Photo: Geographer · CC BY-SA 2.0A median age of 54.2: Great Barton is older than 96% of UK towns
4.3% of households live in a terraced house, against 24% across England’s towns. Locally, four in five households live in a detached house. Adults who have never married are rarer here than in 99% of UK towns. There were 776 households in Great Barton at the 2021 Census, home to 1,848 residents.
What the Census says about Great Barton’s people
Older than most towns
Half of Great Barton’s residents are under 54.2 and half over, against 44.4 in the typical UK town. 35% 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).
35% of residents are 65 or over, more than in 97% of UK towns
Share of residents in each five-year age band, Census 2021.
7.5% of residents are aged 15 to 24, against 12% across England’s towns. Across the comparison, 18% of residents are 65 or over across England’s towns.
Broad ages · share of residents
Women and men · all residents
52% women, 48% men
About 94 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 smaller share of full-time students than 86% of UK towns: 3.9%
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 46% of adults here, routine and semi-routine work 15% (England’s towns: 33% and 24%). Residents who moved in within the year account for 8%. To put it in context, 7.9% of adults are full-time students across England’s towns.
Great Barton sits below 95% of UK towns for one-person households (22%)
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 households with dependent children trails 83% of UK towns: 23%. Set beside that, 30% of households are one person living alone across England’s towns. Each household has 2.4 people on average. Shared households of unrelated adults are rarer here than in 66% of UK towns.
3.1% of households live in a flat or apartment, below 92% 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
8.1% of households have no car or van, against 24% across England’s towns. Across England’s towns, households in flats come to 23%.
99% of residents have English as their main language, 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%
When those born abroad arrived
Main language · residents aged 3 and over
14% of the town’s residents born abroad came in 2017 or later, set against 21% across England’s towns. Great Barton has more residents born outside the UK than 65% of UK towns, at 8.2%. Typically, nine in ten residents have English as their main language across England’s towns. Most residents from abroad were born in EU countries (3.3%) or in the Middle East and Asia (2.2%).
More residents who describe themselves as Christian than 93% of UK towns: 59%
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 Great Barton · Suffolk’s towns 86% · England’s towns 73%.
Religion · all residents
After White British, the largest groups are Other White (4.2%), Mixed or multiple (1.8%) and Indian (1.7%). By way of comparison, 46% of residents describe themselves as Christian across England’s towns. Great Barton has fewer residents with no religion than 86% of UK towns, at 33%. Where 73% of residents describe themselves as White British across England’s towns, Great Barton has 90%.
A higher share of married adults and civil partners than 99% of UK towns, at 65%
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
63 residents give 50 hours or more of unpaid care each week. On unpaid carers, Great Barton sits higher than 66% of UK towns: 10%. The wider picture: 44% of adults are married or in a civil partnership across England’s towns.
Among adults, 41% hold a degree-level qualification
Highest qualification, residents 16 and over, Census 2021.
Highest qualification · residents 16 and over
Great Barton’s adults: 41% with a degree-level qualification and 14% with none, against 34% and 18% across England’s towns.
The towns around Great Barton 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Great Barton | 1,848 | — | 54.2 | 35% | 23% |
| Thurston | 3,009 | 2 mi | 49.1 | 27% | 25% |
| Bury St Edmunds | 41,279 | 2.9 mi | 43.2 | 22% | 23% |
| Ixworth | 2,296 | 3.3 mi | 49.7 | 27% | 26% |
| Woolpit | 1,838 | 6 mi | 52 | 31% | 21% |
| Stanton | 2,316 | 6.1 mi | 44.3 | 22% | 28% |
| Elmswell | 4,446 | 6.4 mi | 43.2 | 23% | 27% |
| Walsham le Willows | 1,258 | 7.5 mi | 49 | 25% | 25% |
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 Great Barton’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 Great Barton’s residents
What is the population of Great Barton?
The 2021 Census counted 1,848 people in Great Barton’s built-up area.
What is the average age in Great Barton?
The median age was 54.2 at the 2021 Census. 7.5% of residents were 15 to 24 and 35% were 65 or over.
How diverse is Great Barton?
90% of residents described themselves as White British in 2021, against 73% across England’s towns and 86% across Suffolk’s towns. 8.2% were born outside the UK.
What religion are people in Great Barton?
33% said they had no religion and 59% that they were Christian at the 2021 Census; 0.3% were Muslim and 5.5% didn’t answer.
Is Great Barton good for families?
23% of households had dependent children in 2021, against 29% across England’s towns. Schools are on Great Barton’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.