The Parish Church of St John the Baptist · Photo: Simon Burchell · CC BY-SA 3.0Older than 99% of UK towns: half of Sutton is over 63.1
6.6% of households have no car or van; across England’s towns the figure is 24%. In Sutton, 14% of households have dependent children. Households in flats are rarer here than in 93% of UK towns. At the 2021 Census Sutton was home to 395 people in 169 households.
46% of residents are 65 or over, more than in 99% of UK towns
Share of residents in each five-year age band, Census 2021.
Across England’s towns, the share of residents aged 15 to 24 is 12%; Sutton has 5.3%. For comparison, 18% of residents are 65 or over across England’s towns.
Broad ages · share of residents
Women and men · all residents
56% women, 44% men
About 78 men for every 100 women. Across England, 51% of residents are women. Women live longer than men, so towns with many older residents have more women.
Sutton ranks below 99% of UK towns on full-time students: 2.5%
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%.
Set against 11% across England’s towns, 5.8% of residents lived at another address a year earlier in Sutton. Measured more widely, 7.9% of adults are full-time students across England’s towns.
Sutton households average 2.1 people, smaller than in 95% of UK towns
Household make-up at the 2021 Census. Each square is 1% of households.
Against West Sussex’s towns and England’s towns
People per household
England’s towns.
Across England’s towns, the share of one-person households is 30%; Sutton has 27%. Shared households of unrelated adults are more common here than in three quarters of UK towns.
Fewer households in terraced houses than 99% of UK towns: 2.4%
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
Across England’s towns, just over a fifth of households live in a detached house; in Sutton, 56%. The share of households in terraced houses across England’s towns is 24%.
A larger share of residents born outside the UK than 70% of UK towns: 9.1%
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 25%
Main language · residents aged 3 and over
Residents whose main language is English make up 97%, against 90% across England’s towns. Set beside that, 18% of residents were born outside the UK across England’s towns. Among residents born abroad, the largest groups were born in EU countries (4.8%) and in the Americas, Oceania and elsewhere (2.5%).
Below 95% of UK towns: 29% of residents said they have no religion
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: 93% of Sutton · West Sussex’s towns 84% · England’s towns 73%.
Religion · all residents
Residents who describe themselves as Christian: 61% here and 46% across England’s towns. Against that, 37% of residents said they have no religion across England’s towns. The share of residents who describe themselves as White British stands at 93%.
15% of adults have never married or formed a civil partnership, below 99% of UK towns
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 8.7% across England’s towns, 4.1% of residents give unpaid care here. Measured more widely, nearly two in five adults have never married or formed a civil partnership across England’s towns. Married adults and civil partners: 65% of the total.
39% of adults are qualified to degree level
Highest qualification, residents 16 and over, Census 2021.
Highest qualification · residents 16 and over
39% of Sutton’s adults have a degree-level qualification, against 34% across England’s towns; 16% have none (18%).
Every nearby town is younger than Sutton
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sutton | 395 | — | 63.1 | 46% | 14% |
| Petworth | 2,592 | 3.8 mi | 49.2 | 30% | 22% |
| Pulborough | 3,651 | 5 mi | 50.7 | 28% | 21% |
| Codmore Hill | 1,288 | 5.3 mi | 39 | 16% | 32% |
| Arundel | 3,035 | 5.9 mi | 54.2 | 33% | 19% |
| Walberton | 1,236 | 5.9 mi | 53.5 | 34% | 24% |
| Barnham | 10,139 | 6.5 mi | 47 | 24% | 28% |
| West Chiltington | 3,095 | 6.8 mi | 63.1 | 46% | 12% |
Health, work and homes have their own pages
What this data can and can’t tell you
- “West Sussex’s towns” and “England’s towns” mean their built-up areas. Census comparisons pool every built-up area in West Sussex (or England), summed the same way as Sutton’s figures, so households in open countryside are left out.
- 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 Sutton’s residents
What is the population of Sutton?
The 2021 Census counted 395 people in Sutton’s built-up area.
What is the average age in Sutton?
The median age was 63.1 at the 2021 Census. 5.3% of residents were 15 to 24 and 46% were 65 or over.
How diverse is Sutton?
93% of residents described themselves as White British in 2021, against 73% across England’s towns and 84% across West Sussex’s towns. 9.1% were born outside the UK.
What religion are people in Sutton?
29% said they had no religion and 61% that they were Christian at the 2021 Census; 0% were Muslim and 9.6% didn’t answer.
Is Sutton good for families?
14% of households had dependent children in 2021, against 29% across England’s towns. Schools are on Sutton’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). 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.