Photo: Richard Slessor · CC BY-SA 2.0Older than 99% of UK towns: half of Monks Eleigh is over 58.4
Detached houses are home to 55% of households, against 21% across England’s towns. Locally, 62% of adults are married or in a civil partnership. 18% of households have dependent children, fewer than in 97% of UK towns. At the 2021 Census Monks Eleigh was home to 503 people in 243 households.
More residents aged 65 and over than 98% of UK towns: 37%
Share of residents in each five-year age band, Census 2021.
Against a figure of 12% across England’s towns, the share of residents aged 15 to 24 in Monks Eleigh comes in at 7%. By way of comparison, 18% of residents are 65 or over across England’s towns.
Broad ages · share of residents
Women and men · all residents
56% women, 44% men
About 79 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.
Full-time students: 3.8%, a lower share than 88% 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%.
In Monks Eleigh, 44% of adults work in managerial and professional jobs and 13% in routine and semi-routine work, against 33% and 24% across England’s towns. For full-time students, the comparison across England’s towns is 7.9%. Residents who moved in within the year: 11% of the total.
2 people per household, fewer than in 97% 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.
Here 28% of households are one person living alone, where the figure across England’s towns is 30%. Meanwhile, 3.3% of households are unrelated adults sharing a home, a higher share than in 83% of UK towns.
Below 89% of UK towns: 3.8% of households live in a flat or apartment
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
Set against 24% across England’s towns, 12% of households have no car or van in Monks Eleigh. On average, 23% of households live in a flat or apartment across England’s towns. In Monks Eleigh, nearly a fifth of households live in a terraced house.
Monks Eleigh sits above 92% of UK towns for residents whose main language is English (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
Across England’s towns the share born abroad is 18%; in Monks Eleigh it is 5.4%. As a yardstick, 90% of residents have English as their main language across England’s towns. The two biggest birthplaces abroad are in EU countries (2.6%) and in the Americas, Oceania and elsewhere (1.4%).
Residents who describe themselves as Christian make up 56% in Monks Eleigh, more than in 82% 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: 93% of Monks Eleigh · Suffolk’s towns 86% · England’s towns 73%.
Religion · all residents
Residents who describe themselves as White British make up 93%, against 73% across England’s towns. On the census count, 40% of residents said they have no religion. As a yardstick, 46% of residents describe themselves as Christian across England’s towns.
Monks Eleigh ranks below 99% of UK towns on adults who have never married: 19%
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
Heavy unpaid care, 50 hours a week or more, falls to 12 residents. Typically, 39% of adults have never married or formed a civil partnership across England’s towns. Compared with other places, unpaid carers are common here: 9.7%, more than in three fifths of UK towns.
A degree-level qualification for 37% of adults
Highest qualification, residents 16 and over, Census 2021.
Highest qualification · residents 16 and over
With 37% of its adults qualified to degree level, Monks Eleigh compares with 34% across England’s towns; another 15% hold no qualification (18%).
Median age: 1 of the 7 towns around Monks Eleigh are older
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Monks Eleigh | 503 | — | 58.4 | 37% | 18% |
| Bildeston | 1,096 | 1.9 mi | 50.1 | 24% | 24% |
| Lavenham | 1,224 | 3.3 mi | 61.6 | 42% | 11% |
| Great Waldingfield | 1,377 | 4.5 mi | 51.1 | 30% | 27% |
| Great Bricett | 1,518 | 4.7 mi | 28.2 | 8.8% | 40% |
| Acton | 1,666 | 4.8 mi | 45.3 | 25% | 27% |
| Hadleigh | 8,638 | 4.9 mi | 46.7 | 27% | 27% |
| Elmsett | 1,001 | 5.4 mi | 54 | 32% | 23% |
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 Monks Eleigh’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 Monks Eleigh’s residents
What is the population of Monks Eleigh?
The 2021 Census counted 503 people in Monks Eleigh’s built-up area.
What is the average age in Monks Eleigh?
The median age was 58.4 at the 2021 Census. 7% of residents were 15 to 24 and 37% were 65 or over.
How diverse is Monks Eleigh?
93% of residents described themselves as White British in 2021, against 73% across England’s towns and 86% across Suffolk’s towns. 5.4% were born outside the UK.
What religion are people in Monks Eleigh?
40% said they had no religion and 56% that they were Christian at the 2021 Census; 0% were Muslim and 3% didn’t answer.
Is Monks Eleigh good for families?
18% of households had dependent children in 2021, against 29% across England’s towns. Schools are on Monks Eleigh’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.