Photo: Jpb1301 · CC BY-SA 3.0Unpaid carers make up 11% in Brownhills, more than in 84% of UK towns
At 2.4 people, the average household compares with 2.4 across England’s towns. Census day 2021: 21,238 residents and 8,893 households in Brownhills. Locally, 16% of households live in a terraced house. With a median age of 42.4, Brownhills is younger than 66% of UK towns.
Brownhills changed by +4% from 2011 to 2024, slower than 65% of UK towns
ONS mid-year estimates, each year indexed to mid-2011 = 100. Brownhills’s figure is the small areas (2021 LSOAs) that make up the town.
People, mid-2011 = 100
Change by age, 2011 to 2024
About 21,600 people in 2011; 22,500 in 2024.
Mid-2014 to mid-2015 brought the biggest yearly rise, 240 people.
Residents aged 65 and over make up 20% in Brownhills, less than in 67% of UK towns
Share of residents in each five-year age band, Census 2021.
Residents aged 15 to 24 make up 11%, against 12% across England’s towns. Across the comparison, 18% of residents are 65 or over across England’s towns. The largest age band is 50–54: 7.7% of residents.
Median age of UK towns of 2,500+
■ Brownhills, 42.4. 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 England, 51% of residents are women.
Fewer residents who moved in within the year than 85% of UK towns: 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%.
5.5% of adults are full-time students (England’s towns: 7.9%). As a yardstick, 11% of residents lived at another address a year earlier across England’s towns.
The Census was taken on 21 March 2021, in term time, so students were counted at their term addresses.
2.2% of households are unrelated adults sharing a home, fewer than in 61% of UK towns
Household make-up at the 2021 Census. Each square is 1% of households.
Against West Midlands’ towns and England’s towns
People per household
England’s towns.
Brownhills sits close to the norm on households with dependent children: 29%, about the same as across England’s towns. Elsewhere, 4.3% of households are unrelated adults sharing a home across England’s towns.
A larger share of households without a car or van than 73% of UK towns: 20%
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 in flats is 14%, against 23% across England’s towns. Meanwhile, households in detached houses are rarer here than in two thirds of UK towns. The comparison figure for households without a car or van is 24% across England’s towns.
Brownhills ranks below 66% of UK towns on residents born outside the UK: 4.9%
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 30%
When those born abroad arrived
Main language · residents aged 3 and over
Where 90% of residents have English as their main language across England’s towns, Brownhills has 97%. As a reference point, 18% of residents were born outside the UK across England’s towns. The largest groups were born in EU countries (2.1%) and in the Middle East and Asia (1.4%).
89% of residents describe themselves as White British, below 68% 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: 89% of Brownhills · West Midlands’ towns 56% · England’s towns 73%.
Religion · all residents
Here just over half of residents describe themselves as Christian, where the figure across England’s towns is 46%. As a yardstick, 73% of residents describe themselves as White British across England’s towns. The census found that 39% of residents said they have no religion in Brownhills.
Above 79% of UK towns: 37% of adults have never married or formed a civil partnership
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
749 people give 50 hours or more of unpaid care a week. Adults who have never married make up 39% across England’s towns. Few places have so few married adults and civil partners: 43% here, fewer than in four fifths of UK towns.
The share of adults with a degree-level qualification: 21%
Highest qualification, residents 16 and over, Census 2021.
Highest qualification · residents 16 and over
At degree level, Brownhills counts 21% of its adults, against 34% across England’s towns; at the other end, 26% have no qualification (18%).
From a median age of 41 in Brownhills West & Clayhanger to 46 in Aldridge North
The town’s 4 neighbourhoods (ONS middle-layer areas with 500+ residents inside it, named by the House of Commons Library), youngest first. Census 2021.
Aldridge North is the oldest area, with 20% aged 65 or over; Brownhills West & Clayhanger the youngest (median age 41). Families with children are most common in Walsall Wood (31% of households).
Ranked by age, 110th youngest of 289 UK towns this size
Median age, Census 2021. Hover a dot for its students and residents born abroad; click for its page.
Ages run from 26.4 in Bangor to 57.2 in South Hayling. Nearest to Brownhills in age: Normanton (42.4), Bourne (42.4), Bushey (42.4) and Horwich (42.5).
Among its 7 nearest neighbours, 5 are older than Brownhills
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brownhills | 21,238 | — | 42.4 | 20% | 29% |
| Clayhanger | 1,698 | 0.7 mi | 42.1 | 13% | 32% |
| Stonnall | 1,340 | 1.5 mi | 51.7 | 31% | 25% |
| Pelsall | 10,455 | 2 mi | 47 | 24% | 26% |
| Rushall and Shelfield | 12,844 | 2.3 mi | 42.7 | 21% | 29% |
| Aldridge | 15,827 | 2.5 mi | 49 | 28% | 25% |
| Burntwood | 27,891 | 2.5 mi | 46.8 | 25% | 26% |
| Norton Canes | 8,155 | 2.8 mi | 40.8 | 19% | 29% |
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 Midlands’ towns” and “England’s towns” mean their built-up areas. Census comparisons pool every built-up area in West Midlands (or England), summed the same way as Brownhills’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. Brownhills’s trend uses the small areas (2021 LSOAs) with most of their people inside it: 22,375 people in 2021, against 21,238 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 Brownhills’s residents
What is the population of Brownhills?
The 2021 Census counted 21,238 people in Brownhills’s built-up area. The ONS estimates the same small areas held 22,500 people in mid-2024, 4% more than in 2011.
What is the average age in Brownhills?
The median age was 42.4 at the 2021 Census, younger than 66% of UK towns. 11% of residents were 15 to 24 and 20% were 65 or over.
How diverse is Brownhills?
89% of residents described themselves as White British in 2021, against 73% across England’s towns and 56% across West Midlands’ towns. 4.9% were born outside the UK.
What religion are people in Brownhills?
39% said they had no religion and 51% that they were Christian at the 2021 Census; 1.2% were Muslim and 5.5% didn’t answer.
Is Brownhills good for families?
29% of households had dependent children in 2021, against 29% across England’s towns. Families are most common in Walsall Wood (31% of households). Schools are on Brownhills’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) · 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.