Photo: Tom walker · CC BY 3.0A larger share of people claim jobless benefits in Bletchley than in 95% of UK towns
The journey to work is shorter than 3 miles for 46% of commuters. Jobless benefit claims cover 4.9% of working-age residents, where the typical UK town’s rate is 2.7%. Set against UK towns, the Jobs & income grade of Bletchley is C+.
The work figures that set Bletchley apart
More jobs than the typical town
21,071 jobs are based in Bletchley for 21,038 working residents; the typical UK town has 0.7 jobs per resident in work. Shops, restaurants, cafés and pubs and education make up 28% of them. Jobs based here ↓
More benefit claims than most towns
The typical UK town: 2.7%; England and Wales: 4% so far in 2026. Benefits over time ↓
Written from the data on this page: ONS Census 2021 and BRES, DWP claimant counts via Nomis, and ONS household income.
On jobs and income, Bletchley grades C+
Its four measures together rank it better than 36% of UK towns.
Its strongest measure is getting to jobs without a car; its weakest, the claimant rate.
How the grade works
Each input is ranked against every UK town of 1,000 or more (higher income and job access are better; fewer claimants and less employment deprivation are better), the four ranks are averaged, and the average is ranked again. A town needs three of the four.
21,071 jobs, one in seven in retail
1 for every working resident; the typical UK town has 0.7.
BRES counts jobs, not people (a part-time job and a second job count once each), so it runs above the Census count of people working here (20,816). Small areas are shared out to the town by where their Census 2021 workers were based; kinds of work are BRES industry divisions (SIC 2007), rounded. England’s towns: all jobs in its built-up areas.
Jobs at workplaces in Bletchley (employees and working owners, ONS Business Register and Employment Survey 2024).
Jobless claims in the Milton Keynes council area are above England and Wales’ rate
Milton Keynes’ rate was about 1.9% in 2019, peaked at 6% in August 2020 and has averaged 4.1% in 2026, against 4% across England and Wales. Claims everywhere stay higher than before the pandemic, partly because Universal Credit counts more people on low pay as looking for work.
The chart is the whole council area of Milton Keynes, which Nomis publishes monthly; the figures above the line are for Bletchley’s built-up area. Claimant count: people claiming Jobseeker’s Allowance, or Universal Credit while required to look for work. Employment deprivation counts people out of work on Jobseeker’s Allowance, Employment and Support Allowance, Incapacity Benefit, Severe Disablement Allowance, Carer’s Allowance or the Universal Credit equivalents (English Indices of Deprivation 2025). The “most deprived tenth” compares areas within England only.
Claimant rate since 2015: people claiming Jobseeker’s Allowance or Universal Credit while looking for work, as a share of residents aged 16 to 64 (DWP, via Nomis).
About as many people come in to work in Bletchley as leave
21,038 residents were in work at the 2021 Census; 20,816 people worked in Bletchley.
25% of residents who travel to a workplace stay in the town; in the typical UK town of 2,500+ it’s 14%.
The middle of each bar is the same people: residents who work in the town or from home.
Most of Bletchley’s commuters who leave work in Milton Keynes and the places around
- Milton Keynes4,940
- Countryside401
- Leighton Buzzard305
- Northampton255
- Luton233
- Newport Pagnell216
- Bedford157
- Aylesbury98
- Buckingham79
- Woburn Sands72
- Milton Keynes5,983
- Countryside373
- Leighton Buzzard169
- Luton151
- Aylesbury147
- Newport Pagnell147
- Northampton139
- Bedford112
- Brogborough94
- Buckingham82
75% of residents who travel to a workplace work outside Bletchley; Milton Keynes takes the most (5,983). Coming the other way, Milton Keynes sends the most (4,940).
The ten places that send the most workers into Bletchley, and the ten where its residents most often work (Census 2021, by home and workplace). Line width is the number of people.
