Photo: The Voice of Hassocks · CC0Fewer households without a car or van than 97% of UK towns: 6.1%
Married adults and civil partners: 59% here and 44% across England’s towns. Households with dependent children account for 34%. On one-person households, Ockley sits lower than 85% of UK towns: 25%. In 2021, the Census found 291 residents locally, living in 115 households.
Fewer young people than 85% of UK towns: 8.5% are 15 to 24
Share of residents in each five-year age band, Census 2021.
The median age in Ockley is 43.8, lower than in 55% of UK towns. Elsewhere, 12% of residents are aged 15 to 24 across England’s towns. More residents are 0–4 than any other five-year age: 9.2% of residents, 1.7 times the share across England’s towns.
Broad ages · share of residents
Women and men · all residents
52% women, 48% men
About 93 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.
Only 7% of residents lived at another address a year earlier in Ockley
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%.
Here 5.8% of adults are full-time students, where the figure across England’s towns is 7.9%. Residents who moved in within the year: 11% across England’s towns, for comparison.
The Census was taken on 21 March 2021, in term time, so students were counted at their term addresses.
Ockley households average 2.5 people, larger than in 92% of UK towns
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.
By its share of shared households of unrelated adults (2.6%), Ockley is above 62% of UK towns.
Above 79% of UK towns: 28% of households live in a terraced house
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
9.7% of households live in a flat or apartment; across England’s towns the figure is 23%. As a yardstick, 24% of households live in a terraced house across England’s towns. Households in detached houses are rarer here than in nearly two thirds of UK towns.
Ockley sits above 99% of UK towns for residents whose main language is English (100%)
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
Here 7.6% of residents were born outside the UK, where the figure across England’s towns is 18%. The wider picture: nine in ten residents have English as their main language across England’s towns. Among residents born abroad, the largest groups were born in the Americas, Oceania and elsewhere (3.1%) and in Africa (2.1%).
In Ockley, 94% of residents describe themselves as White British, more than in 64% 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: 94% of Ockley · Surrey’s towns 76% · England’s towns 73%.
Religion · all residents
The share of residents who describe themselves as Christian is 48%, against 46% across England’s towns. Across England’s towns, 73% of residents describe themselves as White British. The largest groups after White British are Other White (3.1%), Mixed or multiple (1.4%) and Indian (0.3%). At 41%, the share of residents with no religion is higher than in 52% of UK towns.
A smaller share of adults who have never married than 84% of UK towns: 27%
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
Set against 8.7% across England’s towns, one in ten residents give unpaid care in Ockley. The share of adults who have never married across England’s towns is 39%. 8 residents care, unpaid, for at least 50 hours a week.
Qualified to degree level: 34% of adults
Highest qualification, residents 16 and over, Census 2021.
Highest qualification · residents 16 and over
Degree-level qualifications are held by 34% of adults in Ockley (England’s towns: 34%), and no qualification by 16% (England’s towns: 18%).
Ockley is younger than 6 of its 7 nearest neighbours
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ockley | 291 | — | 43.8 | 24% | 34% |
| Beare Green | 1,940 | 3.1 mi | 51 | 28% | 21% |
| Ewhurst | 1,517 | 3.3 mi | 53.2 | 32% | 24% |
| Cranleigh | 10,430 | 5.2 mi | 45.6 | 26% | 26% |
| Rudgwick | 2,145 | 5.2 mi | 49.1 | 25% | 28% |
| Broadbridge Heath | 6,357 | 5.2 mi | 36.2 | 11% | 40% |
| Slinfold | 1,163 | 5.5 mi | 49.1 | 25% | 27% |
| Westcott | 2,275 | 5.7 mi | 49.5 | 25% | 26% |
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 Ockley’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 Ockley’s residents
What is the population of Ockley?
The 2021 Census counted 291 people in Ockley’s built-up area.
What is the average age in Ockley?
The median age was 43.8 at the 2021 Census. 8.5% of residents were 15 to 24 and 24% were 65 or over.
How diverse is Ockley?
94% of residents described themselves as White British in 2021, against 73% across England’s towns and 76% across Surrey’s towns. 7.6% were born outside the UK.
What religion are people in Ockley?
41% said they had no religion and 48% that they were Christian at the 2021 Census; 0% were Muslim and 8.3% didn’t answer.
Is Ockley good for families?
34% of households had dependent children in 2021, against 29% across England’s towns. Schools are on Ockley’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.