Photo: Jaggery · CC BY-SA 2.013% of residents give unpaid care, a share 99% of UK towns don’t reach
The share of residents who describe themselves as White British tops 84% of UK towns: 96%. Census day 2021: 40,738 residents and 18,378 households in Neath. Households in terraced houses: 26% of the total. Few places have as many residents aged 15 to 24: 10% here, more than in 71% of UK towns.
±0% since 2011, a pace below 82% of UK towns
ONS mid-year estimates, each year indexed to mid-2011 = 100. Neath’s figure is the small areas (2021 LSOAs) that make up the town.
People, mid-2011 = 100
Change by age, 2011 to 2024
About 39,900 people in 2011; 40,000 in 2024.
Split by age, the 65 and over changed most (+20%) and the 16 to 29 least (−12%). In one year, mid-2023 to mid-2024, the population rose by 430, the most of any year.
Residents aged 65 and over make up 23% in Neath, more than in 56% of UK towns
Share of residents in each five-year age band, Census 2021.
No age band is larger than 55–59: 7.4% of residents. By way of comparison, 21% of residents are 65 or over across Wales’s towns. With a median age of 44.8, Neath is older than 52% of UK towns. In Bishopston, the oldest of West Glamorgan’s towns by this measure, it is 34%.
Median age of UK towns of 2,500+
■ Neath, 44.8. 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 Wales, 51% of residents are women.
Fewer residents who moved in within the year than 90% of UK towns: 6.7%
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%.
Against a figure of 8% across Wales’s towns, the share of full-time students in Neath comes in at 5.5%. Across Wales’s towns, the share of residents who moved in within the year is 9.1%.
The Census was taken on 21 March 2021, in term time, so students were counted at their term addresses.
Households here average 2.2 people, below 78% 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.
One-person households: 34%, above 80% of UK towns. At the same time, households with dependent children are rarer here than in 65% of UK towns. Locally, 1.8% of households are unrelated adults sharing a home.
A higher share of households without a car or van than 79% of UK towns, at 22%
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
12% of households live in a flat or apartment, against 14% across Wales’s towns. The census found that 24% of households live in a detached house in Neath. Across Wales’s towns, households without a car or van come to 21%.
3.5% of residents were born outside the UK, below 85% 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 10%
When those born abroad arrived
Main language · residents aged 3 and over
Residents born abroad were most often born in EU countries (1.6%), then in the Middle East and Asia (1.1%). The usual figure: 7.4% of residents were born outside the UK across Wales’s towns. On residents whose main language is English, Neath sits higher than nearly three quarters of UK towns: 99%. Of residents born abroad, 13% arrived in 2017 or later, against 23% across Wales’s towns.
Of Neath’s residents, 10% can speak Welsh
Welsh language skills, residents aged 3 and over, Census 2021.
Welsh language skills · residents aged 3 and over
Against 16% across Welsh towns, 10% of residents aged 3 and over can speak Welsh here (3,980 people): fewer than in 68% of Welsh towns. Within West Glamorgan, Gwaun-Cae-Gurwen has the largest share, 49%.
48% of residents said they have no religion, more than in 89% 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: 96% of Neath · West Glamorgan’s towns 90% · Wales’s towns 90%.
Religion · all residents
The largest groups after White British are Other White (1.6%), Mixed or multiple (0.9%) and Bangladeshi (0.3%). At 44%, the share of residents who describe themselves as Christian is lower than in 80% of UK towns. Across Wales’s towns, the share of residents with no religion is 47%.
Neath ranks above 64% of UK towns on adults who have never married: 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
Compared with 43% across Wales’s towns, 44% of adults are married or in a civil partnership here. For adults who have never married, the comparison across Wales’s towns is 38%. The number giving 50 or more hours of unpaid care a week is 1,761.
28% of adults have a degree-level qualification
Highest qualification, residents 16 and over, Census 2021.
Highest qualification · residents 16 and over
Degree-level qualifications cover 28% of adults in Neath, 31% across Wales’s towns; 23% have no qualification, against 20%.
From a median age of 40 in Skewen & Jersey Marine to 52 in Cimla
The town’s 7 neighbourhoods (ONS middle-layer areas with 500+ residents inside it, named by the House of Commons Library), youngest first. Census 2021.
Cimla is the oldest area, with 30% aged 65 or over; Skewen & Jersey Marine the youngest (median age 40). Families with children are most common in Neath South (30% of households).
29th highest median age among 169 UK towns of 29,000 to 55,000
Median age, Census 2021. Hover a dot for its students and residents born abroad; click for its page.
Hatfield is the youngest (30.3); Rustington the oldest (56.2). Nearest to Neath in age: Urmston (44.5), Billericay (44.7), Congleton (45.4) and Rayleigh (45.5).
Older than Neath: 2 of the 7 towns nearby
Nearby built-up areas coloured by median age, Census 2021. Tap a town for its page.
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 Neath’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. Neath’s trend uses the small areas (2021 LSOAs) with most of their people inside it: 40,066 people in 2021, against 40,738 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 Neath’s residents
What is the population of Neath?
The 2021 Census counted 40,738 people in Neath’s built-up area. The ONS estimates the same small areas held 40,000 people in mid-2024, about as many as in 2011.
What is the average age in Neath?
The median age was 44.8 at the 2021 Census, older than 52% of UK towns. 10% of residents were 15 to 24 and 23% were 65 or over.
How diverse is Neath?
96% of residents described themselves as White British in 2021, against 90% across Wales’s towns and 90% across West Glamorgan’s towns. 3.5% were born outside the UK.
What religion are people in Neath?
48% said they had no religion and 44% that they were Christian at the 2021 Census; 0.7% were Muslim and 5.5% didn’t answer.
Is Neath good for families?
26% of households had dependent children in 2021, against 27% across Wales’s towns. Families are most common in Neath South (30% of households). Schools are on Neath’s schools page.
How many people speak Welsh in Neath?
3,980 residents aged 3 and over, 10%, 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 · House of Commons Library MSOA names. 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.