Photo: Michael Garlick · CC BY-SA 2.0Households without a car or van make up 21% in Salisbury, more than in 77% of UK towns
Residents who describe themselves as White British: 86%, below 76% of UK towns. Salisbury has fewer households with dependent children than 64% of UK towns, at 26%. At the 2021 Census Salisbury was home to 47,690 people in 21,042 households. Census figures put one-person households at 33% locally.
A +11% change since 2011: faster than 64% of UK towns
ONS mid-year estimates, each year indexed to mid-2011 = 100. Salisbury’s figure is the small areas (2021 LSOAs) that make up the town.
People, mid-2011 = 100
Change by age, 2011 to 2024
About 44,100 people in 2011; 48,900 in 2024.
Mid-2016 to mid-2017 brought the biggest yearly rise, 650 people. The 65 and over group saw the biggest change (+30%), the 16 to 29 group the smallest (−5%).
Younger than 55% of UK towns: half of Salisbury is under 43.8
Share of residents in each five-year age band, Census 2021.
No age band is larger than 50–54: 6.9% of residents. In Mere, the oldest of Wiltshire’s towns by this measure, it is 35%.
Median age of UK towns of 2,500+
■ Salisbury, 43.8. The typical town is 44.4.
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.
Salisbury sits above 84% of UK towns for residents who moved in within the year (11%)
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%.
Managerial and professional jobs account for 37% of Salisbury’s adults, routine and semi-routine work for 23%, against 33% and 24% across England’s towns. On the census count, 4.7% of adults are full-time students.
Salisbury households average 2.2 people, smaller than in 68% 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.
There is little gap on shared households of unrelated adults: 4.1%, about the same as across England’s towns.
More households in terraced houses than 71% of UK towns: 26%
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
The share of households in detached houses trails 68% of UK towns: 22%. Households in flats are more common here than in 88% of UK towns. Across England’s towns, households in terraced houses come to 24%.
In Salisbury, 13% of residents were born outside the UK, more than in 83% of UK towns
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
Among residents born abroad, the largest groups were born in EU countries (6%) and in the Middle East and Asia (3.8%). Measured more widely, 18% of residents were born outside the UK across England’s towns. Compared with other places, residents whose main language is English are scarce here: 94%, fewer than in just over four fifths of UK towns. Just over a fifth of the town’s residents born abroad came in 2017 or later, set against 21% across England’s towns.
Fewer residents with no religion than 58% of UK towns: 40%
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: 86% of Salisbury · Wiltshire’s towns 84% · England’s towns 73%.
Religion · all residents
The next-largest groups, after White British, are Other White (6.2%), Mixed or multiple (1.8%) and Indian (1.6%). The usual figure: 37% of residents said they have no religion across England’s towns. In Salisbury, just over half of residents describe themselves as Christian, beside 46% across England’s towns.
34% of adults have never married or formed a civil partnership, more than in 60% 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
Unpaid carers: 8.3%, near enough the figure across England’s towns. The benchmark for adults who have never married across England’s towns: 39%. 1,065 people give 50 hours or more of unpaid care a week. Few places have so few married adults and civil partners: 45% here, fewer than in nearly two thirds of UK towns.
37% of adults have qualifications at degree level
Highest qualification, residents 16 and over, Census 2021.
Highest qualification · residents 16 and over
Degree-level qualifications are held by 37% of adults in Salisbury (England’s towns: 34%), and no qualification by 15% (England’s towns: 18%).
From a median age of 35 in Salisbury Bemerton to 51 in Salisbury Cathedral & Harnham
The town’s 8 neighbourhoods (ONS middle-layer areas with 500+ residents inside it, named by the House of Commons Library), youngest first. Census 2021.
Salisbury Cathedral & Harnham is the oldest area, with 32% aged 65 or over; Salisbury Bemerton the youngest (median age 35). Families with children are most common in Salisbury Bemerton (37% of households).
Of 156 UK towns its size (33,000 to 64,000 people), the 33rd oldest
Median age, Census 2021. Hover a dot for its students and residents born abroad; click for its page.
The youngest is Canterbury (27.5) and the oldest Rustington (56.2). Nearest to Salisbury in age: New Haw, West Byfleet and Sheerwater (43.8), Horsham (43.8), Prescot (43.9) and Macclesfield (44.1).
A younger town than 5 of the 7 around it: Salisbury
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Salisbury | 47,690 | — | 43.8 | 22% | 26% |
| Old Sarum | 4,013 | 2.2 mi | 31.8 | 6.3% | 49% |
| Wilton | 4,300 | 2.7 mi | 45.4 | 24% | 23% |
| Whaddon | 2,283 | 3.9 mi | 47.9 | 25% | 25% |
| Downton | 2,952 | 6.1 mi | 48.9 | 27% | 24% |
| Amesbury | 12,676 | 6.7 mi | 39.8 | 16% | 32% |
| Middle Winterslow | 1,563 | 6.7 mi | 50.7 | 25% | 27% |
| Redlynch and Woodfalls | 2,446 | 7.2 mi | 53.4 | 31% | 24% |
Health, work and homes have their own pages
What this data can and can’t tell you
- “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 Salisbury’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. Salisbury’s trend uses the small areas (2021 LSOAs) with most of their people inside it: 47,458 people in 2021, against 47,690 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 Salisbury’s residents
What is the population of Salisbury?
The 2021 Census counted 47,690 people in Salisbury’s built-up area. The ONS estimates the same small areas held 48,900 people in mid-2024, 11% more than in 2011.
What is the average age in Salisbury?
The median age was 43.8 at the 2021 Census, younger than 55% of UK towns. 9.7% of residents were 15 to 24 and 22% were 65 or over.
How diverse is Salisbury?
86% of residents described themselves as White British in 2021, against 73% across England’s towns and 84% across Wiltshire’s towns. 13% were born outside the UK.
What religion are people in Salisbury?
40% said they had no religion and 51% that they were Christian at the 2021 Census; 1.3% were Muslim and 6.2% didn’t answer.
Is Salisbury good for families?
26% of households had dependent children in 2021, against 29% across England’s towns. Families are most common in Salisbury Bemerton (37% of households). Schools are on Salisbury’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.