England and Wales Census 2021 - Housing in 2021 compared with 2011

Census 2021 data on housing characteristics at the dwelling level, in England and Wales. Characteristics include dwelling occupancy, shared dwellings, accommodation type, tenure, central heating type and number of bedrooms. We also compare with the 2011 Census, where appropriate. Figures are based on geography boundaries as of December 2021.

Total counts for some dwelling groups may not match between published tables. This is to protect the confidentiality of dwellings' data. Dwelling counts have been rounded to the nearest 5 and any counts below 10 are suppressed, this is signified by a 'c' in the data tables.

This dataset provides Census 2021 estimates that classify all dwellings (excluding communal establishments) in England and Wales by housing characteristics, where possible. Some characteristics are only available for occupied dwellings i.e. tenure, central heating type and number of bedrooms.The estimates are as at Census Day, 21 March 2021.

Quality considerations along with the strengths and limitations of Census 2021, more generally, can be found in the Quality and Methodology Information (QMI) for Census 2021.

We do not separate social rent into ‘housing association, housing co-operative, charitable trust, registered social landlord’ and ‘council or local authority’ as it is evident in the data that there is respondent error in identifying the type of landlord. This is particularly clear in results for areas which have no local authority housing stock, but there are households responding as having a ‘council or local authority’ landlord type. Estimates are likely to be accurate when the social rent category is combined.

Dwellings

A dwelling is a self-contained unit of accommodation that may be empty or being lived in, for example houses or flats. They are usually made up of one household, but those with more than one household are shared and called a “shared dwelling”.

Unoccupied Dwelling

An unoccupied dwelling refers to a unit of accommodation with no usual residents, although they may be used by short term residents or visitors on census night. An occupied dwelling has usual residents.

Shared Dwelling

A dwelling is shared if there are two or more households at the same address that are not self-contained. This means that not all of the rooms (including the kitchen, bathroom and toilet, if any) are behind a door only that household can use. Households combine to form a shared dwelling that is self-contained.