Socio-economic statistics for Morecambe, Lancashire

Is Morecambe in Lancaster a nice place to live or is it a bit rough? We have collated a series of socio-economic statistics and demographics from UK government sources such as the 2021 Census and the Index of Multiple Deprivation. They should give you a broad snapshot of the area and the surrounding locations. Are the residents of Morecambe older than the national average or younger? What is the population of Morecambe and Lancaster? What is the claimant count in Morecambe and how many residents are unemployed? This page should provide you with the answers.

Morecambe Unemployment Statistics

Since the introduction of Universal Credit, The Department for Work & Pensions have not issued any statistics (in our view) that can be used to ascertain the levels of unemployment or under employment in the UK, just meaningless geographic counts. However, the Office of National Statistics does publish claimant counts of people receiving out of work benefits, be that legacy Jobseeker’s Allowance or Universal Credit as a proportion of people over 16. These figures are usually updated once a month and are for Local Authority Districts and Unitary Authority Districts. So below are the figures of Lancaster.

Area	Unemployed	Yearly Change
Lancaster	3.2%	-0.3%
North West	4.3%	-0.3%
England	3.8%	-0.3%
UK	3.7%	-0.3%

Source: Office for National Statistics (ONS), Last Retrieved: March 2023

The 2021 census had data on people who were economically active (seeking work) yet unemployed on Census day (Sunday March 21st 2021). These statitics do cover Morecambe on a ward level. However, it has to be noted that the Census day was during the height of the Covid19 pandemic and therefore are not reflective of normal levels of unemployment. For example, between March 2020 and June 2020 people claiming Universal Credit doubled in most areas of the United Kingdom and then steadily declined up to the day of the Census and beyond. This data also contains the proportion of people in part-time work (working between 1-35 hours per week), which maybe an indicator of under employment in Morecambe.

Economic Status	Proportion
In Employment	52.98%
In Part-Time Work	28.72%
Unemployed	7.15%

Source: Census 2021 (Nomis/ONS)

71.28% of the people in work, are in full-time employment in Morecambe

What are the occupations of the residents of Morecambe?

The largest employment sector in Morecambe is Caring, leisure & Other Services. The smallest employment sector is Administrative & Secretarial.

Sector	Proportion
Caring, leisure & Other Services	16.92%
Elementary Occupations	14.02%
Skilled Trades	12.37%
Associate Professional & Technical	11.45%
Process Plant & Machine Operatives	11.41%
Professional Occupations	9.67%
Managers, Directors & Senior Officials	7.73%
Administrative & Secretarial	7.64%

Source: Office for National Statistics (30 June 2020)

Morecambe Age Distribution Statistics

We have taken the raw data from the 2021 Census and the calculated the proportion of age groups in Heysham North.

Age Band	Proportion
4 & under
5 - 9 years
10 - 15 years
16 - 19 years
20 - 24 years
25 - 34 years
35 - 49 years
50 - 64 years
65 - 74 years
75 - 84 years
85 years & over

Source: Census 2021 (Nomis/ONS)

Morecambe Health Statistics

Heysham North has a significantly lower proportion of residents (>5%) describing their health as very good than the national average for England.

Area	VG	G	F	B	VB
Heysham North	41.35%	33.33%	16.98%	6.04%	2.29%
Lancaster	46.49%	34.18%	13.73%	4.35%	1.25%
North West	47.73%	32.71%	13.36%	4.77%	1.43%
England	48.49%	33.71%	12.65%	3.98%	1.17%

VG = Very Good, G = Good, F = Fair, B = Bad & VB = Very Bad

Source: Census 2021 (Nomis/ONS)

How has the health of residents in Lancaster changed since 2011?

Lancaster residents who describe their health as either good or very good has increased by 0.16% between the 2011 and 2021 census.

Year	VG	G	F	B	VB
2011	46.67%	33.84%	13.7%	4.49%	1.3%
2021	46.49%	34.18%	13.73%	4.35%	1.25%

VG = Very Good, G = Good, F = Fair, B = Bad & VB = Very Bad

Source: Census 2011/2021 (Nomis/ONS)

Morecambe & Lancaster Immigration Statistics

We have analysed the Census 2021 raw data on country of birth and compiled immigration statistics as percentages of the population. All percentages have been rounded to two decimal places. Below are the figures for Morecambe in the Lancaster local area district.

Morecambe has a lower rate of immigrants than Lancaster, the North West region and England as a whole.

