Photo: Ron Strutt · CC BY-SA 2.0Fairlands is older than 95% of UK towns: a median age of 53.6
Across England’s towns, 29% of households have dependent children; in Fairlands, 22%. There were 497 households here at the 2021 Census, home to 1,119 residents. 31% of residents said they have no religion. Few places have so few households in terraced houses: 1% here, fewer than in 99% of UK towns.
What the Census says about Fairlands’s people
Older than most towns
Half of Fairlands’s residents are under 53.6 and half over, against 44.4 in the typical UK town. 33% 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).
A larger share of residents aged 65 and over than 95% of UK towns: 33%
Share of residents in each five-year age band, Census 2021.
Residents aged 15 to 24: 7.9%, below 94% of UK towns. Against that, 18% of residents are 65 or over across England’s towns.
Broad ages · share of residents
Women and men · all residents
53% women, 47% men
About 89 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 make up 4% in Fairlands, less than in 85% 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%.
Across England’s towns, a third of adults are in managerial and professional jobs and 24% in routine or semi-routine work; Fairlands has 40% and 17%. Residents who moved in within the year are rarer here than in 71% of UK towns. The usual figure: 7.9% of adults are full-time students across England’s towns.
Fairlands sits above 95% of UK towns for shared households of unrelated adults (4.6%)
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.
With one-person households at 28%, Fairlands is behind 68% of UK towns on that count. A household here holds 2.2 people on average. The benchmark for shared households of unrelated adults across England’s towns: 4.3%.
Fewer flats than 89% of UK towns: 3.8% of households
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 share of households without a car or van is 12%, against 24% across England’s towns. Across England’s towns, 23% of households live in a flat or apartment. In Fairlands, 30% of households live in a detached house.
9.7% born outside the UK, more than in 73% 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
The newest arrivals, from 2017 or later, are 14% of those born abroad (against 21% across England’s towns). On residents whose main language is English, Fairlands sits higher than 63% of UK towns: 98%. The benchmark for residents born outside the UK across England’s towns: 18%. Residents born abroad were most often born in EU countries (3.2%), then in Africa (3.2%).
Residents who describe themselves as Christian: 59%, a higher share than 92% 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: 90% of Fairlands · Surrey’s towns 76% · England’s towns 73%.
Religion · all residents
After White British, the most common groups are Other White (4.1%), Mixed or multiple (2.1%) and Indian (1.7%). Across England’s towns, residents who describe themselves as Christian come to 46%. Residents who describe themselves as White British are rarer here than in 63% of UK towns.
In Fairlands, 21% of adults have never married or formed a civil partnership, fewer than in 99% 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
Here nearly three in five adults are married or in a civil partnership, where the figure across England’s towns is 44%. At 9.6%, the share of unpaid carers is higher than in 57% of UK towns. The comparison figure for adults who have never married is 39% across England’s towns. Heavy unpaid care, 50 hours a week or more, falls to 36 residents.
A degree-level qualification for 31% of adults
Highest qualification, residents 16 and over, Census 2021.
Highest qualification · residents 16 and over
Against 34% across England’s towns, 31% of adults here have a degree-level qualification, while 18% hold no qualification (18%).
No nearby town is as old as Fairlands
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fairlands | 1,119 | — | 53.6 | 33% | 22% |
| Wood Street Village | 1,586 | 0.9 mi | 41.8 | 19% | 34% |
| Normandy | 1,665 | 2.2 mi | 51.2 | 30% | 25% |
| Guildford | 77,870 | 2.2 mi | 34.7 | 14% | 29% |
| Jacobs Well | 1,122 | 2.3 mi | 51.9 | 31% | 24% |
| Brookwood | 1,428 | 3 mi | 40.2 | 16% | 36% |
| Pirbright | 3,920 | 3.4 mi | 24.7 | 6% | 47% |
| Shalford | 2,508 | 4.1 mi | 46.2 | 23% | 27% |
Health, work and homes have their own pages
What this data can and can’t tell you
- “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 Fairlands’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 Fairlands’s residents
What is the population of Fairlands?
The 2021 Census counted 1,119 people in Fairlands’s built-up area.
What is the average age in Fairlands?
The median age was 53.6 at the 2021 Census. 7.9% of residents were 15 to 24 and 33% were 65 or over.
How diverse is Fairlands?
90% of residents described themselves as White British in 2021, against 73% across England’s towns and 76% across Surrey’s towns. 9.7% were born outside the UK.
What religion are people in Fairlands?
31% said they had no religion and 59% that they were Christian at the 2021 Census; 0.1% were Muslim and 7.3% didn’t answer.
Is Fairlands good for families?
22% of households had dependent children in 2021, against 29% across England’s towns. Schools are on Fairlands’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.