Photo: Ian S · CC BY-SA 2.0Falmouth’s household incomes are lower than in 72% of UK towns
Falmouth grades C+ for jobs and income against UK towns, #6 of 35 in Cornwall. Short trips are common: 56% of commuters travel less than 3 miles. 2.7% of people of working age are on jobless benefits; the typical UK town’s rate is 2.7%.
What Falmouth’s work numbers say
More jobs than the typical town
10,909 jobs are based in Falmouth for 10,428 working residents; the typical UK town has 0.7 jobs per resident in work. Restaurants, cafés and pubs, shops and machinery repair and installation make up 43% of them. Jobs based here ↓
Short journeys to work
Against 45% across England’s towns. 22% of commuters walk to work, about 2 times the share across England’s towns. Getting to work ↓
Written from the data on this page: ONS Census 2021 and BRES, DWP claimant counts via Nomis, and ONS household income.
Jobs & income in Falmouth: graded C+
With four measures combined, it comes out better than 39% of UK towns: #6 of 35 in Cornwall.
Its strongest measure is getting to jobs without a car; its weakest, household income.
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.
10,909 jobs, one in four in hotels, pubs and restaurants
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 (10,432). 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 Falmouth (employees and working owners, ONS Business Register and Employment Survey 2024).
Falmouth commutes on foot, by bike or bus for 29% of trips
Median journey 3.9 km; typical UK town 8.4 km.
Falmouth grades A+ 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).
In and out of Falmouth: the working day evens out
10,428 residents were in work at the 2021 Census; 10,432 people worked in Falmouth.
41% 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.
Falmouth’s workers come from Penryn to Helston
- Penryn737
- Countryside638
- Truro226
- Redruth176
- Helston169
- Camborne131
- Pool and Illogan84
- Newquay62
- Mylor Bridge58
- Stithians51
- Truro681
- Penryn664
- Countryside564
- Redruth155
- Helston137
- Rose-in-the-bush97
- Pool and Illogan83
- Camborne79
- Threemilestone64
- St Austell57
Penryn, 2 miles away, sends 737 people, more than any other town; in all, 34% of the people who work in Falmouth live outside it. Going the other way, Truro is the biggest single destination (681).
The ten places that send the most workers into Falmouth, and the ten where its residents most often work (Census 2021, by home and workplace). Line width is the number of people.
The mean household in Falmouth has £47,308 before tax
Higher than 33% of UK towns of 2,500+; the typical town is £52,385. The whole council area of Cornwall averages £45,985.
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).
How household incomes vary across Falmouth: £40K to £53K
Mean household income before tax in each of the 3 neighbourhoods (MSOAs) mostly inside the town: the highest is 1.3 times the lowest.
Each dot is a neighbourhood (MSOA, about 8,000 people) mostly inside Falmouth; 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.
Jobless claims in the Cornwall council area are below England and Wales’ rate
Cornwall’s rate was about 2.2% in 2019, peaked at 6.5% in May 2020 and has averaged 3.1% 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 Cornwall, which Nomis publishes monthly; the figures above the line are for Falmouth’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).
One adult in six in Falmouth is a full-time student
Compared with England’s towns, 18% are full-time students (against 7%) and 50% are in work (against 57%).
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.
Out of 247 UK towns of 17,000 to 32,000, Falmouth comes 124th on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Jobs per worker | Work in own town | Claimants | Income | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Harpenden Hertfordshire | 30,964 | 0.8 | 30% | 1.5% | £92K | A+ |
| 2 | Knowle and Dorridge West Midlands | 19,323 | 0.6 | 13% | 1.5% | £79K | A+ |
| 3 | Sevenoaks Kent | 26,474 | 1.2 | 34% | 1.6% | £84K | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 117 | Truro Cornwall | 23,060 | 2.7 | 54% | 3% | £53K | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 122 | Chester-le-Street County Durham | 23,554 | 0.8 | 18% | 2.7% | £47K | C+ |
| 123 | Waltham Abbey Essex | 18,645 | 0.9 | 16% | 4.2% | £54K | C+ |
| 124 | Falmouth Cornwall | 24,066 | 1 | 41% | 2.7% | £47K | C+ |
| 125 | Houghton Regis Bedfordshire | 18,814 | 1.1 | 9% | 5.1% | £58K | C+ |
| 126 | Thornton Lancashire | 19,263 | 0.5 | 13% | 2.5% | £42K | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 207 | St Austell Cornwall | 24,361 | 0.9 | 35% | 3.4% | £44K | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 218 | Newquay Cornwall | 24,543 | 0.8 | 42% | 4.4% | £45K | D |
| … | |||||||
| 247 | Maesteg Mid Glamorgan | 18,342 | 0.4 | 23% | 3.8% | £37K | 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 Falmouth, and others in Cornwall.
How Falmouth compares with the places nearby
| Town | People | Jobs | Work in own town | Claimants | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Falmouth | 24,066 | 10,909 | 41% | 2.7% | C+ |
| Penryn | 11,194 | 5,542 | 22% | 3% | C+ |
| Mylor Bridge | 1,534 | 507 | 7% | 2.4% | C+ |
| Mawnan Smith | 1,001 | 207 | 2% | 2% | C+ |
| Perranarworthal | 1,305 | 298 | 4% | 1.5% | B |
| Carnon Downs and Devoran | 2,129 | 655 | 5% | 1.6% | B+ |
| Stithians | 1,613 | 214 | 6% | 2% | C+ |
| Lanner | 2,164 | 220 | 2% | 2.4% | C |
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. Falmouth 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 Cornwall as a whole; the claimant rate elsewhere on this page is Falmouth’s built-up area, from small areas.
Questions about work in Falmouth
Where do people in Falmouth work?
At the 2021 Census, 41% of Falmouth’s residents who travelled to work worked in the town itself; the most common other places were Truro (681), Penryn (664) and Redruth (155). 43% 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 Falmouth?
3,567 people who lived elsewhere worked in Falmouth at the 2021 Census, 34% of its 10,432 workers. The most came from Penryn (737), Truro (226) and Redruth (176). 3,501 residents travelled out the other way.
How many jobs are there in Falmouth?
About 10,900 jobs (employees and working owners) were based in Falmouth 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 restaurants, cafés and pubs (about 1,990), shops (about 1,760) and machinery repair and installation (about 820).
Is Falmouth a good place to find work?
Falmouth earns a C+ for jobs and income, better than 39% of UK towns on household income, the claimant rate, employment deprivation and access to jobs together. Mean household income £47,308; 2.7% of 16 to 64s claim unemployment benefits.
How do people in Falmouth get to work?
67% of commuters go by car or van, 22% walk, 3% cycle and 4% take the bus or train; 56% travel under 5 km. Census 2021, taken during lockdown.
What is the average household income in Falmouth?
Mean household income before tax was £47,308 in the year to March 2023 (ONS), against £52,385 in the typical UK town. By neighbourhood it runs from £40,443 in Falmouth North to £52,857 in Falmouth West & South.
How does Falmouth compare with Newquay for jobs?
Falmouth has 1 jobs per working resident against Newquay’s 0.8, a 2.7% claimant rate against 4.4%, and mean household income of £47,308 against £44,955.
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.