How much households earn in Bletchley: £53,695
Higher than 54% of UK towns of 2,500+; the typical town is £52,385. The whole council area of Milton Keynes averages £61,972.
The town figure is ONS’s neighbourhood (MSOA) estimates shared out by where the town’s residents live.
Total household income before tax, mean, year to March 2023 (ONS small-area estimates).
In Bletchley, household incomes run from £50K to £57K from one neighbourhood to the next
Mean household income before tax in each of the 5 neighbourhoods (MSOAs) mostly inside the town: the highest is 1.1 times the lowest.
Each dot is a neighbourhood (MSOA, about 8,000 people) mostly inside Bletchley; names from the House of Commons Library. ONS gives each a 95% range of roughly ±£7K to ±£10K, so neighbourhoods close together on the strip may not really differ.
18% of people travelling to work from Bletchley walk, cycle or take the bus or train
Median journey 5.6 km; typical UK town 8.4 km.
Bletchley grades B+ for walkability: the share of commuters who walk, cycle or take public transport, against UK towns.
ONS Census 2021, TS061 (method of travel) and TS058 (distance, straight line from home to workplace), output areas summed. Census day fell in the third lockdown, so fewer people travelled than usual.
How residents who travel to work get there, and how far they go (Census 2021, not counting those working mainly at home).
60% of adults in Bletchley are in work
The mix is close to England’s towns’ as a whole.
ONS Census 2021, tables TS066 (economic activity) and TS063 (occupation), output areas summed to the built-up area. England’s towns: everyone living in its built-up areas.
Everyone 16 and over, by what they were doing the week before the 2021 Census, and the jobs of those in work.
How Bletchley ranks: 86th of 157 UK towns of 32,000 to 61,000
| # | Town | People | Jobs per worker | Work in own town | Claimants | Income | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Billericay Essex | 34,068 | 0.7 | 22% | 1.7% | £76K | A+ |
| 2 | Wokingham Berkshire | 50,320 | 0.9 | 29% | 2.1% | £83K | A+ |
| 3 | West Molesey Surrey | 47,144 | 0.6 | 18% | 2.1% | £87K | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 84 | Exmouth Devon | 35,502 | 0.6 | 43% | 2.6% | £51K | C+ |
| 85 | Lytham St Anne's Lancashire | 42,693 | 1 | 37% | 2.9% | £46K | C+ |
| 86 | Bletchley Buckinghamshire | 45,018 | 1 | 25% | 4.9% | £54K | C+ |
| 87 | Great Malvern Worcestershire | 33,194 | 1.1 | 49% | 3% | £52K | C+ |
| 88 | Hereford Herefordshire | 60,471 | 1 | 55% | 3.1% | £47K | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 157 | Bridlington East Riding of Yorkshire | 34,831 | 0.7 | 46% | 5% | £33K | D− |
Jobs & income letters rank against every UK town of 1,000 or more; the order here is context only.
Ordered by Jobs & income Grade: the top three, the towns either side of Bletchley, and others in Buckinghamshire.
Bletchley and its neighbours: work and income
| Town | People | Jobs | Work in own town | Claimants | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bletchley | 45,018 | 21,071 | 25% | 4.9% | C+ |
| Newton Longville | 1,877 | 379 | 4% | 1.9% | A |
| Stoke Hammond | 1,155 | 399 | 0% | 2.4% | A− |
| Milton Keynes | 197,328 | 153,725 | 64% | 4.4% | B− |
| Woburn Sands | 4,315 | 1,413 | 13% | 3.3% | B+ |
| Stewkley | 1,421 | 222 | 8% | 1.5% | B+ |
| Aspley Guise | 2,114 | 784 | 1% | 2% | A |
| Heath and Reach | 1,451 | 518 | 8% | 2.1% | B+ |
Jobs based in each place, commuters who stay in their own town, and the claimant rate.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- The Census was taken in lockdown. Census day was 21 March 2021, during the third national lockdown: many people were furloughed or working from home, so fewer travelled to work, and journeys were shorter, than before the pandemic or since. The flows on this page show where people worked that spring.
