Estimates of usual residents for postcodes, postcode sectors and postcode districts and estimates of households for postcodes, Census 2021 data.

Detail of release

This release contains Census 2021 estimates of usual residents for postcodes, postcode sectors and postcode districts and estimates of households for postcodes in England and Wales. Residential estimates, also known as ''headcounts'', include usual residents in communal establishments, and have been disaggregated by sex at the postcode level.

These datasets are produced only for geographic areas in which the population being counted is at least one usual resident or one household. This means that tables do not all contain the same geographic areas, because those exceeding the threshold will vary depending on the population being counted.

These datasets are supplied in CSV format. To make manipulation of the data easier, P001 and P002 are provided as multiple files, which have been split alphabetically by postcode.

Description of the data

P001: Number of usual residents by postcode by sex

This dataset provides Census 2021 estimates that classify all usual residents in England and Wales by postcode, and by sex. The estimates are as at Census Day, 21 March 2021.

This dataset includes postcodes as at May 2021, with a population of at least one usual resident.

• P001: All postcodes (2.75m records, size: 51MB)
• P001: Postcodes A-D (743k records, size: 14MB)
• P001: Postcodes E-L (563k records, size: 11MB)
• P001: Postcodes M-R (662k records, size: 13MB)
• P001: Postcodes S-Z (788k records, size: 15MB)

P002: Number of households by postcode

This dataset provides Census 2021 estimates on the number of households in England and Wales by postcode. The estimates are as at Census Day, 21 March 2021.

This dataset includes postcodes as at May 2021, with a population of at least one household.

• P002: All postcodes (1.37m records, size: 15MB)
• P002: Postcodes A-D (369k records, size: 4MB)
• P002: Postcodes E-L (279k records, size: 3MB)
• P002: Postcodes M-R (329k records, size: 4MB)
• P002: Postcodes S-Z (390k records, size: 4MB)

P003: Number of usual residents by postcode sector

This dataset provides Census 2021 estimates that classify all usual residents in England and Wales by postcode sectors. The estimates are as at Census Day, 21 March 2021.

This dataset includes postcode sectors as at May 2021, with a population of at least one usual resident.

• P003: All postcode sectors (8302 records, size: 94KB)

P004: Number of usual residents by postcode district

This dataset provides Census 2021 estimates that classify all usual residents in England and Wales by postcode districts. The estimates are as at Census Day, 21 March 2021.

This dataset includes postcode districts as at May 2021, with a population of at least one usual resident.

• P004: All postcode districts (2302 records, size: 24KB)

Definitions

Census 2021 statistics are published from information collected about people and their households. We group data together based on who the information is about, for example individuals or households. Further information on measurements used in Census 2021 data can be found in the Census 2021 dictionary

Household

A household is defined as:

• one person living alone, or
• a group of people (not necessarily related) living at the same address who share cooking facilities and share a living room or sitting room or dining area

This includes:

• all sheltered accommodation units in an establishment (irrespective of whether there are other communal facilities), and
• all people living in caravans on any type of site that is their usual residence; this will include anyone who has no other usual residence elsewhere in the UK

A household must contain at least one person whose place of usual residence is at the address. A group of short-term residents living together is not classified as a household, and neither is a group of people at an address where only visitors are staying.

Usual resident

A usual resident is anyone who on Census Day, 21 March 2021, was in the UK and had stayed or intended to stay in the UK for a period of 12 months or more or had a permanent UK address and was outside the UK and intended to be outside the UK for less than 12 months.

Geographic information

Postcodes

Postcodes are alphanumeric references comprising an outward code of 2-4 characters and an inward code of three characters. For example:

Outward Code		Inward Code
PO15		5RR

Postcode hierarchy

Postcodes form a hierarchy of nested geographies. These are:

Example		Geographic Unit
PO		Postcode Area
PO15		Postcode District
PO15 5		Postcode Sector
PO15 5RR		Unit Postcode

The postcodes for which Census 2021 estimates are provided in this release are as at Census day 21 March 2021.

The postcode format includes one space between the two parts of the postcode, for example: PO15 5RR.

Some postcodes may cover addresses in both England and Scotland. For these postcodes, only usual residents and households in England are included.

Protecting personal data

Sometimes we need to make changes to data if it is possible to identify individuals. This is known as statistical disclosure control. In Census 2021, we:

• Swapped records (targeted record swapping), for example, if a household was likely to be identified in datasets because it has unusual characteristics, we swapped the record with a similar one from a nearby small area (very unusual households could be swapped with one in a nearby local authority)
• Added small changes to some counts (cell key perturbation), for example, we might change a count of four to a three or a five – this might make small differences between tables depending on how the data are broken down when we applied perturbation.

Read more in Section 5 of our article Design for Census 2021.

More information

More information on results from Census 2021 is available on the Office for National Statistics website.

If you have any questions about Census 2021 postcode products, contact:

Census Customer Services
ONS
Titchfield
Fareham
Hants
PO15 5RR

Telephone: +44 (0)1329 444972
E-mail: census.customerservices@ons.gov.uk