Photo: Richard Harvey · CC BY-SA 2.5Shared households of unrelated adults: 1.5%, a lower share than 93% of UK towns
With households in terraced houses at 31%, Meltham is ahead of 84% of UK towns on that count. Across Meltham, 45% of residents said they have no religion. Half of the town’s residents are over 45.2, older than in 55% of UK towns. Its 3,607 households held 8,325 residents at the 2021 Census.
A +11% change since 2011: faster than 62% of UK towns
ONS mid-year estimates, each year indexed to mid-2011 = 100. Meltham’s figure is the small areas (2021 LSOAs) that make up the town.
People, mid-2011 = 100
Change by age, 2011 to 2024
About 8,500 people in 2011; 9,400 in 2024.
The largest rise in a single year came from mid-2018 to mid-2019: 180 people. Change by age ran from +42% for the 65 and over to −2% for the 45 to 64.
Meltham ranks above 57% of UK towns on residents aged 65 and over: 23%
Share of residents in each five-year age band, Census 2021.
One in ten residents are aged 15 to 24 (England’s towns: 12%). The usual figure: 18% of residents are 65 or over across England’s towns.
Median age of UK towns of 2,500+
■ Meltham, 45.2. The typical town is 44.4.
Broad ages · share of residents
Women and men · all residents
52% women, 48% men
About 92 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.
Full-time students: 5.5%, a higher share than 75% 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%.
By class, 38% of adults are in managerial and professional jobs and 23% in routine and semi-routine work (England’s towns: 33% and 24%). Across England’s towns, the share of full-time students is 7.9%. Census figures put residents who moved in within the year at 7.8% in Meltham.
The Census was taken on 21 March 2021, in term time, so students were counted at their term addresses.
Only 29% of households in Meltham are one person living alone
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.
28% of households have dependent children. The average household has 2.3 people, against 2.4 across England’s towns.
In Meltham, 9.3% of households live in a flat or apartment, fewer than in 58% 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 16% of households have no car or van, where the figure across England’s towns is 24%. The wider picture: nearly a quarter of households live in a flat or apartment across England’s towns. For Meltham, the census puts households in detached houses at 30%.
Fewer residents born outside the UK than 86% of UK towns: 3.4%
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 newest arrivals, from 2017 or later, are nearly a tenth of those born abroad (against 21% across England’s towns). 99% of residents have English as their main language, a higher share than in 89% of UK towns. As a yardstick, 18% of residents were born outside the UK across England’s towns. Most residents from abroad were born in EU countries (1.3%) or in the Middle East and Asia (1%).
Meltham: 93% of residents describe themselves as White British, above 61% 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: 93% of Meltham · West Yorkshire’s towns 71% · England’s towns 73%.
Religion · all residents
Against a figure of 46% across England’s towns, the share of residents who describe themselves as Christian in Meltham comes in at 47%. The wider picture: 73% of residents describe themselves as White British across England’s towns. Other than White British, most residents describe themselves as Mixed or multiple (2.3%), Other White (1.7%) and African (0.5%).
Fewer adults who have never married than 55% of UK towns: 32%
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
212 people give 50 hours or more of unpaid care a week. The comparison figure for adults who have never married is 39% across England’s towns. The figure for married adults and civil partners is 48% in Meltham and 44% across England’s towns.
35% of adults are qualified to degree level
Highest qualification, residents 16 and over, Census 2021.
Highest qualification · residents 16 and over
Degree-level qualifications are held by 35% of Meltham’s adults, against 34% across England’s towns; 16% have no qualification (18%).
424 UK towns of 6,000 to 11,000 people: this is the 194th oldest
Median age, Census 2021. Hover a dot for its students and residents born abroad; click for its page.
Tidworth is the youngest (28.4); Barton on Sea the oldest (65.3). Nearest to Meltham in age: Mold (45.1), Kippax (45.2), Crediton (45.2) and Oswaldtwistle (45.3).
Meltham is younger than 6 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Meltham | 8,325 | — | 45.2 | 23% | 28% |
| Linthwaite and Slaithwaite | 9,242 | 2.1 mi | 41.2 | 17% | 29% |
| Netherton (Kirklees) | 3,151 | 2.3 mi | 49.7 | 27% | 23% |
| Upperthong | 1,094 | 2.4 mi | 50.6 | 25% | 26% |
| Holmbridge | 1,219 | 2.7 mi | 48.4 | 21% | 24% |
| Holmfirth | 4,982 | 3 mi | 46.8 | 21% | 28% |
| Marsden | 3,691 | 3.2 mi | 47 | 23% | 25% |
| Honley | 14,399 | 3.2 mi | 47.6 | 24% | 27% |
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 Meltham’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. Meltham’s trend uses the small areas (2021 LSOAs) with most of their people inside it: 9,106 people in 2021, against 8,325 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 Meltham’s residents
What is the population of Meltham?
The 2021 Census counted 8,325 people in Meltham’s built-up area. The ONS estimates the same small areas held 9,400 people in mid-2024, 11% more than in 2011.
What is the average age in Meltham?
The median age was 45.2 at the 2021 Census, older than 55% of UK towns. 9.6% of residents were 15 to 24 and 23% were 65 or over.
How diverse is Meltham?
93% of residents described themselves as White British in 2021, against 73% across England’s towns and 71% across West Yorkshire’s towns. 3.4% were born outside the UK.
What religion are people in Meltham?
45% said they had no religion and 47% that they were Christian at the 2021 Census; 0.8% were Muslim and 6% didn’t answer.
Is Meltham good for families?
28% of households had dependent children in 2021, against 29% across England’s towns. Schools are on Meltham’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.