Photo: Colin Smith · CC BY-SA 2.0Ilkley is older than 90% of UK towns: a median age of 51.3
Compared with 23% across England’s towns, 27% of households live in a flat or apartment here. Few places have as many married adults and civil partners: 54% here, more than in 84% of UK towns. The 2021 Census counted 14,852 residents in 6,661 households. On the census count, a quarter of households have dependent children.
What the Census says about Ilkley’s people
Older than most towns
Half of Ilkley’s residents are under 51.3 and half over, against 44.4 in the typical UK town. 30% are 65 or over, against 18% across England’s towns. 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.
A ±0% change since 2011: slower than 82% of UK towns
ONS mid-year estimates, each year indexed to mid-2011 = 100. Ilkley’s figure is the small areas (2021 LSOAs) that make up the town.
People, mid-2011 = 100
Change by age, 2011 to 2024
About 14,800 people in 2011; 14,800 in 2024.
Change by age ran from +25% for the 65 and over to −18% for the 30 to 44. Mid-2012 to mid-2013 brought the biggest yearly rise, 220 people.
A higher share of residents aged 65 and over than 91% of UK towns, at 30%
Share of residents in each five-year age band, Census 2021.
The largest age band is 50–54: 8% of residents. Fewer residents aged 15 to 24 than in 81% of UK towns: 8.8%. Typically, 18% of residents are 65 or over across England’s towns. In Addingham, the oldest of West Yorkshire’s towns by this measure, it is 38%.
Median age of UK towns of 2,500+
■ Ilkley, 51.3. The typical town is 44.4.
Broad ages · share of residents
Women and men · all residents
53% women, 47% men
About 90 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.
Above 76% of UK towns: 5.5% of adults are full-time students
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%.
Here 9.1% of residents lived at another address a year earlier, where the figure across England’s towns is 11%. Across England’s towns, 7.9% of adults are full-time students.
The Census was taken on 21 March 2021, in term time, so students were counted at their term addresses.
A larger share of one-person households than 77% of UK towns: 33%
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.
The typical household size is 2.2 people, against 2.4 across England’s towns. Across the comparison, 30% of households are one person living alone across England’s towns. On the census count, 1.9% of households are unrelated adults sharing a home.
Ilkley: 18% of households have no car or van, above 62% 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
Households in detached houses: 27% here and 21% across England’s towns. On households in terraced houses, Ilkley sits higher than 64% of UK towns: 24%. In one household in 6 there is no car or van.
98% of residents have English as their main language, a share 52% of UK towns don’t reach
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
14% of the town’s residents born abroad came in 2017 or later, set against 21% across England’s towns. Across England’s towns, the share of residents whose main language is English is 90%. The largest groups were born in EU countries (3.2%) and in the Middle East and Asia (1.2%).
Residents who describe themselves as Christian: 53%, a higher share than 70% 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: 91% of Ilkley · West Yorkshire’s towns 71% · England’s towns 73%.
Religion · all residents
In Ilkley, just over nine in ten residents describe themselves as White British, beside 73% across England’s towns. Census figures put residents with no religion at 40% in the town. Residents who describe themselves as Christian: 46% across England’s towns, for comparison.
Ilkley ranks below 90% of UK towns on adults who have never married: 26%
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
Little separates the share of unpaid carers here, 8.8%, from the figure across England’s towns. On average, 39% of adults have never married or formed a civil partnership across England’s towns.
Adults qualified to degree level or above: 53%
Highest qualification, residents 16 and over, Census 2021.
Highest qualification · residents 16 and over
With 53% of its adults qualified to degree level, Ilkley compares with 34% across England’s towns; another 10% hold no qualification (18%).
25th oldest of 384 UK towns of 10,000 to 20,000 people
Median age, Census 2021. Hover a dot for its students and residents born abroad; click for its page.
At the ends of the range sit Aberystwyth (25), the youngest, and Sidmouth (60.4), the oldest. Nearest to Ilkley in age: Nailsea (50.9), Humberston and New Waltham (51.2), Sandown (51.7) and Tavistock (51.7).
Ilkley is younger than 1 of its 7 nearest neighbours
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ilkley | 14,852 | — | 51.3 | 30% | 25% |
| Burley in Wharfedale | 6,806 | 2.9 mi | 46.2 | 23% | 32% |
| Addingham | 3,247 | 3 mi | 57.1 | 38% | 19% |
| East Morton | 1,227 | 3.7 mi | 50.6 | 22% | 25% |
| Menston | 5,905 | 4.2 mi | 45.4 | 22% | 28% |
| Silsden | 8,392 | 4.9 mi | 47.6 | 26% | 22% |
| Otley | 14,549 | 5.1 mi | 48 | 26% | 25% |
| Bingley | 21,334 | 5.3 mi | 45.8 | 23% | 26% |
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 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 Ilkley’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. Ilkley’s trend uses the small areas (2021 LSOAs) with most of their people inside it: 15,041 people in 2021, against 14,852 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 Ilkley’s residents
What is the population of Ilkley?
The 2021 Census counted 14,852 people in Ilkley’s built-up area. The ONS estimates the same small areas held 14,800 people in mid-2024, about as many as in 2011.
What is the average age in Ilkley?
The median age was 51.3 at the 2021 Census, older than 90% of UK towns. 8.8% of residents were 15 to 24 and 30% were 65 or over.
How diverse is Ilkley?
91% of residents described themselves as White British in 2021, against 73% across England’s towns and 71% across West Yorkshire’s towns. 6.3% were born outside the UK.
What religion are people in Ilkley?
40% said they had no religion and 53% that they were Christian at the 2021 Census; 0.9% were Muslim and 5.5% didn’t answer.
Is Ilkley good for families?
25% of households had dependent children in 2021, against 29% across England’s towns. Schools are on Ilkley’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.