Photo: David Howard · CC BY-SA 2.0Cranleigh ranks above 81% of UK towns on households in detached houses: 43%
Households in terraced houses: 14%, below 76% of UK towns. For Cranleigh, the census puts residents who describe themselves as Christian at 55%. More married adults and civil partners than in just over four fifths of UK towns: 53%. Its 4,327 households held 10,430 residents at the 2021 Census.
What the Census says about Cranleigh’s people
Growing faster than most
ONS mid-year estimates put Cranleigh at 9,000 in 2011 and 11,100 in 2024, up 23%, against 10% for England: faster growth than in 89% of UK towns. Since 2011 ↓
Written from the data on this page: ONS Census 2021 (output areas summed to the 2022 built-up area) and ONS mid-year population estimates.
Since 2011, Cranleigh has grown +23%, faster than 89% of UK towns
ONS mid-year estimates, each year indexed to mid-2011 = 100. Cranleigh’s figure is the small areas (2021 LSOAs) that make up the town.
People, mid-2011 = 100
Change by age, 2011 to 2024
About 9,000 people in 2011; 11,100 in 2024.
Between mid-2020 and mid-2021 the population rose by 550, its biggest one-year gain. The 65 and over age group changed most (+41%) and the 45 to 64 least (+9%).
Residents aged 65 and over make up 26% in Cranleigh, more than in 76% of UK towns
Share of residents in each five-year age band, Census 2021.
Half of Cranleigh’s residents are over 45.6, older than in 58% of UK towns. By way of comparison, 18% of residents are 65 or over across England’s towns. Residents aged 15 to 24 account for 12%. In Banstead, the oldest of Surrey’s towns by this measure, it is 28%.
Median age of UK towns of 2,500+
■ Cranleigh, 45.6. 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.
Residents who moved in within the year make up 13% in Cranleigh, more than in 93% 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%.
Managerial and professional jobs take in 42% of adults here, routine and semi-routine work 17% (England’s towns: 33% and 24%). Measured more widely, 11% of residents lived at another address a year earlier across England’s towns. Across Cranleigh, 6.8% of adults are full-time students.
The Census was taken on 21 March 2021, in term time, so students were counted at their term addresses.
A lower share of households with dependent children than 62% of UK towns, at 26%
Household make-up at the 2021 Census. Each square is 1% of households.
Against Surrey’s towns and England’s towns
People per household
England’s towns.
Shared households of unrelated adults: 2.2% here and 4.3% across England’s towns. The share of one-person households stands at 29%.
11% of households have no car or van, fewer than in 77% 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
Nearly a quarter of households live in a flat or apartment across England’s towns, against 17% in Cranleigh. The wider picture: nearly a quarter of households have no car or van across England’s towns.
A higher share of residents born outside the UK than 77% of UK towns, at 11%
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
Set against 90% across England’s towns, 97% of residents have English as their main language in Cranleigh. The largest groups were born in EU countries (4.5%) and in the Middle East and Asia (2.2%). Measured more widely, 18% of residents were born outside the UK across England’s towns.
Cranleigh ranks below 69% of UK towns on residents who describe themselves as White British: 89%
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: 89% of Cranleigh · Surrey’s towns 76% · England’s towns 73%.
Religion · all residents
There is little gap on residents with no religion: 37%, about the same as across England’s towns. The wider picture: 73% of residents describe themselves as White British across England’s towns. The next-largest groups, after White British, are Other White (6.2%), Mixed or multiple (1.8%) and Chinese (0.5%).
Cranleigh ranks below 75% of UK towns on adults who have never married: 29%
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
Little separates the share of unpaid carers here, 8.3%, from the figure across England’s towns. For 209 residents, unpaid care runs to 50 hours or more a week. The benchmark for adults who have never married across England’s towns: 39%.
39% of adults are qualified to degree level
Highest qualification, residents 16 and over, Census 2021.
Highest qualification · residents 16 and over
Degree-level qualifications are held by 39% of Cranleigh’s adults, against 34% across England’s towns; 13% have no qualification (18%). A levels top the qualifications of 15%, many of them students on the way to a degree.
167th oldest of 455 UK towns of 7,000 to 14,000 people
Median age, Census 2021. Hover a dot for its students and residents born abroad; click for its page.
The youngest is Stoke Gifford (27.8) and the oldest Seaton (61). Nearest to Cranleigh in age: Histon and Impington (45.6), Radlett (45.6), Prudhoe (45.7) and Royal Wootton Bassett (45.7).
Every neighbour of Cranleigh has an older population
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cranleigh | 10,430 | — | 45.6 | 26% | 26% |
| Ewhurst | 1,517 | 2 mi | 53.2 | 32% | 24% |
| Shamley Green | 1,200 | 3.4 mi | 47.7 | 24% | 31% |
| Rudgwick | 2,145 | 3.9 mi | 49.1 | 25% | 28% |
| Bramley and Wonersh | 4,193 | 4.7 mi | 46.7 | 23% | 29% |
| Loxwood | 1,026 | 4.8 mi | 50.8 | 27% | 29% |
| Gomshall | 1,378 | 5.4 mi | 46 | 19% | 32% |
| Chilworth | 1,917 | 5.5 mi | 45.9 | 22% | 29% |
Health, work and homes have their own pages
What this data can and can’t tell you
- The Census was taken in a lockdown, in term time. 21 March 2021 fell in term time, and students were asked to give their term-time address, so most were counted where they study. Some may have been living with family that day.
- “Surrey’s towns” and “England’s towns” mean their built-up areas. Census comparisons pool every built-up area in Surrey (or England), summed the same way as Cranleigh’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. Cranleigh’s trend uses the small areas (2021 LSOAs) with most of their people inside it: 10,070 people in 2021, against 10,430 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 Cranleigh’s residents
What is the population of Cranleigh?
The 2021 Census counted 10,430 people in Cranleigh’s built-up area. The ONS estimates the same small areas held 11,100 people in mid-2024, 23% more than in 2011.
What is the average age in Cranleigh?
The median age was 45.6 at the 2021 Census, older than 58% of UK towns. 12% of residents were 15 to 24 and 26% were 65 or over.
How diverse is Cranleigh?
89% of residents described themselves as White British in 2021, against 73% across England’s towns and 76% across Surrey’s towns. 11% were born outside the UK.
What religion are people in Cranleigh?
37% said they had no religion and 55% that they were Christian at the 2021 Census; 0.7% were Muslim and 5.7% didn’t answer.
Is Cranleigh good for families?
26% of households had dependent children in 2021, against 29% across England’s towns. Schools are on Cranleigh’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.