Photo: Brian Clift · CC BY-SA 2.0Dudley is younger than 93% of UK towns: a median age of 36.4
Set against 21% across England’s towns, 13% of households live in a detached house in Dudley. A third of households have dependent children. The town has fewer residents who describe themselves as Christian than 87% of UK towns, at 43%. Census day 2021: 64,277 residents and 25,732 households here.
What the Census says about Dudley’s people
Younger than most towns
Half of Dudley’s residents are under 36.4 and half over, against 44.4 in the typical UK town. 12% are 15 to 24 and 15% are 65 or over. Ages ↓
Written from the data on this page: ONS Census 2021 (output areas summed to the 2022 built-up area) and ONS mid-year population estimates.
+14% since 2011, a pace 73% of UK towns didn’t match
ONS mid-year estimates, each year indexed to mid-2011 = 100. Dudley’s figure is the small areas (2021 LSOAs) that make up the town.
People, mid-2011 = 100
Change by age, 2011 to 2024
About 60,000 people in 2011; 68,200 in 2024.
Change by age ran from +20% for the 30 to 44 to +7% for the 65 and over. The steepest year was mid-2022 to mid-2023, up 1,250 people.
Only 15% of residents are 65 or over in Dudley
Share of residents in each five-year age band, Census 2021.
At 12%, the share of residents aged 15 to 24 is in line with the figure across England’s towns. As a yardstick, 18% of residents are 65 or over across England’s towns. No age band is larger than 30–34: 7.6% of residents.
Median age of UK towns of 2,500+
■ Dudley, 36.4. The typical town is 44.4.
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.
Fewer residents who moved in within the year than 79% of UK towns: 7.3%
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%.
20% of Dudley’s adults are in managerial and professional jobs and 33% in routine and semi-routine work, against 33% and 24% across England’s towns. Compared with other places, full-time students are common here: 7.2%, more than in 92% of UK towns. The benchmark for residents who moved in within the year across England’s towns: 11%.
The Census was taken on 21 March 2021, in term time, so students were counted at their term addresses.
Dudley households average 2.5 people, larger than in 87% 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.
Across England’s towns, 30% of households are one person living alone; in Dudley, 31%. Higher than in 53% of UK towns: 2.4% of households are unrelated adults sharing a home.
28% of households have no car or van, a share 92% of UK towns don’t reach
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
Against a figure of 24% across England’s towns, the share of households in terraced houses in Dudley comes in at 19%. About one household in 4 lives without a car or van. Households in flats are more common here than in just over four fifths of UK towns.
Above 88% of UK towns: 16% of 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 30%
When those born abroad arrived
Main language · residents aged 3 and over
By birthplace, the largest groups from abroad were born in the Middle East and Asia (7.4%) and in EU countries (4.3%). Lower than in 91% of UK towns: 91% of residents have English as their main language. For residents born outside the UK, the comparison across England’s towns is 18%. Arrivals from 2017 on account for 21% of residents born abroad, beside 21% across England’s towns.
A smaller share of residents who describe themselves as White British than 94% of UK towns: 66%
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: 66% of Dudley · West Midlands’ towns 56% · England’s towns 73%.
Religion · all residents
Of the other groups, the largest are Pakistani (11%), Indian (4.2%) and Mixed or multiple (4.2%). Across England’s towns, 73% of residents describe themselves as White British. On residents with no religion, Dudley sits lower than 86% of UK towns: 34%.
Dudley ranks above 93% of UK towns on adults who have never married: 42%
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
By its share of unpaid carers (9.8%), Dudley is above 63% of UK towns. The census found that just over two in five adults are married or in a civil partnership locally. Across England’s towns, 39% of adults have never married or formed a civil partnership.
Degree level: the highest qualification of 22% of adults
Highest qualification, residents 16 and over, Census 2021.
Highest qualification · residents 16 and over
28% of Dudley’s adults have no qualification (18% across England’s towns), and 22% have one at degree level (34%). Many of the 16% whose highest qualification is A levels are students working towards a degree.
From a median age of 32 in Dudley Priory & Wrens Nest to 44 in Dibdale
The town’s 10 neighbourhoods (ONS middle-layer areas with 500+ residents inside it, named by the House of Commons Library), youngest first. Census 2021.
Dibdale is the oldest area, with 17% aged 65 or over; Dudley Priory & Wrens Nest the youngest (median age 32). Families with children are most common in Dudley Priory & Wrens Nest (45% of households).
Of 114 UK towns its size (45,000 to 87,000 people), the 13th youngest
Median age, Census 2021. Hover a dot for its students and residents born abroad; click for its page.
Canterbury is the youngest (27.5); Christchurch the oldest (51.7). Nearest to Dudley in age: Bloxwich (36.3), Royal Leamington Spa (36.3), Tipton (36.6) and Dartford (36.6).
Dudley is younger than every town around it
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dudley | 64,277 | — | 36.4 | 15% | 33% |
| Rowley Regis | 39,052 | 2 mi | 37.6 | 16% | 34% |
| Sedgley | 31,976 | 2.1 mi | 45.7 | 24% | 26% |
| Coseley | 25,206 | 2.4 mi | 42 | 20% | 29% |
| Cradley Heath | 18,819 | 2.4 mi | 38.2 | 17% | 30% |
| Brierley Hill | 32,311 | 2.5 mi | 39.8 | 18% | 29% |
| Tipton | 47,202 | 2.6 mi | 36.6 | 14% | 35% |
| Kingswinford | 51,900 | 2.9 mi | 45.8 | 24% | 27% |
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 Dudley’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. Dudley’s trend uses the small areas (2021 LSOAs) with most of their people inside it: 64,889 people in 2021, against 64,277 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 Dudley’s residents
What is the population of Dudley?
The 2021 Census counted 64,277 people in Dudley’s built-up area. The ONS estimates the same small areas held 68,200 people in mid-2024, 14% more than in 2011.
What is the average age in Dudley?
The median age was 36.4 at the 2021 Census, younger than 93% of UK towns. 12% of residents were 15 to 24 and 15% were 65 or over.
How diverse is Dudley?
66% of residents described themselves as White British in 2021, against 73% across England’s towns and 56% across West Midlands’ towns. 16% were born outside the UK.
What religion are people in Dudley?
34% said they had no religion and 43% that they were Christian at the 2021 Census; 13% were Muslim and 5.5% didn’t answer.
Is Dudley good for families?
33% of households had dependent children in 2021, against 29% across England’s towns. Families are most common in Dudley Priory & Wrens Nest (45% of households). Schools are on Dudley’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.