Constituency data: Central heating, 2021 census

Most households in England and Wales used mains gas central heating in 2021, according to the results of the 2021 census.

The latest census found that around 74% of households used mains gas central heating, 9% used electric central heating, 3% used oil central heating and 1% had no central heating. This is broadly similar to the proportion of households using different types of central heating in the 2011 census.

The dashboard below shows the different types of central heating used for each constituency in England and Wales. The data reflects the population on Census Day, 21 March 2021.

Many of the constituencies where a high percentage of households had electric-only heating were in urban areas, including London.

It was most common for households in the East of England and Wales to have oil-only heating. Some constituencies in Wales, the South West of England and the West Midlands had high proportions of households using tank or bottled gas.

Go to section:

• Explore constituency data
• Definitions, notes, and sources

Explore constituency data

Use the dropdown menu below to select the constituency you’re interested in and view statistics on households by central heating type.

• Find which constituency you live in

Open a printable version
Download all data in Excel (3.32 MB)

If you would like to access this information in an alternative format please email papers@parliament.uk and we will review your request.

Definitions

A ‘household’ is defined as either one person living alone, or a group of people living at the same address and sharing both cooking facilities and a living room or dining area.

Central heating is a system to heat multiple rooms in a building by circulating air or heated water through pipes to radiators or vents. Single or multiple fuel sources can fuel these systems.

For more information on central heating definitions, see the Office for National Statistics’ (ONS) article Census 2021: how homes are heated in your area.

‘Other’ central heating includes the categories: other central heating only, district or communal heat networks only, renewable energy only, solid fuel only and wood only.

The definition of ‘two of more types of central heating’ refers to households using two or more types including renewable energy or not including renewable energy.

Central heating systems that are unused or not working are still counted. No information is available for households with no usual residents.

Due to changes in question structure, this data cannot be compared with 2011 census data on central heating.

Sources

ONS, 2021 Census, Dataset TS046

Data updates

This dashboard uses 2021 census data. The 2021 census is currently the only source of constituency-level data on this topic, which means that there aren’t any updates planned for the near future.