Photo: Stephen Craven · CC BY-SA 2.0A lower share of households in detached houses than 96% of UK towns, at 8.8%
By its share of households without a car or van (31%), Shipley is above 95% of UK towns. The town has fewer residents who describe themselves as Christian than 97% of UK towns, at 36%. At the 2021 Census Shipley was home to 29,228 people in 12,812 households. Married adults and civil partners account for 40%.
What the Census says about Shipley’s people
Younger than most towns
Half of Shipley’s residents are under 39 and half over, against 44.4 in the typical UK town. 11% are 15 to 24 and 16% are 65 or over. 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.
Shipley’s population moved +5% on 2011, less than in 61% of UK towns
ONS mid-year estimates, each year indexed to mid-2011 = 100. Shipley’s figure is the small areas (2021 LSOAs) that make up the town.
People, mid-2011 = 100
Change by age, 2011 to 2024
About 28,200 people in 2011; 29,600 in 2024.
The largest rise in a single year came from mid-2013 to mid-2014: 280 people. Split by age, the 65 and over changed most (+21%) and the 16 to 29 least (−7%).
Shipley is younger than 85% of UK towns: a median age of 39
Share of residents in each five-year age band, Census 2021.
More residents are 30–34 than any other five-year age: 7.6% of residents. Shipley has fewer residents aged 65 and over than 86% of UK towns, at 16%. Just over one in ten residents are aged 15 to 24, against 12% across England’s towns.
Median age of UK towns of 2,500+
■ Shipley, 39. 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.
In Shipley, 6.5% of adults are full-time students, more than in 88% 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, a third of adults are in managerial and professional jobs and 24% in routine and semi-routine work (England’s towns: 33% and 24%). For comparison, 7.9% of adults are full-time students across England’s towns. In Shipley, 8.9% of residents lived at another address a year earlier.
The Census was taken on 21 March 2021, in term time, so students were counted at their term addresses.
One-person households: 37%, a higher share than 95% 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.
Where 29% of households have dependent children across England’s towns, Shipley has 28%. Each household has 2.3 people on average. This West Yorkshire town has more shared households of unrelated adults than 61% of UK towns, at 2.6%. For comparison, 30% of households are one person living alone across England’s towns.
A higher share of households in terraced houses than 79% of UK towns, at 28%
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
Nearly a quarter of households live in a flat or apartment, against 23% across England’s towns.
A higher share of residents born outside the UK than 80% of UK towns, at 12%
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
Where 90% of residents have English as their main language across England’s towns, Shipley has 94%. The usual figure: 18% of residents were born outside the UK across England’s towns. By birthplace, the largest groups from abroad were born in the Middle East and Asia (6.2%) and in EU countries (3.7%).
72% of residents describe themselves as White British, fewer than in 92% 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: 72% of Shipley · West Yorkshire’s towns 71% · England’s towns 73%.
Religion · all residents
Beyond White British, the biggest groups are Pakistani (13%), Other White (4.5%) and Mixed or multiple (3%). The wider picture: 73% of residents describe themselves as White British across England’s towns. Two in five residents said they have no religion; across England’s towns the figure is 37%.
Adults who have never married: 41%, a higher share than 93% 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. The number giving 50 or more hours of unpaid care a week is 684. Lower than in nearly two thirds of UK towns: 8.8% of residents give unpaid care.
Among adults, 35% hold a degree-level qualification
Highest qualification, residents 16 and over, Census 2021.
Highest qualification · residents 16 and over
Shipley’s adults: 35% with a degree-level qualification and 19% with none, against 34% and 18% across England’s towns. A levels are as far as 16% have gone so far, many of them students midway to a degree.
From a median age of 35 in Frizinghall & Heaton Grove to 42 in Saltaire & Baildon West
The town’s 6 neighbourhoods (ONS middle-layer areas with 500+ residents inside it, named by the House of Commons Library), youngest first. Census 2021.
Saltaire & Baildon West is the oldest area, with 20% aged 65 or over; Frizinghall & Heaton Grove the youngest (median age 35). Families with children are most common in Frizinghall & Heaton Grove (40% of households).
Among 240 UK towns of 20,000 to 39,000 people, the 36th youngest
Median age, Census 2021. Hover a dot for its students and residents born abroad; click for its page.
The youngest is Egham (31.1) and the oldest Rustington (56.2). Nearest to Shipley in age: Daventry (38.9), Witham (38.9), Kempston (39) and Dunstable (39).
Median age: 6 of the 7 towns around Shipley are older
Nearby built-up areas coloured by median age, Census 2021. Tap a town for its page.
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 Shipley’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. Shipley’s trend uses the small areas (2021 LSOAs) with most of their people inside it: 29,052 people in 2021, against 29,228 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 Shipley’s residents
What is the population of Shipley?
The 2021 Census counted 29,228 people in Shipley’s built-up area. The ONS estimates the same small areas held 29,600 people in mid-2024, 5% more than in 2011.
What is the average age in Shipley?
The median age was 39 at the 2021 Census, younger than 85% of UK towns. 11% of residents were 15 to 24 and 16% were 65 or over.
How diverse is Shipley?
72% of residents described themselves as White British in 2021, against 73% across England’s towns and 71% across West Yorkshire’s towns. 12% were born outside the UK.
What religion are people in Shipley?
40% said they had no religion and 36% that they were Christian at the 2021 Census; 16% were Muslim and 5.3% didn’t answer.
Is Shipley good for families?
28% of households had dependent children in 2021, against 29% across England’s towns. Families are most common in Frizinghall & Heaton Grove (40% of households). Schools are on Shipley’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.