Photo: My another account at en.wikipedia · Public domainOlder than 97% of UK towns: half of Whitley is over 55.2
The share of households in terraced houses is 6%, against 24% across England’s towns. Fewer adults who have never married than in 98% of UK towns: 23%. Census day 2021: 842 residents and 366 households in Whitley. Locally, 96% of residents describe themselves as White British.
In Whitley, 34% of residents are 65 or over, more than in 96% of UK towns
Share of residents in each five-year age band, Census 2021.
In Whitley, 7.4% of residents are aged 15 to 24, beside 12% across England’s towns. The wider picture: 18% of residents are 65 or over across England’s towns.
Broad ages · share of residents
Women and men · all residents
52% women, 48% men
About 93 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.
A smaller share of full-time students than 95% of UK towns: 3.5%
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 just over two fifths of Whitley’s adults, routine and semi-routine work for 20%, against 33% and 24% across England’s towns. 6.7% of residents had moved in within the year before the Census, fewer than the 11% across England’s towns. The wider picture: 7.9% of adults are full-time students across England’s towns.
22% of households have dependent children, below 89% 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 trails 92% of UK towns: 24%. Whitley has more shared households of unrelated adults than 94% of UK towns, at 4.4%. Measured more widely, 29% of households have dependent children across England’s towns. Households average 2.3 people.
A higher share of households in detached houses than 98% of UK towns, at 63%
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
Households without a car or van: 8.4%, below 90% of UK towns. For comparison, just over a fifth of households live in a detached house across England’s towns. Across Whitley, 2.7% of households live in a flat or apartment.
A higher share of residents whose main language is English than 99% of UK towns, at 100%
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
Against a figure of 18% across England’s towns, the share of residents born outside the UK in Whitley comes in at 3.8%. For residents whose main language is English, the comparison across England’s towns is 90%. Among residents born abroad, the largest groups were born in EU countries (1.6%) and in Africa (0.8%).
Whitley sits above 94% of UK towns for residents who describe themselves as Christian (60%)
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: 96% of Whitley · Wiltshire’s towns 84% · England’s towns 73%.
Religion · all residents
Residents with no religion: 35%, below 84% of UK towns. The share of residents who describe themselves as Christian across England’s towns is 46%. Leading the other groups after White British: Other White (1.4%), Mixed or multiple (0.5%) and African (0.4%).
60% of adults are married or in a civil partnership, more than in 98% 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
28 residents give 50 hours or more of unpaid care each week. Against that, 44% of adults are married or in a civil partnership across England’s towns. More unpaid carers than in 92% of UK towns: 11%.
Adults qualified to degree level or above: 38%
Highest qualification, residents 16 and over, Census 2021.
Highest qualification · residents 16 and over
With 38% of its adults qualified to degree level, Whitley compares with 34% across England’s towns; another 17% hold no qualification (18%).
Whitley 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 Whitley’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 Whitley’s residents
What is the population of Whitley?
The 2021 Census counted 842 people in Whitley’s built-up area.
What is the average age in Whitley?
The median age was 55.2 at the 2021 Census. 7.4% of residents were 15 to 24 and 34% were 65 or over.
How diverse is Whitley?
96% of residents described themselves as White British in 2021, against 73% across England’s towns and 84% across Wiltshire’s towns. 3.8% were born outside the UK.
What religion are people in Whitley?
35% said they had no religion and 60% that they were Christian at the 2021 Census; 0% were Muslim and 4.3% didn’t answer.
Is Whitley good for families?
22% of households had dependent children in 2021, against 29% across England’s towns. Schools are on Whitley’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.