Photo: Jaggery · CC BY-SA 2.0More of Penryn’s residents are on jobless benefits than in 69% of UK towns
Each working day, 2,372 people come into the town for work. Jobless benefits go to 3% of working-age residents; the typical UK town’s rate is 2.7%. Set against UK towns, the Jobs & income grade of Penryn is C+, #5 of 35 in Cornwall.
Where Penryn stands out on work
A local job centre
5,542 jobs are based in Penryn for 4,625 working residents; the typical UK town has 0.7 jobs per resident in work. Shops, education and restaurants, cafés and pubs make up 38% of them. Jobs based here ↓
Short journeys to work
Against 45% across England’s towns. 14% of commuters walk to work (11% 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 and income in Penryn earn C+
Better than 40% of UK towns across four measures: #5 of 35 in Cornwall.
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.
5,542 jobs, one in six in retail
1.2 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 (4,888). 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 Penryn (employees and working owners, ONS Business Register and Employment Survey 2024).
Walking, cycling, the bus or the train: 23% of Penryn’s commuters
Median journey 4.7 km; typical UK town 8.4 km.
53% of journeys to work are under 5 km (3 miles), against 45% across England’s towns, and 11% are 30 km or more. Penryn 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).
A working day adds 6% to the people at work in Penryn
4,625 residents were in work at the 2021 Census; 4,888 people worked in Penryn.
22% 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.
Penryn’s workers come from Falmouth to Truro
- Falmouth664
- Countryside399
- Truro134
- Redruth118
- Camborne103
- Helston101
- Pool and Illogan45
- Newquay42
- Stithians37
- St Austell33
- Falmouth737
- Truro331
- Countryside265
- Redruth91
- Rose-in-the-bush54
- Helston51
- St Austell34
- Pool and Illogan31
- Camborne30
- Threemilestone27
Falmouth, 2 miles away, sends 664 people, more than any other town; in all, 49% of the people who work in Penryn live outside it. Going the other way, Falmouth is the biggest single destination (737).
The ten places that send the most workers into Penryn, and the ten where its residents most often work (Census 2021, by home and workplace). Line width is the number of people.
Income in Penryn: £49,261 per household a year
Higher than 39% 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).
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 Penryn’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 four in Penryn is a full-time student
Compared with England’s towns, 27% are full-time students (against 7%), 16% are retired (against 21%) and 48% 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.
For jobs and income, Penryn is 206th of 395 UK towns of 8,000 to 15,000
| # | Town | People | Jobs per worker | Work in own town | Claimants | Income | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Twyford Berkshire | 8,072 | 0.9 | 11% | 1.5% | £82K | A+ |
| 2 | Ashtead Surrey | 14,830 | 0.7 | 16% | 1.2% | £80K | A+ |
| 3 | Esher Surrey | 9,484 | 1.6 | 12% | 1.6% | £91K | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 204 | Raunds Northamptonshire | 10,231 | 0.5 | 18% | 2.5% | £52K | C+ |
| 205 | Kirkham Lancashire | 8,939 | 1.1 | 22% | 3.2% | £49K | C+ |
| 206 | Penryn Cornwall | 11,194 | 1.2 | 22% | 3% | £49K | C+ |
| 207 | Hedon East Riding of Yorkshire | 8,117 | 0.9 | 15% | 2.2% | £45K | C+ |
| 208 | Thurmaston Leicestershire | 9,509 | 1.1 | 12% | 2.9% | £45K | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 243 | Helston Cornwall | 11,366 | 0.8 | 31% | 2.7% | £51K | C |
| … | |||||||
| 319 | Hayle Cornwall | 9,040 | 1 | 28% | 3.4% | £43K | D |
| … | |||||||
| 340 | Pool and Illogan Cornwall | 8,588 | 1.6 | 19% | 4.4% | £44K | D |
| … | |||||||
| 395 | Holyhead Gwynedd | 11,753 | 0.7 | 40% | 5.8% | £40K | 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 Penryn, and others in Cornwall.
Work in and around Penryn
| Town | People | Jobs | Work in own town | Claimants | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Penryn | 11,194 | 5,542 | 22% | 3% | C+ |
| Mylor Bridge | 1,534 | 507 | 7% | 2.4% | C+ |
| Falmouth | 24,066 | 10,909 | 41% | 2.7% | C+ |
| Perranarworthal | 1,305 | 298 | 4% | 1.5% | B |
| Stithians | 1,613 | 214 | 6% | 2% | C+ |
| Carnon Downs and Devoran | 2,129 | 655 | 5% | 1.6% | B+ |
| Mawnan Smith | 1,001 | 207 | 2% | 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. Penryn 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 Penryn’s built-up area, from small areas.
Questions about work in Penryn
Where do people in Penryn work?
At the 2021 Census, 22% of Penryn’s residents who travelled to work worked in the town itself; the most common other places were Falmouth (737), Truro (331) and Redruth (91). 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 Penryn?
2,372 people who lived elsewhere worked in Penryn at the 2021 Census, 49% of its 4,888 workers. The most came from Falmouth (664), Truro (134) and Redruth (118). 2,081 residents travelled out the other way.
How many jobs are there in Penryn?
About 5,540 jobs (employees and working owners) were based in Penryn in 2024, on ONS’s Business Register and Employment Survey: 1.2 for every resident in work, against 0.7 in the typical UK town. The biggest kinds of work are shops (about 750), education (about 630) and restaurants, cafés and pubs (about 250).
Is Penryn a good place to find work?
Penryn earns a C+ for jobs and income, better than 40% of UK towns on household income, the claimant rate, employment deprivation and access to jobs together. Mean household income £49,261; 3% of 16 to 64s claim unemployment benefits.
How do people in Penryn get to work?
73% of commuters go by car or van, 14% walk, 3% cycle and 6% take the bus or train; 53% travel under 5 km. Census 2021, taken during lockdown.
What is the average household income in Penryn?
Mean household income before tax was £49,261 in the year to March 2023 (ONS), against £52,385 in the typical UK town.
How does Penryn compare with Newquay for jobs?
Penryn has 1.2 jobs per working resident against Newquay’s 0.8, a 3% claimant rate against 4.4%, and mean household income of £49,261 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.