Photo: Robert Edwards · CC BY-SA 2.0Fewer shared households of unrelated adults than 99% of UK towns: 0.7%
7.3% of households have no car or van; across England’s towns the figure is 24%. Walsham le Willows had 1,258 residents in 545 households at the 2021 Census. Across Walsham le Willows, 0.9% of households live in a flat or apartment. At 56%, the share of married adults and civil partners is higher than in 92% of UK towns.
Half of Walsham le Willows is over 49, older than 80% of UK towns
Share of residents in each five-year age band, Census 2021.
More residents are 50–54 than any other five-year age: 8.4% of residents. On residents aged 65 and over, Walsham le Willows sits higher than 73% of UK towns: 25%. In Walsham le Willows, nearly one in ten residents are aged 15 to 24, beside 12% across England’s towns.
Broad ages · share of residents
Women and men · all residents
51% women, 49% men
About an even split. Across England, 51% of residents are women.
A lower share of full-time students than 94% of UK towns, at 3.5%
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%.
Just over a third of Walsham le Willows’s adults are in managerial and professional jobs and 23% 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. Full-time students: 7.9% across England’s towns, for comparison.
Below 82% of UK towns: 26% of households are one person living alone
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.
A household here has 2.3 people on average; across England’s towns, 2.4. As a yardstick, 30% of households are one person living alone across England’s towns. 25% of households have dependent children.
In Walsham le Willows, 42% of households live in a detached house, more than in 80% 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
The figure for households in terraced houses is 18% in Walsham le Willows and 24% across England’s towns. Still, 0.9% of households live in a flat, less than in 99% of UK towns; 42% in a detached house, against 21% across England’s towns.
Walsham le Willows ranks above 92% of UK towns on 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
The share of residents born outside the UK is 3.7%, against 18% across England’s towns. By birthplace, the largest groups from abroad were born in EU countries (1.4%) and in the Americas, Oceania and elsewhere (1%). Typically, nine in ten residents have English as their main language across England’s towns.
96% of residents describe themselves as White British, more than in 84% 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 Walsham le Willows · Suffolk’s towns 86% · England’s towns 73%.
Religion · all residents
Compared with 46% across England’s towns, 49% of residents describe themselves as Christian here. Across England’s towns, residents who describe themselves as White British come to 73%. The census found that 43% of residents said they have no religion in Walsham le Willows.
Below 90% of UK towns: 26% of adults have never married or formed a civil partnership
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
Some 21 people give 50 hours or more of unpaid care a week. Lower than in 70% of UK towns: 8.6% of residents give unpaid care. By way of comparison, nearly two in five adults have never married or formed a civil partnership across England’s towns.
Degree-level qualifications: held by 33% of adults
Highest qualification, residents 16 and over, Census 2021.
Highest qualification · residents 16 and over
At degree level, Walsham le Willows counts 33% of its adults, against 34% across England’s towns; at the other end, 19% have no qualification (18%).
Of the 7 towns nearest Walsham le Willows, 5 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Walsham le Willows | 1,258 | — | 49 | 25% | 25% |
| Stanton | 2,316 | 3 mi | 44.3 | 22% | 28% |
| Rickinghall and Botesdale | 1,842 | 3.7 mi | 52.6 | 31% | 21% |
| Bacton and Cotton | 1,567 | 4 mi | 53.9 | 31% | 19% |
| Gislingham | 1,172 | 4.2 mi | 50.3 | 24% | 25% |
| Elmswell | 4,446 | 4.5 mi | 43.2 | 23% | 27% |
| Ixworth | 2,296 | 4.6 mi | 49.7 | 27% | 26% |
| Woolpit | 1,838 | 5.8 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 Walsham le Willows’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 Walsham le Willows’s residents
What is the population of Walsham le Willows?
The 2021 Census counted 1,258 people in Walsham le Willows’s built-up area.
What is the average age in Walsham le Willows?
The median age was 49 at the 2021 Census. 9.3% of residents were 15 to 24 and 25% were 65 or over.
How diverse is Walsham le Willows?
96% of residents described themselves as White British in 2021, against 73% across England’s towns and 86% across Suffolk’s towns. 3.7% were born outside the UK.
What religion are people in Walsham le Willows?
43% said they had no religion and 49% that they were Christian at the 2021 Census; 0% were Muslim and 6.8% didn’t answer.
Is Walsham le Willows good for families?
25% of households had dependent children in 2021, against 29% across England’s towns. Schools are on Walsham le Willows’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.