- At home and no fixed place are one figure. In the workplace flows, ONS puts people who mainly worked at home and people with no fixed workplace (drivers, builders, care workers on rounds) at their home address, so the two can’t be told apart there.
- Towns are built-up areas. Bletchley here is ONS’s built-up area: the town as built, not its council district. A workplace on an estate or farm outside every built-up area counts as “outside any built-up area”.
- Jobs are counted where they are. BRES counts jobs at each workplace (employees and working owners, rounded by ONS), so a town with a hospital, university or big employer can have more jobs than working residents. Small areas are shared out to towns by where their Census workers were based.
- The benefits chart is the council area. Nomis publishes the claimant count monthly for councils back to 2013, so the line is Milton Keynes as a whole; the claimant rate elsewhere on this page is Bletchley’s built-up area, from small areas.
Questions about work in Bletchley
Where do people in Bletchley work?
At the 2021 Census, 25% of Bletchley’s residents who travelled to work worked in the town itself; the most common other places were Milton Keynes (5,983), Leighton Buzzard (169) and Luton (151). 42% of working residents worked mainly at home or had no fixed workplace; the Census was taken in lockdown, so home working was unusually high.
How many people commute into Bletchley?
9,013 people who lived elsewhere worked in Bletchley at the 2021 Census, 43% of its 20,816 workers. The most came from Milton Keynes (4,940), Leighton Buzzard (305) and Northampton (255). 9,193 residents travelled out the other way.
How many jobs are there in Bletchley?
About 21,050 jobs (employees and working owners) were based in Bletchley in 2024, on ONS’s Business Register and Employment Survey: 1 for every resident in work, against 0.7 in the typical UK town. The biggest kinds of work are shops (about 2,750), restaurants, cafés and pubs (about 1,440) and education (about 1,210).
Is Bletchley a good place to find work?
Bletchley earns a C+ for jobs and income, better than 36% of UK towns on household income, the claimant rate, employment deprivation and access to jobs together. Mean household income £53,695; 4.9% of 16 to 64s claim unemployment benefits.
How do people in Bletchley get to work?
77% of commuters go by car or van, 8% walk, 3% cycle and 8% take the bus or train; 46% travel under 5 km. Census 2021, taken during lockdown.
What is the average household income in Bletchley?
Mean household income before tax was £53,695 in the year to March 2023 (ONS), against £52,385 in the typical UK town. By neighbourhood it runs from £49,548 in Bletchley East to £56,546 in Far Bletchley.
How does Bletchley compare with Milton Keynes for jobs?
Bletchley has 1 jobs per working resident against Milton Keynes’ 1.5, a 4.9% claimant rate against 4.4%, and mean household income of £53,695 against £63,046.
Sources: ONS Census 2021 origin-destination data, place of work (ODWP01EW), output areas summed to the ONS 2022 built-up area · ONS Census 2021 tables TS058 (distance), TS061 (method of travel), TS063 (occupation) and TS066 (economic activity) · ONS Business Register and Employment Survey via Nomis (open access), by industry division · ONS small-area income estimates (financial year ending 2023); House of Commons Library MSOA names · DWP claimant count via Nomis (towns January to August 2026; councils, regions and England and Wales monthly since January 2015) · MHCLG English Indices of Deprivation 2025 · DfT Transport Connectivity Metric (employment) · TownRatings grades: our own summary of the data, ranked against UK towns only. All under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Contains HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright and database right 2026. Contains OS data © Crown copyright and database right 2026 (ONS boundaries). Northern Ireland: Source: NISRA; contains Land & Property Services data and Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland information, © Crown copyright, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Scotland: contains National Records of Scotland data, Registers of Scotland data and SEPA data, © Crown copyright / © SEPA 2025, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.