Photo: Stephen Craven · CC BY-SA 2.0Leeds is younger than 97% of UK towns: a median age of 33.4
Set against 23% across England’s towns, 28% of households live in a flat or apartment in Leeds. Households without a car or van: 35% of the total. Fewer residents who describe themselves as White British than in 95% of UK towns: 65%. Census day 2021: 536,262 residents and 221,831 households locally.
What the Census says about Leeds’s people
A student city
The 2021 Census counted 66,961 full-time students aged 16 and over, 15% of adults, against 7.9% across England’s towns: more than in 98% of UK towns. That shows in the ages: 18% of residents are 15 to 24. Students & newcomers ↓
Younger than most towns
Half of Leeds’s residents are under 33.4 and half over, against 44.4 in the typical UK town. 18% are 15 to 24 and 13% are 65 or over. Ages ↓
A city people move to
15% of residents gave a different address a year before the 2021 Census, 1.4 times the share across England’s towns, and 2.3% gave a term-time address. Students & newcomers ↓
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.
From 2011 to 2024, Leeds outgrew 75% of UK towns: +15%
ONS mid-year estimates, each year indexed to mid-2011 = 100. Leeds’s figure is the small areas (2021 LSOAs) that make up the city.
People, mid-2011 = 100
Change by age, 2011 to 2024
About 492,900 people in 2011; 565,700 in 2024.
Growth was strongest among the 30 to 44 (+22%) and weakest among the 16 to 29 (+10%). In one year, mid-2022 to mid-2023, the population rose by 11,250, the most of any year.
18% of residents are aged 15 to 24, a share 98% of UK towns don’t reach
Share of residents in each five-year age band, Census 2021.
No age band is larger than 20–24: 11% of residents, 1.8 times the share across England’s towns. Locally, 13% of residents are 65 or over.
Median age of UK towns of 2,500+
■ Leeds, 33.4. The typical town is 44.4.
Broad ages · share of residents
Women and men · all residents
51% women, 49% men
About 96 men for every 100 women. Across England, 51% of residents are women.
15% of adults are full-time students, a share 98% of UK towns don’t reach
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%.
Leave the students aside and Leeds’s other adults look much like England’s: 34% are in managerial and professional jobs, against 36%. Higher than in 96% of UK towns: 15% of residents lived at another address a year earlier. Measured more widely, 7.9% of adults are full-time students across England’s towns.
The Census was taken on 21 March 2021, in term time, so students were counted at their term addresses.
Shared houses: 6.8% of households are unrelated adults, more than in 97% of UK towns
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 in Leeds hold 2.3 people on average (England’s towns: 2.4). The benchmark for shared households of unrelated adults across England’s towns: 4.3%. Here, just over a third of households are one person living alone.
Only 9.9% of households in Leeds live in a detached house
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
26% of households live in a terraced house; across England’s towns the figure is 24%. Typically, 21% of households live in a detached house across England’s towns.
Leeds ranks above 93% of UK towns on residents born outside the UK: 21%
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
The largest groups were born in the Middle East and Asia (7.6%) and in EU countries (6.8%). Lower than in 95% of UK towns: 87% of residents have English as their main language. Across England’s towns, residents born outside the UK come to 18%.
Residents who describe themselves as Christian: 39%, a lower share than 94% 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: 65% of Leeds · West Yorkshire’s towns 71% · England’s towns 73%.
Religion · all residents
37% of residents said they have no religion across England’s towns, against 40% in Leeds. Elsewhere, 46% of residents describe themselves as Christian across England’s towns. The groups that follow White British are Other White (7.2%), African (5.7%) and Pakistani (5.3%).
51% of adults have never married, more than in 98% 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
Students and young renters account for much of that. Few places have so few married adults and civil partners: 35% here, fewer than in 98% of UK towns. Census figures put unpaid carers at 7.5% in Leeds.
Adults with a degree-level qualification: 35%
Highest qualification, residents 16 and over, Census 2021.
Highest qualification · residents 16 and over
With 35% of its adults qualified to degree level, Leeds compares with 34% across England’s towns; another 19% hold no qualification (18%). For 19%, A levels are the highest qualification so far, many of them students still working towards a degree.
From a median age of 22 in University & Little Woodhouse to 48 in Colton, Austhorpe & Whitkirk
The city’s 73 neighbourhoods (ONS middle-layer areas with 500+ residents inside it, named by the House of Commons Library), youngest first. Census 2021.
Colton, Austhorpe & Whitkirk is the oldest area, with 22% aged 65 or over; University & Little Woodhouse the youngest (median age 22). Students cluster in Hyde Park, where 73% of adults are full-time students. Families with children are most common in Harehills South (46% of households).
5th lowest median age among 23 UK towns of 300,000 to 905,000
Median age, Census 2021. Hover a dot for its students and residents born abroad; click for its page.
Ages run from 30.4 in Manchester to 41.2 in Bromley. Nearest to Leeds in age: Newham (32.5), Bradford (33), Southwark (33.6) and Wandsworth (33.6).
No nearby town is as young as Leeds
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Leeds | 536,262 | — | 33.4 | 13% | 28% |
| Shadwell | 1,452 | 4.2 mi | 47.7 | 24% | 29% |
| Morley | 32,562 | 4.8 mi | 39.4 | 16% | 27% |
| Gildersome | 6,278 | 4.8 mi | 44.8 | 22% | 26% |
| Pudsey | 34,853 | 5 mi | 40.5 | 18% | 28% |
| Rothwell | 20,964 | 5.1 mi | 43.3 | 20% | 29% |
| Scholes (Leeds) | 2,270 | 5.2 mi | 51.6 | 30% | 25% |
| Bramhope | 3,593 | 5.5 mi | 48.7 | 27% | 29% |
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 Leeds’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. Leeds’s trend uses the small areas (2021 LSOAs) with most of their people inside it: 537,051 people in 2021, against 536,262 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 Leeds’s residents
What is the population of Leeds?
The 2021 Census counted 536,262 people in Leeds’s built-up area. The ONS estimates the same small areas held 565,700 people in mid-2024, 15% more than in 2011.
What is the average age in Leeds?
The median age was 33.4 at the 2021 Census, younger than 97% of UK towns. 18% of residents were 15 to 24 and 13% were 65 or over.
Is Leeds a student city?
Yes: 15% of adults were full-time students at the 2021 Census (66,961 people), against 7.9% across England’s towns. In Hyde Park, 73% of adults were students.
How diverse is Leeds?
65% of residents described themselves as White British in 2021, against 73% across England’s towns and 71% across West Yorkshire’s towns. 21% were born outside the UK.
What religion are people in Leeds?
40% said they had no religion and 39% that they were Christian at the 2021 Census; 11% were Muslim and 6.1% didn’t answer.
Is Leeds good for families?
28% of households had dependent children in 2021, against 29% across England’s towns. Families are most common in Harehills South (46% of households). Schools are on Leeds’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.