Park Farmhouse · Photo: Sandy Gerrard · CC BY-SA 2.0Fewer households without a car or van than 93% of UK towns: 7.6%
Compared with 73% across England’s towns, 96% of residents describe themselves as White British here. Glemsford has more residents aged 65 and over than 71% of UK towns, at 25%. Census day 2021: 3,693 residents and 1,630 households here. Households in flats: 5.7% of the total.
From 2011 to 2024, Glemsford outgrew 66% of UK towns: +12%
ONS mid-year estimates, each year indexed to mid-2011 = 100. Glemsford’s figure is the small areas (2021 LSOAs) that make up the town.
People, mid-2011 = 100
Change by age, 2011 to 2024
About 3,700 people in 2011; 4,100 in 2024.
Split by age, the 65 and over changed most (+64%) and the 16 to 29 least (−10%). The largest rise in a single year came from mid-2013 to mid-2014: 110 people.
A lower share of residents aged 15 to 24 than 79% of UK towns, at 8.8%
Share of residents in each five-year age band, Census 2021.
With a median age of 46.6, Glemsford is older than 66% of UK towns. By way of comparison, 12% of residents are aged 15 to 24 across England’s towns. More residents are 70–74 than any other five-year age: 7.9% of residents, 1.6 times the share across England’s towns.
Median age of UK towns of 2,500+
■ Glemsford, 46.6. The typical town is 44.4.
Broad ages · share of residents
Women and men · all residents
50% women, 50% men
About an even split. Across England, 51% of residents are women.
Below 89% of UK towns: 3.8% of adults are full-time students
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%.
In Glemsford, 30% of adults work in managerial and professional jobs and 27% in routine and semi-routine work, against 33% and 24% across England’s towns. Here, nearly one in ten residents lived at another address a year earlier. Against that, 7.9% of adults are full-time students across England’s towns.
Glemsford sits below 73% of UK towns for households with dependent children (25%)
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, the share of shared households of unrelated adults is 4.3%; Glemsford has 1.9%. What’s more, on one-person households, Glemsford sits lower than 63% of UK towns: 28%. The comparison figure for households with dependent children is 29% across England’s towns. The average household has 2.3 people.
Households in detached houses: 32%, a higher share than 58% 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
At 24%, households in terraced houses sit close to the figure across England’s towns. 5.7% of households live in a flat, less than in 80% of UK towns; 32% in a detached house, against 21% across England’s towns.
Fewer residents born abroad than 92% of UK towns: 2.9%
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
The largest groups were born in EU countries (1.4%) and in the Americas, Oceania and elsewhere (0.7%). Few places have as many residents whose main language is English: 99% here, more than in 90% of UK towns. The comparison figure for residents born outside the UK is 18% across England’s towns. Of residents born abroad, 2.8% arrived in 2017 or later, against 21% across England’s towns.
Residents with no religion: 44%, a higher share than 73% 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: 96% of Glemsford · Suffolk’s towns 86% · England’s towns 73%.
Religion · all residents
Leading the other groups after White British: Other White (1.8%), Mixed or multiple (1%) and Chinese (0.2%). As a yardstick, 37% of residents said they have no religion across England’s towns. Lower than in nearly two thirds of UK towns: 48% of residents describe themselves as Christian.
A higher share of married adults and civil partners than 60% of UK towns, at 50%
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
For 98 residents, unpaid care runs to 50 hours or more a week. Few places have so few adults who have never married: 32% here, fewer than in 53% of UK towns. As a yardstick, 44% of adults are married or in a civil partnership across England’s towns. On unpaid carers, 9.2% here is much the same as across England’s towns.
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 Glemsford, 34% across England’s towns; 19% have no qualification, against 18%.
262nd youngest of 530 UK towns of 3,000 to 5,000 people
Median age, Census 2021. Hover a dot for its students and residents born abroad; click for its page.
Bailrigg is the youngest (18.9); Milford on Sea the oldest (64.6). Nearest to Glemsford in age: Bilsthorpe (46.6), Long Buckby (46.6), Toddington (46.6) and Leonard Stanley and King's Stanley (46.6).
Nearby, 4 of 7 towns have older populations than Glemsford
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Glemsford | 3,693 | — | 46.6 | 25% | 25% |
| Long Melford | 3,895 | 2.6 mi | 54.5 | 35% | 19% |
| Clare | 2,278 | 4 mi | 53.2 | 33% | 19% |
| Acton | 1,666 | 4.6 mi | 45.3 | 25% | 27% |
| Sudbury | 23,922 | 5.3 mi | 44.9 | 23% | 25% |
| Lavenham | 1,224 | 5.4 mi | 61.6 | 42% | 11% |
| Great Waldingfield | 1,377 | 5.6 mi | 51.1 | 30% | 27% |
| Cock and End | 1,346 | 7.1 mi | 34.9 | 3% | 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 Glemsford’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. Glemsford’s trend uses the small areas (2021 LSOAs) with most of their people inside it: 4,055 people in 2021, against 3,693 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 Glemsford’s residents
What is the population of Glemsford?
The 2021 Census counted 3,693 people in Glemsford’s built-up area. The ONS estimates the same small areas held 4,100 people in mid-2024, 12% more than in 2011.
What is the average age in Glemsford?
The median age was 46.6 at the 2021 Census, older than 66% of UK towns. 8.8% of residents were 15 to 24 and 25% were 65 or over.
How diverse is Glemsford?
96% of residents described themselves as White British in 2021, against 73% across England’s towns and 86% across Suffolk’s towns. 2.9% were born outside the UK.
What religion are people in Glemsford?
44% said they had no religion and 48% that they were Christian at the 2021 Census; 0.2% were Muslim and 6.9% didn’t answer.
Is Glemsford good for families?
25% of households had dependent children in 2021, against 29% across England’s towns. Schools are on Glemsford’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.