Photo: My another account at en.wikipedia · Public domainHalf of Shaw is over 56.7, older than 98% of UK towns
Married adults and civil partners make up 62%, against 44% across England’s towns. Here, 0.6% of households live in a flat or apartment. 61% of households live in a detached house, more than in 97% of UK towns. Shaw counted 458 residents and 171 households at the 2021 Census.
A higher share of residents aged 65 and over than 98% of UK towns, at 37%
Share of residents in each five-year age band, Census 2021.
Residents aged 15 to 24: 7.1% here and 12% across England’s towns. Set beside that, 18% of residents are 65 or over across England’s towns.
Broad ages · share of residents
Women and men · all residents
54% women, 46% men
About 84 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.
2% of adults are full-time students, fewer than in 99% 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%.
The share of residents who moved in within the year tops 94% of UK towns: 13%. Full-time students make up 7.9% across England’s towns.
A lower share of one-person households than 98% of UK towns, at 19%
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.
Households with dependent children: 22% here and 29% across England’s towns. On shared households of unrelated adults, Shaw sits higher than 86% of UK towns: 3.5%. One-person households make up 30% across England’s towns. The average household has 2.5 people.
A lower share of households in terraced houses than 96% of UK towns, at 6.5%
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
Compared with 24% across England’s towns, 6.5% of households have no car or van here.
More residents whose main language is English than 96% 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
The two biggest birthplaces abroad are in the Middle East and Asia (1.5%) and in EU countries (1.3%). For residents whose main language is English, the comparison across England’s towns is 90%. At 4.2%, the share of residents born outside the UK is lower than in three quarters of UK towns.
60% of residents describe themselves as Christian, more than in 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: 95% of Shaw · Wiltshire’s towns 84% · England’s towns 73%.
Religion · all residents
95% of residents describe themselves as White British; across England’s towns the figure is 73%. The share of residents with no religion stands at 34%. The benchmark for residents who describe themselves as Christian across England’s towns: 46%.
16% of adults have never married or formed a civil partnership, below 99% 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
For Shaw, the census puts unpaid carers at 9.4%. The wider picture: 39% of adults have never married or formed a civil partnership across England’s towns.
A degree-level qualification for 43% of adults
Highest qualification, residents 16 and over, Census 2021.
Highest qualification · residents 16 and over
14% of Shaw’s adults have no qualification (18% across England’s towns), and 43% have one at degree level (34%).
Shaw is older than every town around it
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
- “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 Shaw’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 Shaw’s residents
What is the population of Shaw?
The 2021 Census counted 458 people in Shaw’s built-up area.
What is the average age in Shaw?
The median age was 56.7 at the 2021 Census. 7.1% of residents were 15 to 24 and 37% were 65 or over.
How diverse is Shaw?
95% of residents described themselves as White British in 2021, against 73% across England’s towns and 84% across Wiltshire’s towns. 4.2% were born outside the UK.
What religion are people in Shaw?
34% said they had no religion and 60% that they were Christian at the 2021 Census; 0% were Muslim and 4.6% didn’t answer.
Is Shaw good for families?
22% of households had dependent children in 2021, against 29% across England’s towns. Schools are on Shaw’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.