Photo: Robert Edwards · CC BY-SA 2.0Older than 99% of UK towns: half of Fornham St Martin is over 60
Against a figure of 29% across England’s towns, the share of households with dependent children in Fornham St Martin comes in at 19%. The 2021 Census put the village’s population at 952, in 394 households. For Fornham St Martin, the census puts households in detached houses at 69%. Few places have so few households in terraced houses: 6.8% here, fewer than in 96% of UK towns.
Fornham St Martin sits above 99% of UK towns for residents aged 65 and over (44%)
Share of residents in each five-year age band, Census 2021.
Set against 12% across England’s towns, 7.3% of residents are aged 15 to 24 in Fornham St Martin. Measured more widely, 18% of residents are 65 or over across England’s towns.
Broad ages · share of residents
Women and men · all residents
53% women, 47% men
About 88 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 Fornham St Martin, 3.5% of adults are full-time students, fewer than in 94% 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, 36% of adults are in managerial and professional jobs and 22% in routine and semi-routine work (England’s towns: 33% and 24%). Elsewhere, 7.9% of adults are full-time students across England’s towns. Residents who moved in within the year account for 6.6%.
Fornham St Martin households average 2.2 people, smaller than in 82% 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.
Where 30% of households are one person living alone across England’s towns, Fornham St Martin has 27%. Shared households of unrelated adults account for 2.3%.
Households without a car or van: 11%, a lower share than 74% of UK towns
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 6.8% of households live in a flat or apartment, where the figure across England’s towns is 23%. Against that, nearly a quarter of households have no car or van across England’s towns.
More residents whose main language is English than 78% of UK towns: 99%
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
Among residents born abroad, the largest groups were born in EU countries (2.4%) and in the Americas, Oceania and elsewhere (1.8%). As a yardstick, nine in ten residents have English as their main language across England’s towns. 6.1% of residents were born outside the UK, against 18% across England’s towns.
Fornham St Martin sits below 87% of UK towns for residents with no religion (33%)
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 Fornham St Martin · Suffolk’s towns 86% · England’s towns 73%.
Religion · all residents
Across England’s towns, 46% of residents describe themselves as Christian; in Fornham St Martin, 54%. Add to that, the village has more residents who describe themselves as White British than 75% of UK towns, at 95%. Set beside that, 37% of residents said they have no religion across England’s towns. Other than White British, most residents describe themselves as Other White (3.2%), Mixed or multiple (1.4%) and Arab (0.4%).
A lower share of adults who have never married than 89% of UK towns, at 26%
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 giving 50 hours or more a week: 27. Across the comparison, nearly two in five adults have never married or formed a civil partnership across England’s towns. Married adults and civil partners are more common here than in 66% of UK towns. Little separates the share of unpaid carers here, 9.1%, from the figure across England’s towns.
31% of adults have qualifications at degree level
Highest qualification, residents 16 and over, Census 2021.
Highest qualification · residents 16 and over
Degree-level qualifications are held by 31% of adults in Fornham St Martin (England’s towns: 34%), and no qualification by 23% (England’s towns: 18%).
The towns around Fornham St Martin are all younger
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fornham St Martin | 952 | — | 60 | 44% | 19% |
| Bury St Edmunds | 41,279 | 1.8 mi | 43.2 | 22% | 23% |
| Great Barton | 1,848 | 2.8 mi | 54.2 | 35% | 23% |
| Thurston | 3,009 | 4.6 mi | 49.1 | 27% | 25% |
| Ixworth | 2,296 | 5.6 mi | 49.7 | 27% | 26% |
| Barrow | 1,961 | 5.7 mi | 45.3 | 25% | 27% |
| Stanton | 2,316 | 8.2 mi | 44.3 | 22% | 28% |
| Woolpit | 1,838 | 8.6 mi | 52 | 31% | 21% |
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 Fornham St Martin’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 Fornham St Martin’s residents
What is the population of Fornham St Martin?
The 2021 Census counted 952 people in Fornham St Martin’s built-up area.
What is the average age in Fornham St Martin?
The median age was 60 at the 2021 Census. 7.3% of residents were 15 to 24 and 44% were 65 or over.
How diverse is Fornham St Martin?
95% of residents described themselves as White British in 2021, against 73% across England’s towns and 86% across Suffolk’s towns. 6.1% were born outside the UK.
What religion are people in Fornham St Martin?
33% said they had no religion and 54% that they were Christian at the 2021 Census; 0.5% were Muslim and 12% didn’t answer.
Is Fornham St Martin good for families?
19% of households had dependent children in 2021, against 29% across England’s towns. Schools are on Fornham St Martin’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.