Photo: Geographer · CC BY-SA 2.0Bures sits below 94% of UK towns for households in flats (2.8%)
With a median age of 48.4, Bures is older than 76% of UK towns. The village is home to 1,183 residents in 541 households, by the 2021 Census. For Bures, the census puts residents who describe themselves as White British at 97%. Across England’s towns, nearly two in five adults have never married or formed a civil partnership; in the village, 27%.
Bures sits below 89% of UK towns for residents aged 15 to 24 (8.3%)
Share of residents in each five-year age band, Census 2021.
The biggest five-year age group is 70–74, with 7.9% of residents, 1.6 times the share across England’s towns. By way of comparison, 12% of residents are aged 15 to 24 across England’s towns. The share of residents aged 65 and over stands at 27%.
Broad ages · share of residents
Women and men · all residents
52% women, 48% men
About 93 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 Bures, 3.3% of adults are full-time students, fewer than in 97% 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%.
Managerial and professional jobs take in nearly two in five adults here, routine and semi-routine work 17% (England’s towns: 33% and 24%). The share of residents who moved in within the year stands at 9.4%. Measured more widely, 7.9% of adults are full-time students across England’s towns.
Bures households average 2.2 people, smaller than in 80% 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, 29% of households have dependent children; in Bures, 25%. On the census count, 3% of households are unrelated adults sharing a home. Few places have as many one-person households: 31% here, more than in 60% of UK towns.
Bures ranks below 82% of UK towns on households without a car or van: 10%
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
33% of households live in a detached house; across England’s towns the figure is 21%. Locally, 28% of households live in a terraced house. Typically, nearly a quarter of households have no car or van across England’s towns.
Residents whose main language is English: 99%, a higher share than 97% 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
By its share of residents born outside the UK (5.6%), Bures is below 58% of UK towns. Across England’s towns, the share of residents whose main language is English is 90%. Among residents born abroad, the largest groups were born in EU countries (2.5%) and in the Americas, Oceania and elsewhere (1.9%).
Residents who describe themselves as Christian make up 51% in Bures, more than in 60% 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 Bures · Suffolk’s towns 86% · England’s towns 73%.
Religion · all residents
The largest groups after White British are Other White (2.1%), Mixed or multiple (1.1%) and Arab (0.1%). Elsewhere, 46% of residents describe themselves as Christian across England’s towns. Few places have as many residents with no religion: 42% here, more than in 57% of UK towns.
A larger share of married adults and civil partners than 73% of UK towns: 52%
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
At 8.6%, unpaid carers sit close to the figure across England’s towns. As a yardstick, 44% of adults are married or in a civil partnership across England’s towns. Unpaid care takes 50 hours a week or more for 27 people.
Degree-level qualifications: 35% of adults
Highest qualification, residents 16 and over, Census 2021.
Highest qualification · residents 16 and over
Degree-level qualifications are held by 35% of adults in Bures (England’s towns: 34%), and no qualification by 15% (England’s towns: 18%).
Nearby, 2 of 7 towns have older populations than Bures
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bures | 1,183 | — | 48.4 | 27% | 25% |
| Sudbury | 23,922 | 4.7 mi | 44.9 | 23% | 25% |
| Earls Colne | 3,360 | 4.7 mi | 44.6 | 23% | 30% |
| Great Horkesley | 2,232 | 5.2 mi | 42.2 | 21% | 35% |
| West Bergholt | 3,175 | 5.3 mi | 48.6 | 25% | 28% |
| Eight Ash Green | 1,769 | 5.3 mi | 45.9 | 24% | 27% |
| Great Waldingfield | 1,377 | 5.7 mi | 51.1 | 30% | 27% |
| Halstead | 13,902 | 6.3 mi | 42.7 | 20% | 28% |
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 Bures’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 Bures’s residents
What is the population of Bures?
The 2021 Census counted 1,183 people in Bures’s built-up area.
What is the average age in Bures?
The median age was 48.4 at the 2021 Census. 8.3% of residents were 15 to 24 and 27% were 65 or over.
How diverse is Bures?
97% of residents described themselves as White British in 2021, against 73% across England’s towns and 86% across Suffolk’s towns. 5.6% were born outside the UK.
What religion are people in Bures?
42% said they had no religion and 51% that they were Christian at the 2021 Census; 0.3% were Muslim and 5.8% didn’t answer.
Is Bures good for families?
25% of households had dependent children in 2021, against 29% across England’s towns. Schools are on Bures’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.