Photo: Helen Steed · CC BY-SA 2.0Worlingham: 67% of households live in a detached house, above 99% of UK towns
Households in flats: 2.5%, below 96% of UK towns. 97% of residents describe themselves as White British, more than in 94% of UK towns. Worlingham’s 1,593 households held 3,618 residents at the 2021 Census. Across Worlingham, 57% of adults are married or in a civil partnership.
What the Census says about Worlingham’s people
Older than most towns
Half of Worlingham’s residents are under 50.1 and half over, against 44.4 in the typical UK town. 29% 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).
Older than 85% of UK towns: half of Worlingham is over 50.1
Share of residents in each five-year age band, Census 2021.
More residents are 55–59 than any other five-year age: 7.7% of residents. 29% of residents are 65 or over, more than in 89% of UK towns. In Halesworth, the oldest of Suffolk’s towns by this measure, it is 35%.
Median age of UK towns of 2,500+
■ Worlingham, 50.1. The typical town is 44.4.
Broad ages · share of residents
Women and men · all residents
51% women, 49% men
About 95 men for every 100 women. Across England, 51% of residents are women.
Fewer residents who moved in within the year than 70% of UK towns: 7.8%
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 account for 33% of Worlingham’s adults, routine and semi-routine work for 26%, against 33% and 24% across England’s towns. On the census count, 4.7% of adults are full-time students. The wider picture: just over one in ten residents lived at another address a year earlier across England’s towns.
Worlingham sits below 87% of UK towns for shared households of unrelated adults (1.6%)
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.
Households with dependent children make up 24%, against 29% across England’s towns. Across Worlingham, 27% of households are one person living alone. For shared households of unrelated adults, the comparison across England’s towns is 4.3%.
A lower share of households in terraced houses than 91% of UK towns, at 9%
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
Against a figure of 24% across England’s towns, the share of households without a car or van in Worlingham comes in at 9.8%.
Fewer residents born outside the UK than 93% 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
Residents born abroad were most often born in EU countries (1.3%), then in the Middle East and Asia (0.8%). At 99%, the share of residents whose main language is English is higher than in 76% of UK towns. On average, 18% of residents were born outside the UK across England’s towns. Since 2017: 7.5% of those born abroad, against 21% across England’s towns.
Worlingham: 51% of residents describe themselves as Christian, above 61% 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: 97% of Worlingham · Suffolk’s towns 86% · England’s towns 73%.
Religion · all residents
After White British, the largest groups are Other White (1.9%), Mixed or multiple (0.5%) and Chinese (0.3%). Against that, 46% of residents describe themselves as Christian across England’s towns. Worlingham has more residents with no religion than 55% of UK towns, at 42%.
Adults who have never married make up 25% in Worlingham, less than in 92% of UK towns
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: 99. Worlingham has more unpaid carers than 65% of UK towns, at 9.9%. On average, nearly two in five adults have never married or formed a civil partnership across England’s towns.
Among adults, 26% hold a degree-level qualification
Highest qualification, residents 16 and over, Census 2021.
Highest qualification · residents 16 and over
Across England’s towns, 34% of adults have a degree-level qualification; in Worlingham, 26%, and 18% have none, against 18%.
Of 530 UK towns its size (3,000 to 5,000 people), the 122nd oldest
Median age, Census 2021. Hover a dot for its students and residents born abroad; click for its page.
The youngest is Bailrigg (18.9) and the oldest Milford on Sea (64.6). Nearest to Worlingham in age: Tarporley (50.1), Eccleshall (50.1), Coggeshall (50.1) and Cricklade (50.1).
Around Worlingham, 2 of 7 towns have a higher median age
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Worlingham | 3,618 | — | 50.1 | 29% | 24% |
| Beccles | 9,807 | 0.9 mi | 48.6 | 28% | 22% |
| Kessingland | 4,242 | 5.7 mi | 55 | 34% | 18% |
| Thurlton | 1,145 | 5.7 mi | 49.4 | 24% | 27% |
| Lowestoft | 71,308 | 5.8 mi | 46 | 25% | 25% |
| Bungay | 5,012 | 6.2 mi | 49.2 | 29% | 23% |
| Ditchingham | 1,997 | 6.3 mi | 51.2 | 31% | 19% |
| Loddon | 2,247 | 7.6 mi | 44.2 | 22% | 26% |
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 Worlingham’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 Worlingham’s residents
What is the population of Worlingham?
The 2021 Census counted 3,618 people in Worlingham’s built-up area.
What is the average age in Worlingham?
The median age was 50.1 at the 2021 Census, older than 85% of UK towns. 9.9% of residents were 15 to 24 and 29% were 65 or over.
How diverse is Worlingham?
97% 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 Worlingham?
42% said they had no religion and 51% that they were Christian at the 2021 Census; 0.3% were Muslim and 5.7% didn’t answer.
Is Worlingham good for families?
24% of households had dependent children in 2021, against 29% across England’s towns. Schools are on Worlingham’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.