War memorial outside St Giles' Church, Rowley Regis · Photo: AtticTapestry · CC BY-SA 4.0A median age of 37.6: Rowley Regis is younger than 90% of UK towns
Set against 21% across England’s towns, 18% of households live in a detached house in Rowley Regis. Higher than in 92% of UK towns: 34% of households have dependent children. The 2021 Census put the town’s population at 39,052, in 15,191 households. Residents who describe themselves as White British: 65% of the total.
What the Census says about Rowley Regis’s people
Younger than most towns
Half of Rowley Regis’s residents are under 37.6 and half over, against 44.4 in the typical UK town. 12% are 15 to 24 and 16% 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.
+13% since 2011, a pace 69% of UK towns didn’t match
ONS mid-year estimates, each year indexed to mid-2011 = 100. Rowley Regis’s figure is the small areas (2021 LSOAs) that make up the town.
People, mid-2011 = 100
Change by age, 2011 to 2024
About 35,500 people in 2011; 39,900 in 2024.
The biggest one-year rise was mid-2017 to mid-2018, 810 people. Of the age groups, 0 to 15 changed most (+20%) and 16 to 29 least (+2%).
16% of residents are 65 or over, below 89% of UK towns
Share of residents in each five-year age band, Census 2021.
30–34 is the most common age band: 7.3% of residents. Compared with other places, residents aged 15 to 24 are common here: 12%, more than in 91% of UK towns. Elsewhere, 18% of residents are 65 or over across England’s towns. In Aldridge, the oldest of West Midlands’ towns by this measure, it is 28%.
Median age of UK towns of 2,500+
■ Rowley Regis, 37.6. 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.
6.9% of residents lived at another address a year earlier, fewer than in 86% 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%.
In Rowley Regis, 22% of adults work in managerial and professional jobs and 34% in routine and semi-routine work, against 33% and 24% across England’s towns. Residents who moved in within the year make up 11% across England’s towns. Census figures put full-time students at 7.1% here.
The Census was taken on 21 March 2021, in term time, so students were counted at their term addresses.
Bigger households than 93% of UK towns: 2.5 people each on average
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.
27% of households are one person living alone, against 30% across England’s towns. More shared households of unrelated adults than in 65% of UK towns: 2.7%.
14% of households live in a flat or apartment, more than in 66% 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
Here 17% of households live in a terraced house, where the figure across England’s towns is 24%. One household in every 4 has no car or van. For comparison, 23% of households live in a flat or apartment across England’s towns.
Residents born outside the UK: 15%, a higher share than 87% 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 30%
When those born abroad arrived
Main language · residents aged 3 and over
Residents born abroad were most often born in the Middle East and Asia (7.7%), then in EU countries (3.9%). At 90%, the share of residents whose main language is English is lower than in 92% of UK towns. Across the comparison, 18% of residents were born outside the UK across England’s towns. Recent arrivals (2017 or later) make up 16% of those born abroad (England’s towns: 21%).
Rowley Regis ranks below 88% of UK towns on residents with no religion: 33%
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: 65% of Rowley Regis · West Midlands’ towns 56% · England’s towns 73%.
Religion · all residents
With residents who describe themselves as Christian at 43%, Rowley Regis is behind 85% of UK towns on that count. Of the other groups, the largest are Indian (9.3%), Pakistani (5.3%) and Mixed or multiple (4.3%). Across England’s towns, 37% of residents said they have no religion.
A higher share of adults who have never married than 85% of UK towns, at 38%
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
The figure for married adults and civil partners is 45% in Rowley Regis and 44% across England’s towns. On average, 39% of adults have never married or formed a civil partnership across England’s towns. Unpaid care takes 50 hours a week or more for 1,102 people.
Adults with a degree-level qualification: 22%
Highest qualification, residents 16 and over, Census 2021.
Highest qualification · residents 16 and over
22% of Rowley Regis’s adults have a degree-level qualification, against 34% across England’s towns; 27% have none (18%). Many of the 16% whose highest qualification is A levels are students working towards a degree.
From a median age of 31 in Great Bridge & Dudley Port to 41 in Blackheath
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.
Blackheath is the oldest area, with 17% aged 65 or over; Great Bridge & Dudley Port the youngest (median age 31). Families with children are most common in Great Bridge & Dudley Port (46% of households).
Of 193 UK towns its size (27,000 to 53,000 people), the 23rd youngest
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 Rowley Regis in age: Grays (37.4), Bridgwater (37.5), Borehamwood (37.6) and Banbury (37.8).
Around Rowley Regis, 4 of 7 towns have a higher median age
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rowley Regis | 39,052 | — | 37.6 | 16% | 34% |
| Blackheath | 6,950 | 1.5 mi | 39.8 | 18% | 29% |
| Oldbury | 45,188 | 2 mi | 38.4 | 15% | 34% |
| Dudley | 64,277 | 2 mi | 36.4 | 15% | 33% |
| Cradley Heath | 18,819 | 2.1 mi | 38.2 | 17% | 30% |
| Tipton | 47,202 | 2.3 mi | 36.6 | 14% | 35% |
| Halesowen | 60,103 | 3.1 mi | 42.9 | 22% | 28% |
| Smethwick | 56,343 | 3.2 mi | 33.7 | 11% | 41% |
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 Rowley Regis’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. Rowley Regis’s trend uses the small areas (2021 LSOAs) with most of their people inside it: 38,972 people in 2021, against 39,052 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 Rowley Regis’s residents
What is the population of Rowley Regis?
The 2021 Census counted 39,052 people in Rowley Regis’s built-up area. The ONS estimates the same small areas held 39,900 people in mid-2024, 13% more than in 2011.
What is the average age in Rowley Regis?
The median age was 37.6 at the 2021 Census, younger than 90% of UK towns. 12% of residents were 15 to 24 and 16% were 65 or over.
How diverse is Rowley Regis?
65% of residents described themselves as White British in 2021, against 73% across England’s towns and 56% across West Midlands’ towns. 15% were born outside the UK.
What religion are people in Rowley Regis?
33% said they had no religion and 43% that they were Christian at the 2021 Census; 6.8% were Muslim and 5.9% didn’t answer.
Is Rowley Regis good for families?
34% of households had dependent children in 2021, against 29% across England’s towns. Families are most common in Great Bridge & Dudley Port (46% of households). Schools are on Rowley Regis’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.