According to 2011 census, Ariyalur had a population of 28,902 with a sex-ratio of 1,014 females for every 1,000 males, much above the national average of 929. A total of 2,977 were under the age of six, constituting 1,538 males and 1,439 females. Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes accounted for 11.26% and .03% of the population respectively. The average literacy of the town was 76.04%, compared to the national average of 72.99%. The town had a total of : 7319 households. There were a total of 10,283 workers, comprising 315 cultivators, 670 main agricultural labourers, 298 in house hold industries, 7,165 other workers, 1,835 marginal workers, 159 marginal cultivators, 175 marginal agricultural labourers, 150 marginal workers in household industries and 1,351 other marginal workers. As of 2008, there were a total of eight notified slums, with 5,907 comprising 21% of the total population residing in those. As per the religious census of 2011, Ariyalur had 90.55% Hindus, 4.61% Muslims, 3.81% Christians, 0.02% Sikhs, 0.01% Buddhists, 0.01% Jains, 0.97% following other religions and 0.01% following no religion or did not indicate any religious preference.