Photo: Hywel Williams · CC BY-SA 2.0Households in terraced houses: 7.8%, a lower share than 93% of UK towns
The share of residents who describe themselves as White British trails 86% of UK towns: 78%. Locally, one in ten households have no car or van. 26% of households are one person living alone, a lower share than in 79% of UK towns. In 2021, the Census found 1,873 residents in Salfords, living in 759 households.
Salfords ranks below 87% of UK towns on residents aged 15 to 24: 8.4%
Share of residents in each five-year age band, Census 2021.
No age band is larger than 55–59: 7.8% of residents. As a yardstick, 12% of residents are aged 15 to 24 across England’s towns. Salfords has fewer residents aged 65 and over than just over half of UK towns, at 22%. In Banstead, the oldest of Surrey’s towns by this measure, it is 28%.
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.
Full-time students make up 3.8% in Salfords, less than in 89% 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%.
39% of Salfords’s adults are in managerial and professional jobs and 16% in routine and semi-routine work, against 33% and 24% across England’s towns. On average, 7.9% of adults are full-time students across England’s towns. Locally, nearly one in ten residents lived at another address a year earlier.
2.5 people per household, more than in 86% 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.
Compared with 29% across England’s towns, 27% of households have dependent children here. Across Salfords, 4.5% of households are unrelated adults sharing a home.
37% of households live in a detached house, more than in 70% 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
More households in flats than in 52% of UK towns: 11%. Elsewhere, 21% of households live in a detached house across England’s towns.
A larger share of residents born outside the UK than 85% of UK towns: 14%
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 two biggest birthplaces abroad are in the Middle East and Asia (4.6%) and in EU countries (4.5%). The wider picture: 18% of residents were born outside the UK across England’s towns. Lower than in nearly three quarters of UK towns: 96% of residents have English as their main language. Among those born abroad, the share arriving in 2017 or later is 10% (England’s towns: 21%).
Salfords sits below 60% of UK towns for residents with no religion (39%)
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: 78% of Salfords · Surrey’s towns 76% · England’s towns 73%.
Religion · all residents
Islam is the religion of 2.4% of residents. Few places have so few residents who describe themselves as Christian: 48% here, fewer than in three fifths of UK towns. Across England’s towns, the share of residents with no religion is 37%.
Salfords: 51% of adults are married or in a civil partnership, above 68% 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
Little separates the share of unpaid carers here, 9%, from the figure across England’s towns. Across England’s towns, 44% of adults are married or in a civil partnership. Adults who have never married account for 32%.
36% of adults are qualified to degree level
Highest qualification, residents 16 and over, Census 2021.
Highest qualification · residents 16 and over
Degree-level qualifications cover 36% of adults in Salfords, 34% across England’s towns; 18% have no qualification, against 18%.
Among its 7 nearest neighbours, 2 are older than Salfords
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Salfords | 1,873 | — | 44.6 | 22% | 27% |
| Horley | 27,067 | 1.7 mi | 39.2 | 16% | 34% |
| South Nutfield | 1,951 | 2.2 mi | 45.7 | 20% | 30% |
| Redhill | 32,516 | 2.2 mi | 38 | 14% | 33% |
| Reigate | 23,774 | 2.6 mi | 41.8 | 18% | 35% |
| Smallfield | 2,613 | 2.8 mi | 50 | 25% | 23% |
| Bletchingley | 2,372 | 3.9 mi | 43.8 | 19% | 32% |
| South Merstham | 9,953 | 4 mi | 37.5 | 13% | 37% |
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 Salfords’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 Salfords’s residents
What is the population of Salfords?
The 2021 Census counted 1,873 people in Salfords’s built-up area.
What is the average age in Salfords?
The median age was 44.6 at the 2021 Census. 8.4% of residents were 15 to 24 and 22% were 65 or over.
How diverse is Salfords?
78% of residents described themselves as White British in 2021, against 73% across England’s towns and 76% across Surrey’s towns. 14% were born outside the UK.
What religion are people in Salfords?
39% said they had no religion and 48% that they were Christian at the 2021 Census; 2.4% were Muslim and 6.4% didn’t answer.
Is Salfords good for families?
27% of households had dependent children in 2021, against 29% across England’s towns. Schools are on Salfords’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.