Photo: Martin Pettitt · CC BY 2.0Felixstowe sits below 94% of UK towns for households with dependent children (20%)
36% of households are one person living alone, against 30% across England’s towns. Compared with other places, households in flats are common here: 19%, more than in just over four fifths of UK towns. Census day 2021: 24,218 residents and 11,405 households in Felixstowe. On the census count, 90% of residents describe themselves as White British.
What the Census says about Felixstowe’s people
Older than most towns
Half of Felixstowe’s residents are under 51 and half over, against 44.4 in the typical UK town. 29% 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.
Felixstowe’s population moved +6% on 2011, less than in 57% of UK towns
ONS mid-year estimates, each year indexed to mid-2011 = 100. Felixstowe’s figure is the small areas (2021 LSOAs) that make up the town.
People, mid-2011 = 100
Change by age, 2011 to 2024
About 23,700 people in 2011; 25,100 in 2024.
The 65 and over age group moved most (+30%); the 0 to 15 group moved least (−10%). Mid-2015 to mid-2016 brought the biggest yearly rise, 320 people.
A median age of 51: Felixstowe is older than 89% of UK towns
Share of residents in each five-year age band, Census 2021.
12% of residents are aged 15 to 24 across England’s towns, against 9.4% in Felixstowe. Locally, 29% of residents are 65 or over.
Median age of UK towns of 2,500+
■ Felixstowe, 51. The typical town is 44.4.
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.
A lower share of full-time students than 81% of UK towns, at 4.1%
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%.
31% of Felixstowe’s adults are in managerial and professional jobs and 28% in routine and semi-routine work, against 33% and 24% across England’s towns. Census figures put residents who moved in within the year at 9.1% here. As a yardstick, 7.9% of adults are full-time students across England’s towns.
Smaller households than 93% of UK towns: 2.1 people on average
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.
The share of shared households of unrelated adults tops nearly two thirds of UK towns: 2.7%.
A higher share of households without a car or van than 71% of UK towns, at 20%
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
Here just over a fifth of households live in a terraced house, where the figure across England’s towns is 24%. One household in 5 has no car or van. More households in detached houses than in 52% of UK towns: 30%.
96% of residents have English as their main language, fewer than in 75% 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%
When those born abroad arrived
Main language · residents aged 3 and over
Since 2017: 18% of those born abroad, against 21% across England’s towns. More residents born outside the UK than in 69% of UK towns: 8.9%. The share of residents whose main language is English across England’s towns is 90%. Most residents from abroad were born in EU countries (5.4%) or in the Middle East and Asia (1.5%).
Felixstowe sits above 74% of UK towns for residents with no religion (45%)
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: 90% of Felixstowe · Suffolk’s towns 86% · England’s towns 73%.
Religion · all residents
The next-largest groups, after White British, are Other White (5.4%), Mixed or multiple (1.9%) and Caribbean (0.3%). Residents with no religion make up 37% across England’s towns. Fewer residents who describe themselves as Christian than in 68% of UK towns: 47%.
Felixstowe sits below 71% of UK towns for adults who have never married (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
Here 47% of adults are married or in a civil partnership, where the figure across England’s towns is 44%. At the same time, at 9.8%, the share of unpaid carers is higher than in 61% of UK towns. As a reference point, nearly two in five adults have never married or formed a civil partnership across England’s towns. Some 711 people give 50 hours or more of unpaid care a week.
25% of adults are qualified to degree level
Highest qualification, residents 16 and over, Census 2021.
Highest qualification · residents 16 and over
20% of Felixstowe’s adults have no qualification (18% across England’s towns), and 25% have one at degree level (34%).
From a median age of 42 in Felixstowe West to 59 in Felixstowe East
The town’s 4 neighbourhoods (ONS middle-layer areas with 500+ residents inside it, named by the House of Commons Library), youngest first. Census 2021.
Felixstowe East is the oldest area, with 40% aged 65 or over; Felixstowe West the youngest (median age 42). Families with children are most common in Trimley & Kirton (25% of households).
7th oldest of 257 UK towns of 17,000 to 33,000 people
Median age, Census 2021. Hover a dot for its students and residents born abroad; click for its page.
Ages run from 31.1 in Egham to 55.6 in Brixham. Nearest to Felixstowe in age: Deal (50.3), Broadstairs (50.4), Whitstable (51.3) and Formby (52.1).
Felixstowe is younger than 2 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Felixstowe | 24,218 | — | 51 | 29% | 20% |
| Trimley St Mary | 3,736 | 1.4 mi | 48.4 | 25% | 24% |
| Trimley St Martin | 1,725 | 2.4 mi | 45.9 | 21% | 24% |
| Kirton | 1,245 | 3.1 mi | 51.8 | 28% | 24% |
| Shotley Gate | 1,418 | 3.5 mi | 48.2 | 21% | 26% |
| Harwich | 20,219 | 4.3 mi | 46 | 25% | 25% |
| Martlesham Heath | 2,730 | 7.4 mi | 54.5 | 34% | 18% |
| Martlesham | 1,976 | 7.9 mi | 47.8 | 28% | 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 Felixstowe’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. Felixstowe’s trend uses the small areas (2021 LSOAs) with most of their people inside it: 24,327 people in 2021, against 24,218 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 Felixstowe’s residents
What is the population of Felixstowe?
The 2021 Census counted 24,218 people in Felixstowe’s built-up area. The ONS estimates the same small areas held 25,100 people in mid-2024, 6% more than in 2011.
What is the average age in Felixstowe?
The median age was 51 at the 2021 Census, older than 89% of UK towns. 9.4% of residents were 15 to 24 and 29% were 65 or over.
How diverse is Felixstowe?
90% of residents described themselves as White British in 2021, against 73% across England’s towns and 86% across Suffolk’s towns. 8.9% were born outside the UK.
What religion are people in Felixstowe?
45% said they had no religion and 47% that they were Christian at the 2021 Census; 0.5% were Muslim and 6.5% didn’t answer.
Is Felixstowe good for families?
20% of households had dependent children in 2021, against 29% across England’s towns. Families are most common in Trimley & Kirton (25% of households). Schools are on Felixstowe’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.