Photo: Maurice Pullin · CC BY-SA 2.0Older than 82% of UK towns: half of Box is over 49.3
Where 39% of adults have never married or formed a civil partnership across England’s towns, Box has 27%. At 31%, the share of households with dependent children is higher than in 80% of UK towns. Census day 2021: 1,287 residents and 536 households here. For Box, the census puts residents who describe themselves as Christian at 44%.
In Box, 9% of residents are aged 15 to 24, fewer than in 75% of UK towns
Share of residents in each five-year age band, Census 2021.
No age band is larger than 55–59: 9.1% of residents, 1.4 times the share across England’s towns. As a yardstick, 12% of residents are aged 15 to 24 across England’s towns. For Box, the census puts residents aged 65 and over at 25%.
Broad ages · share of residents
Women and men · all residents
52% women, 48% men
About 94 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.
Only 6% of residents lived at another address a year earlier in Box
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%.
46% of Box’s adults are in managerial and professional jobs and 17% in routine and semi-routine work, against 33% and 24% across England’s towns. By way of comparison, just over one in ten residents lived at another address a year earlier across England’s towns. The share of full-time students stands at 5.4%.
The Census was taken on 21 March 2021, in term time, so students were counted at their term addresses.
2.3 people per household, more than in 64% of UK towns
Household make-up at the 2021 Census. Each square is 1% of households.
Against Wiltshire’s towns and England’s towns
People per household
England’s towns.
The share of one-person households is 31%, against 30% across England’s towns. In Box, 2.2% of households are unrelated adults sharing a home.
Box ranks below 67% of UK towns on households without a car or van: 12%
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
Across England’s towns, nearly a quarter of households live in a flat or apartment; in Box, 9.9%. Elsewhere, nearly a quarter of households have no car or van across England’s towns. In Box, 28% of households live in a detached house. At 22%, the share of households in terraced houses is higher than in 56% of UK towns.
More residents whose main language is English than 78% of UK towns: 99%
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%
Main language · residents aged 3 and over
Residents born abroad were most often born in EU countries (2.3%), then in the Middle East and Asia (2%). Typically, 90% of residents have English as their main language across England’s towns. Box has more residents born outside the UK than 56% of UK towns, at 7%.
Box sits above 82% of UK towns for residents with no religion (46%)
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 Box · Wiltshire’s towns 84% · England’s towns 73%.
Religion · all residents
The share of residents who describe themselves as White British tops 53% of UK towns: 93%. Next after White British come Other White (3.5%), Mixed or multiple (1.6%) and Indian (0.6%). By way of comparison, 37% of residents said they have no religion across England’s towns.
52% of adults are married or in a civil partnership, a share 74% of UK towns don’t reach
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
21 people give 50 hours or more of unpaid care a week. For married adults and civil partners, the comparison across England’s towns is 44%. Lower than in 90% of UK towns: 7.6% of residents give unpaid care.
Degree-level qualifications: held by 48% of adults
Highest qualification, residents 16 and over, Census 2021.
Highest qualification · residents 16 and over
With 48% of its adults qualified to degree level, Box compares with 34% across England’s towns; another 13% hold no qualification (18%).
2 in 7 nearby towns have a higher median age than Box
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Box | 1,287 | — | 49.3 | 25% | 31% |
| Rudloe | 2,863 | 1.4 mi | 42.3 | 21% | 32% |
| Bathford | 1,153 | 2.4 mi | 50.7 | 29% | 26% |
| Colerne | 2,415 | 2.5 mi | 37.9 | 18% | 38% |
| Corsham | 10,887 | 2.5 mi | 44.1 | 22% | 29% |
| Atworth | 1,293 | 2.8 mi | 49.6 | 29% | 24% |
| Batheaston | 3,878 | 3 mi | 46.1 | 21% | 29% |
| Bathampton | 1,698 | 3.5 mi | 49.3 | 29% | 28% |
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.
- “Wiltshire’s towns” and “England’s towns” mean their built-up areas. Census comparisons pool every built-up area in Wiltshire (or England), summed the same way as Box’s figures, so households in open countryside are left out.
- 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 Box’s residents
What is the population of Box?
The 2021 Census counted 1,287 people in Box’s built-up area.
What is the average age in Box?
The median age was 49.3 at the 2021 Census. 9% of residents were 15 to 24 and 25% were 65 or over.
How diverse is Box?
93% of residents described themselves as White British in 2021, against 73% across England’s towns and 84% across Wiltshire’s towns. 7% were born outside the UK.
What religion are people in Box?
46% said they had no religion and 44% that they were Christian at the 2021 Census; 0.6% were Muslim and 7.1% didn’t answer.
Is Box good for families?
31% of households had dependent children in 2021, against 29% across England’s towns. Schools are on Box’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). 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.