Families and households

Somerset headlines from the 2011 Census

• On Census Day there were 226,989 occupied households in Somerset, and a further 12,976 unoccupied household spaces. The number of occupied households rose by 16,403 (7.8%) since the 2001 Census.
• The growth in single-person households was even larger, at 10.3%. In 2011,  30% of occupied households (67,537) consisted of one person. In areas with older populations, like Minehead, Burnham-on-Sea and Wells, and town centres such as Glastonbury, Bridgwater and Taunton, the proportion exceeded 40%.  
• On average, half of the occupants of single-person households were aged 65 or more, compared with a figure of 41% in England and Wales generally. In Trull and Curry Rivel, the proportion was 70%.
• Just over one in four (26%) of households contained at least one dependent child, rising to 35% in the Hamp and Victoria wards of Bridgwater.
• Almost 6% (12,709) households consisted of a lone parent with dependent children, slightly below the England and Wales figure of 7.2%. In Taunton Halcon, the proportion was more than twice the Somerset average, at 12.7%.
• More than half of Somerset adults aged 16 or older are married or in a same-sex civil partnership, but the proportion of co-habiting families has risen from 8% to 10% in the past decade.
• There were 215 households containing couples in a same-sex civil partnership, 85% of them without children in the household.
• About one in forty households (5,377) were considered to be overcrowded, with one fewer bedroom than required under an accepted formula. This is half the proportion found nationally. The highest proportion in Somerset was in Taunton Eastgate (6.6%).
• More than three in four households were calculated as having more bedrooms than required. Under-occupancy by two bedrooms or more is more common in Somerset than in most other local authorities.