Area	Born in UK	Born outside UK
Heysham North	91.11%	8.89%
Lancaster	90.49%	9.51%
North West	88.33%	11.67%
England	82.65%	17.35%

Source: Census 2021 (Nomis/ONS)

Morecambe compared to other wards in Lancaster

#	Ward	Born in UK	Born outside UK
1	University & Scotforth Rural	72.16%	27.84%
2	Castle	74.65%	25.35%
3	Bulk	83.21%	16.79%
4	Scotforth West	84.44%	15.56%
5	John O'Gaunt	85.77%	14.23%
6	Marsh	88.18%	11.82%
7	Scotforth East	89.95%	10.05%
8	Harbour	90.69%	9.31%
9	Skerton East	90.91%	9.09%
10	Poulton	91.02%	8.98%
11	Heysham North	91.11%	8.89%
12	Skerton West	91.41%	8.59%
13	Westgate	92.29%	7.71%
14	Ellel	93.95%	6.05%
15	Heysham Central	94.17%	5.83%
16	Halton-with-Aughton	94.28%	5.72%
17	Heysham South	94.94%	5.06%
18	Upper Lune Valley	95.47%	4.53%
19	Carnforth & Millhead	96.04%	3.96%
20	Silverdale	96.32%	3.68%
21	Overton	96.39%	3.61%
22	Kellet	96.45%	3.55%
23	Bare	96.45%	3.55%
24	Lower Lune Valley	96.58%	3.42%
25	Torrisholme	96.68%	3.33%
26	Bolton & Slyne	96.88%	3.12%
27	Warton	97.2%	2.8%

';Morecambe is ranked 11 out of 27 wards in Lancaster for the number of residents born outside of the UK.

Source: Census 2021 (Nomis/ONS)

How many residents own or rent their home in Morecambe and Lancaster

We have taken the raw data from the 2021 census and calculated what proportion of people in Morecambe either own or rent their home. All percentages have been rounded to two decimal places. 55.84 of residents own their home either outright or mortgaged. 44.16 of Morecambe residents rent their home either privately or through a social landlord.

Area	Owned	Rented
Heysham North	55.84%	44.16%
Lancaster	67.13%	32.87%
North West	62.33%	37.67%
England	61.31%	38.69%

Source: Census 2021 (Nomis/ONS)

Morecambe has a lower level of home ownership than than the national average.

Morecambe compared to other wards in Lancaster

#	Ward	Owned	Rented
1	Bolton & Slyne	88.49%	11.51%
2	Silverdale (Lancaster)	86.51%	13.49%
3	Torrisholme	86.49%	13.51%
4	Kellet	85.23%	14.77%
5	Halton-with-Aughton	83.01%	16.99%
6	University & Scotforth Rural	82.08%	17.92%
7	Warton	82.07%	17.93%
8	Overton (Lancaster)	80.14%	19.86%
9	Bare	79.93%	20.07%
10	Lower Lune Valley	79.84%	20.16%
11	Heysham Central	75.97%	24.03%
12	Upper Lune Valley	75.62%	24.38%
13	Carnforth & Millhead	74.99%	25.01%
14	Ellel	73.31%	26.69%
15	Heysham South	73.17%	26.83%
16	Scotforth East	73.01%	26.99%
17	Scotforth West	63.28%	36.72%
18	Marsh	62.44%	37.56%
19	John O'Gaunt	61.89%	38.11%
20	Westgate (Lancaster)	60.31%	39.69%
21	Skerton East	58.25%	41.75%
22	Heysham North	55.84%	44.16%
23	Skerton West	55.66%	44.34%
24	Harbour	54.63%	45.37%
25	Bulk	53.63%	46.37%
26	Poulton	44.76%	55.24%
27	Castle (Lancaster)	41.23%	58.77%

Morecambe is ranked 22 out of 27 wards in Lancaster for the percentage of home owners.

Source: Census 2021 (Nomis/ONS)

Morecambe Education Statistics

We have taken the raw data from the 2021 census to found of the level of education Morecambe residents have in terms of formal qualifications as a percentage. The UK government breaks qualifications down into 7 levels. A detailed explanation of these levels can be found here. However, the Census groups these into just 4 \'levels\'. Here are some examples of the qualifications each census level represents when not stated;

Level 1 - GCSE grades D, E, F, or G & below
Level 2 - GCSE A*, A, B, C or O Level grades A, B or C
Level 3 - A or AS qualification at any grade
Level 4 - HNC, Bachelors Degree, Masters Degree or Phd

In this first table we have compared Morecambe to the national average for England.

Level	Heysham North	England
No Qualifications	20.84%	18.08%
Level 1	11.79%	9.69%
Level 2	16.26%	13.32%
Apprenticeship	8.21%	5.32%
Level 3	18.43%	16.92%
Level 4	21.96%	33.92%

Source: Census 2021 (Nomis/ONS)

What is the population of Morecambe and Lancaster?

The table below contains the populations figures for each ward in Lancaster including Morecambe. These population ONS figures are estimated are dated Mid 2020.

Ward	Population
Bare	6905
Bolton & Slyne	7145
Bulk	9754
Carnforth & Millhead	6086
Castle	5997
Ellel	4222
Halton-with-Aughton	2666
Harbour	8011
Heysham Central	4744
Heysham North	5110
Heysham South	7051
John O'Gaunt	7940
Kellet	2154
Lower Lune Valley	4630
Marsh	6125
Overton	2567
Poulton	5727
Scotforth East	4428
Scotforth West	7622
Silverdale	1881
Skerton East	6892
Skerton West	6847
Torrisholme	4590
University & Scotforth Rural	7041
Upper Lune Valley	2533
Warton	2018
Westgate	7433
Lancaster Total	148119

Source: Census 2021 (Nomis/ONS)

Last updated: 20/02/2024, Additional Sources: Office for National Statistics & Department for Work & Pensions.

Top 20 most depressing towns in Britain 2024