Photo: Jaggery · CC BY-SA 2.0Above 81% of UK towns: 95% of residents describe themselves as White British
Unpaid carers: 12% here and 10% across Wales’s towns. Few places have so few households in terraced houses: 17% here, fewer than in 63% of UK towns. Census day 2021: 14,114 residents and 6,216 households in Gorseinon. Locally, 33% of households are one person living alone.
Faster growth than 59% of UK towns: Gorseinon changed by +10% since 2011
ONS mid-year estimates, each year indexed to mid-2011 = 100. Gorseinon’s figure is the small areas (2021 LSOAs) that make up the town.
People, mid-2011 = 100
Change by age, 2011 to 2024
About 12,400 people in 2011; 13,600 in 2024.
The 65 and over group saw the biggest change (+28%), the 0 to 15 group the smallest (+2%). No year added more people than mid-2022 to mid-2023: 210.
A median age of 42.5: Gorseinon is younger than 66% of UK towns
Share of residents in each five-year age band, Census 2021.
No age band is larger than 30–34: 7.2% of residents. Higher than in 72% of UK towns: 10% of residents are aged 15 to 24. On residents aged 65 and over, 21% here is much the same as across Wales’s towns.
Median age of UK towns of 2,500+
■ Gorseinon, 42.5. The typical town is 44.4.
Broad ages · share of residents
Women and men · all residents
51% women, 49% men
About 96 men for every 100 women. Across Wales, 51% of residents are women.
Fewer residents who moved in within the year than 91% of UK towns: 6.6%
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 30% of adults here, routine and semi-routine work 27% (Wales’s towns: 29% and 27%). Compared with other places, full-time students are common here: 6.4%, more than in 88% of UK towns. Elsewhere, 9.1% of residents lived at another address a year earlier across Wales’s towns.
The Census was taken on 21 March 2021, in term time, so students were counted at their term addresses.
Gorseinon households average 2.3 people, smaller than in 59% of UK towns
Household make-up at the 2021 Census. Each square is 1% of households.
Against West Glamorgan’s towns and Wales’s towns
People per household
Wales’s towns.
Against a figure of 3.1% across Wales’s towns, the share of shared households of unrelated adults in Gorseinon comes in at 2%. For Gorseinon, the census puts households with dependent children at 27%.
16% of households have no car or van, more than in 56% 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
In Gorseinon, a quarter of households live in a detached house, beside 24% across Wales’s towns. Against that, just over a fifth of households have no car or van across Wales’s towns. 12% of households live in a flat or apartment.
Only 3.6% of Gorseinon’s residents were born outside the UK
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 10%
When those born abroad arrived
Main language · residents aged 3 and over
By birthplace, the largest groups from abroad were born in EU countries (1.7%) and in the Middle East and Asia (1%). To put it in context, 7.4% of residents were born outside the UK across Wales’s towns. Residents whose main language is English are more common here than in 76% of UK towns. Recent arrivals (2017 or later) make up 11% of those born abroad (Wales’s towns: 23%).
Welsh speakers: 15% of Gorseinon’s residents
Welsh language skills, residents aged 3 and over, Census 2021.
Welsh language skills · residents aged 3 and over
Welsh speakers number 1,985, or 15% of residents aged 3 and over, against 16% across Welsh towns: more than in 65% of them. No town in West Glamorgan beats Gwaun-Cae-Gurwen (49%).
Residents with no religion make up 49% in Gorseinon, more than in 91% 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: 95% of Gorseinon · West Glamorgan’s towns 90% · Wales’s towns 90%.
Religion · all residents
44% of residents describe themselves as Christian, against 43% across Wales’s towns. Measured more widely, 47% of residents said they have no religion across Wales’s towns. Leading the other groups after White British: Other White (1.8%), Mixed or multiple (0.9%) and Pakistani (0.3%).
More adults who have never married than 64% of UK towns: 35%
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
With married adults and civil partners at 45%, Gorseinon is behind 69% of UK towns on that count. The share of adults who have never married across Wales’s towns is 38%.
Adults qualified to degree level or above: 30%
Highest qualification, residents 16 and over, Census 2021.
Highest qualification · residents 16 and over
18% of Gorseinon’s adults have no qualification (20% across Wales’s towns), and 30% have one at degree level (31%). A levels are the highest qualification of 18%, many of them students still working towards a degree.
Among 360 UK towns of 10,000 to 19,000 people, the 112th youngest
Median age, Census 2021. Hover a dot for its students and residents born abroad; click for its page.
Ages run from 25 in Aberystwyth to 60.4 in Sidmouth. Nearest to Gorseinon in age: Earl Shilton (42.5), Blaby and Whetstone (42.5), Church Village (42.5) and Cleckheaton (42.6).
5 in 7 nearby towns have a higher median age than Gorseinon
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gorseinon | 14,114 | — | 42.5 | 21% | 27% |
| Loughor | 4,632 | 1 mi | 43.9 | 22% | 28% |
| Grovesend | 1,148 | 1.4 mi | 43.9 | 22% | 28% |
| Penllergaer | 3,578 | 1.8 mi | 40.1 | 18% | 34% |
| Gowerton | 7,447 | 1.9 mi | 46.8 | 23% | 26% |
| Llangennech | 4,278 | 2.5 mi | 45.7 | 23% | 28% |
| Bryn | 1,727 | 2.6 mi | 35.8 | 16% | 33% |
| Dunvant | 1,732 | 2.9 mi | 46.7 | 26% | 28% |
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.
- “West Glamorgan’s towns” and “Wales’s towns” mean their built-up areas. Census comparisons pool every built-up area in West Glamorgan (or Wales), summed the same way as Gorseinon’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. Gorseinon’s trend uses the small areas (2021 LSOAs) with most of their people inside it: 13,174 people in 2021, against 14,114 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 Gorseinon’s residents
What is the population of Gorseinon?
The 2021 Census counted 14,114 people in Gorseinon’s built-up area. The ONS estimates the same small areas held 13,600 people in mid-2024, 10% more than in 2011.
What is the average age in Gorseinon?
The median age was 42.5 at the 2021 Census, younger than 66% of UK towns. 10% of residents were 15 to 24 and 21% were 65 or over.
How diverse is Gorseinon?
95% of residents described themselves as White British in 2021, against 90% across Wales’s towns and 90% across West Glamorgan’s towns. 3.6% were born outside the UK.
What religion are people in Gorseinon?
49% said they had no religion and 44% that they were Christian at the 2021 Census; 0.6% were Muslim and 5.3% didn’t answer.
Is Gorseinon good for families?
27% of households had dependent children in 2021, against 27% across Wales’s towns. Schools are on Gorseinon’s schools page.
How many people speak Welsh in Gorseinon?
1,985 residents aged 3 and over, 15%, said they can speak Welsh at the 2021 Census, against 16% across Welsh towns.
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, TS032) · 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.