Photo: DS Pugh · CC BY-SA 2.0Few flats: only 3.4% of households in Crofton live in one
Households in terraced houses: 13% here and 24% across England’s towns. One-person households: a quarter of the total. Few places have as many residents who describe themselves as Christian: 55% here, more than in 79% of UK towns. Census day 2021: 6,127 residents and 2,567 households in Crofton.
Faster growth than 69% of UK towns: Crofton changed by +13% since 2011
ONS mid-year estimates, each year indexed to mid-2011 = 100. Crofton’s figure is the small areas (2021 LSOAs) that make up the town.
People, mid-2011 = 100
Change by age, 2011 to 2024
About 5,900 people in 2011; 6,700 in 2024.
In one year, mid-2015 to mid-2016, the population rose by 200, the most of any year. Split by age, the 65 and over changed most (+40%) and the 45 to 64 least (−3%).
Crofton ranks below 54% of UK towns on residents aged 65 and over: 21%
Share of residents in each five-year age band, Census 2021.
The median age in Crofton is 44.1, lower than in 53% of UK towns. As a reference point, 18% of residents are 65 or over across England’s towns. More residents are 55–59 than any other five-year age: 7.9% of residents. In Addingham, the oldest of West Yorkshire’s towns by this measure, it is 38%.
Median age of UK towns of 2,500+
■ Crofton, 44.1. 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.
A smaller share of residents who moved in within the year than 92% of UK towns: 6.5%
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%.
By class, nearly a third of adults are in managerial and professional jobs and 28% in routine and semi-routine work (England’s towns: 33% and 24%). Compared with other places, full-time students are scarce here: 4.6%, fewer than in just over three fifths of UK towns. Typically, 11% of residents lived at another address a year earlier across England’s towns.
Bigger households than 75% of UK towns: 2.4 people each on average
Household make-up at the 2021 Census. Each square is 1% of households.
Against West Yorkshire’s towns and England’s towns
People per household
England’s towns.
Households with dependent children: 29%, near enough the figure across England’s towns. On shared households of unrelated adults, Crofton sits lower than 74% of UK towns: 1.9%.
Households in detached houses make up 35% in Crofton, more than in 65% 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
In Crofton, 16% of households have no car or van. 3.4% of households live in a flat, less than in 91% of UK towns; 35% in a detached house, against 21% across England’s towns.
Only 4.6% of residents were born outside the UK in Crofton
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%
When those born abroad arrived
Main language · residents aged 3 and over
Residents born abroad were most often born in EU countries (2.6%), then in the Middle East and Asia (0.8%). For residents born outside the UK, the comparison across England’s towns is 18%. Across England’s towns, 21% of those born abroad arrived in 2017 or later; here, 17%.
More residents who describe themselves as White British than 66% of UK towns: 94%
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: 94% of Crofton · West Yorkshire’s towns 71% · England’s towns 73%.
Religion · all residents
The largest groups after White British are Other White (2.5%), Mixed or multiple (1%) and African (0.8%). By way of comparison, 73% of residents describe themselves as White British across England’s towns. Few places have so few residents with no religion: 39% here, fewer than in 62% of UK towns.
Crofton: 51% of adults are married or in a civil partnership, above 71% 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
Where nearly two in five adults have never married or formed a civil partnership across England’s towns, Crofton has 30%. As a reference point, 44% of adults are married or in a civil partnership across England’s towns. On the census count, 10% of residents give unpaid care.
Degree-level qualifications reach 27% of adults
Highest qualification, residents 16 and over, Census 2021.
Highest qualification · residents 16 and over
27% of Crofton’s adults have a degree-level qualification, against 34% across England’s towns; 21% have none (18%).
624 UK towns of 4,000 to 8,000 people: this is the 227th youngest
Median age, Census 2021. Hover a dot for its students and residents born abroad; click for its page.
Bailrigg is the youngest (18.9); Barton on Sea the oldest (65.3). Nearest to Crofton in age: Great Wakering (44), Ripponden (44.1), Wheathampstead (44.1) and Aston Clinton (44.1).
Older than Crofton: 2 of the 7 towns nearby
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Crofton | 6,127 | — | 44.1 | 21% | 29% |
| Sharlston | 2,163 | 1 mi | 45.8 | 20% | 28% |
| Walton | 3,266 | 1.5 mi | 52.9 | 31% | 22% |
| Streethouse | 1,691 | 1.7 mi | 39.5 | 18% | 33% |
| Havercroft and Ryhill | 5,204 | 2.4 mi | 42.1 | 18% | 29% |
| Fitzwilliam and Kinsley | 4,993 | 2.8 mi | 36.2 | 16% | 32% |
| Normanton | 21,976 | 2.9 mi | 42.4 | 19% | 28% |
| Featherstone | 11,657 | 3.2 mi | 39.9 | 19% | 27% |
Health, work and homes have their own pages
What this data can and can’t tell you
- “West Yorkshire’s towns” and “England’s towns” mean their built-up areas. Census comparisons pool every built-up area in West Yorkshire (or England), summed the same way as Crofton’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. Crofton’s trend uses the small areas (2021 LSOAs) with most of their people inside it: 6,524 people in 2021, against 6,127 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 Crofton’s residents
What is the population of Crofton?
The 2021 Census counted 6,127 people in Crofton’s built-up area. The ONS estimates the same small areas held 6,700 people in mid-2024, 13% more than in 2011.
What is the average age in Crofton?
The median age was 44.1 at the 2021 Census, younger than 53% of UK towns. 9.7% of residents were 15 to 24 and 21% were 65 or over.
How diverse is Crofton?
94% of residents described themselves as White British in 2021, against 73% across England’s towns and 71% across West Yorkshire’s towns. 4.6% were born outside the UK.
What religion are people in Crofton?
39% said they had no religion and 55% that they were Christian at the 2021 Census; 0.4% were Muslim and 4.9% didn’t answer.
Is Crofton good for families?
29% of households had dependent children in 2021, against 29% across England’s towns. Schools are on Crofton’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. 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.