Bradford population

The Government’s Office for National Statistics (ONS) published the latest population estimates on 29 July 2026. These are for mid-2025 and are at district, region and country level. Updates at ward level and any lower geographies will be published in the autumn.

The latest figures show that: 

  • Bradford has a total population of 557,800 - an decrease of 2,000 (0.4%) people since the mid-2024 population estimates were published. 
  • The population consists of 51% female and 49% male.
  • Bradford is still the fifth largest metropolitan borough council in England in terms of population after Birmingham, Leeds, Manchester and Sheffield.
  • Bradford has the ninth highest percentage of young people aged from 0 to 15 in England (21.9%) and is the second youngest city (after the City of Peterborough).
  • Bradford's median age (where 50% is older and 50% is younger) is 37.6 years, this is younger than the Regional (40.2) and England (40.6) averages. In West Yorkshire, only Leeds has a lower median age (36.6).
  • Bradford has a population density of 1,522 people per sq km. In West Yorkshire, only Leeds has a higher population density (1,524 people per sq km).
  • The population of Bradford is ethnically diverse. The largest proportion of the district's population (56.7%) identifies themselves as White British. The district has the second largest proportion of people of Pakistani ethnic origin (25.5%) in England.
  • The largest religious group in Bradford is Christian (33.4% of the population) followed by Muslims (30.5%). 28.2% stated that they had no religion.
  • There are 209,900 households in the Bradford district. Most households own their own home (31.9% outright and 29.9% with a mortgage or loan). The percentage of privately rented households is 23%. 30.8% of households were single person households.
  • Information from the Annual Population Survey January - December 2025 found that 69.7% of people aged 16-64 in Bradford District (excluding full-time students) were in employment and 7.2% were unemployed.
  • 24.9% of the population aged 16 and over were economically inactive - this was higher than the national (20.5%) and regional (23.2%) averages.
  • The largest percentage of people in employment (25.8%) gave their occupation as ‘professional', followed by elementary occupations (11.5%).
  • 40.5% of the Bradford District population aged 16-64 were qualified at level RQF4 (Higher apprenticeship, HNC, level4 NVQ) or above. This is lower than the regional (41.1%) and national (8%) averages.
  • 9.3% of people aged 16-64 in Bradford have no qualifications - higher than the regional (6.9%) and national (6.1%) averages                                                                                                                                                                                                                      

Publisher

Bradford Council

Frequency

Annual

Licence

UK Open Government Licence (OGLv3)

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