had 1,096 residents in 485 households at the 2021 Census.
What the Census says about Bildeston’s people
More with no religion than most
49% of residents answered “no religion” in 2021 and 44% Christian, against 37% and 46% across England’s towns. Ethnicity & religion ↓
Older than most towns
Half of Bildeston’s residents are under 50.1 and half over, against 44.4 in the typical UK town. 24% 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).
Fewer young people than 86% of UK towns: 8.5% are 15 to 24
Share of residents in each five-year age band, Census 2021.
Compared with 18% across England’s towns, nearly a quarter of residents are 65 or over here. In Halesworth, the oldest of Suffolk’s towns by this measure, it is 35%.
Broad ages · share of residents
Women and men · all residents
51% women, 49% men
About 96 men for every 100 women. Across England, 51% of residents are women.
A lower share of full-time students than 99% of UK towns, at 2.3%
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%.
Managerial and professional jobs take in a third of adults here, routine and semi-routine work 26% (England’s towns: 33% and 24%). Few places have so few residents who moved in within the year: 8.2% here, fewer than in just over three fifths of UK towns. The wider picture: 7.9% of adults are full-time students across England’s towns.
Households with dependent children make up 24% in Bildeston, less than in 79% 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.
In Bildeston the average household is 2.3 people, beside 2.4 across England’s towns. Households with dependent children: 29% across England’s towns, for comparison. One-person households are rarer here than in 59% of UK towns.
Bildeston ranks below 64% of UK towns on households in flats: 8.4%
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 in terraced houses tops 55% of UK towns: 22%. 25% of households live in a detached house, a lower share than in 62% of UK towns. Across the comparison, nearly a quarter of households live in a flat or apartment across England’s towns.
Residents whose main language is English make up 99% in Bildeston, more than in 89% 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
Residents born outside the UK make up 4.8%, against 18% across England’s towns. Measured more widely, 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 (2.2%) and in the Americas, Oceania and elsewhere (1.4%).
Above 92% of UK towns: 49% of residents said they have no religion
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 Bildeston · Suffolk’s towns 86% · England’s towns 73%.
Religion · all residents
Compared with 46% across England’s towns, 44% of residents describe themselves as Christian here. For residents with no religion, the comparison across England’s towns is 37%. The largest groups after White British are Other White (2.5%), Mixed or multiple (1.6%) and Indian (0.1%).
Fewer adults who have never married than 72% of UK towns: 29%
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: 8.6%. The comparison figure for adults who have never married is 39% across England’s towns. 32 residents care, unpaid, for at least 50 hours a week.
32% of adults hold a degree-level qualification
Highest qualification, residents 16 and over, Census 2021.
Highest qualification · residents 16 and over
Degree-level qualifications are held by 32% of Bildeston’s adults, against 34% across England’s towns; 18% have no qualification (18%).
Median age: 3 of the 7 towns around Bildeston are older
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bildeston | 1,096 | — | 50.1 | 24% | 24% |
| Great Bricett | 1,518 | 2.8 mi | 28.2 | 8.8% | 40% |
| Elmsett | 1,001 | 4.2 mi | 54 | 32% | 23% |
| Lavenham | 1,224 | 4.7 mi | 61.6 | 42% | 11% |
| Hadleigh | 8,638 | 4.7 mi | 46.7 | 27% | 27% |
| Great Waldingfield | 1,377 | 6.5 mi | 51.1 | 30% | 27% |
| Stowmarket | 21,537 | 6.7 mi | 40.2 | 19% | 29% |
| Acton | 1,666 | 6.7 mi | 45.3 | 25% | 27% |
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 Bildeston’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 Bildeston’s residents
What is the population of Bildeston?
The 2021 Census counted 1,096 people in Bildeston’s built-up area.
What is the average age in Bildeston?
The median age was 50.1 at the 2021 Census. 8.5% of residents were 15 to 24 and 24% were 65 or over.
How diverse is Bildeston?
95% of residents described themselves as White British in 2021, against 73% across England’s towns and 86% across Suffolk’s towns. 4.8% were born outside the UK.
What religion are people in Bildeston?
49% said they had no religion and 44% that they were Christian at the 2021 Census; 0.2% were Muslim and 5.8% didn’t answer.
Is Bildeston good for families?
24% of households had dependent children in 2021, against 29% across England’s towns. Schools are on Bildeston’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.