Trevenson House · Photo: Mutney · CC BY-SA 4.0A larger share of people claim jobless benefits in Pool and Illogan than in 92% of UK towns
On a working day the town fills up: 3,380 people commute in. Jobless benefit claims cover 4.4% of working-age residents; the typical UK town’s rate is 2.7%. Measured against other UK towns, jobs and pay in Pool and Illogan rate D, #21 of 35 in Cornwall.
What the numbers say about work in Pool and Illogan
A local job centre
6,245 jobs are based in Pool and Illogan for 3,911 working residents; the typical UK town has 0.7 jobs per resident in work. Shops, food manufacturing and education make up 30% 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.
Pool and Illogan grades D for jobs and income
Better than 11% of UK towns once its four measures are combined: #21 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.
6,245 jobs, one in eight in health and social care
1.6 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 (5,299). 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 Pool and Illogan (employees and working owners, ONS Business Register and Employment Survey 2024).
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 Pool and Illogan’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).
Pool and Illogan fills up on a working day: 35% more workers
3,911 residents were in work at the 2021 Census; 5,299 people worked in Pool and Illogan.
For every resident who leaves Pool and Illogan for work, about 2 people come in. 19% 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.
Pool and Illogan’s workers come from Camborne to Redruth
Camborne, 2 miles away, sends 864 people, more than any other town; in all, 64% of the people who work in Pool and Illogan live outside it. Going the other way, Redruth is the biggest single destination (376).
The ten places that send the most workers into Pool and Illogan, and the ten where its residents most often work (Census 2021, by home and workplace). Line width is the number of people.
What households earn in Pool and Illogan: £43,670 a year on average
Higher than 19% 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).
One way or another, 14% of Pool and Illogan’s commuters skip the car
Median journey 7.3 km; typical UK town 8.4 km.
47% of journeys to work are under 5 km (3 miles), against 45% across England’s towns, and 8% are 30 km or more. Pool and Illogan 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).
55% of adults in Pool and Illogan are in work
Compared with England’s towns, 4% are full-time students (against 7%), 25% are retired (against 21%) and 6% are long-term sick or disabled (against 4%).
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.
Ranked on jobs and income, Pool and Illogan is 419th among 479 UK towns of 6,000 to 12,000
| # | 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 | Esher Surrey | 9,484 | 1.6 | 12% | 1.6% | £91K | A+ |
| 3 | Whiteley Hampshire | 9,350 | 6.4 | 16% | 1.3% | £78K | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 262 | Penryn Cornwall | 11,194 | 1.2 | 22% | 3% | £49K | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 307 | Helston Cornwall | 11,366 | 0.8 | 31% | 2.7% | £51K | C |
| … | |||||||
| 362 | Torpoint Cornwall | 7,163 | 0.7 | 32% | 3.3% | £48K | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 417 | Hattersley Greater Manchester | 6,959 | 0.7 | 6% | 5.7% | £39K | D |
| 418 | Ludlow Shropshire | 10,037 | 0.9 | 42% | 3.3% | £41K | D |
| 419 | Pool and Illogan Cornwall | 8,588 | 1.6 | 19% | 4.4% | £44K | D |
| 420 | Caernarfon Gwynedd | 9,831 | 1.6 | 39% | 3.8% | £44K | D |
| 421 | Market Warsop Nottinghamshire | 6,970 | 0.4 | 11% | 3.1% | £39K | D |
| … | |||||||
| 479 | Mablethorpe Lincolnshire | 7,633 | 1.1 | 39% | 5.2% | £30K | 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 Pool and Illogan, and others in Cornwall.
Next to Pool and Illogan: how nearby places compare
| Town | People | Jobs | Work in own town | Claimants | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pool and Illogan | 8,588 | 6,245 | 19% | 4.4% | D |
| Illogan | 1,096 | 133 | — | 2.3% | C |
| Tolvaddon | 1,107 | 753 | 1% | 3.5% | C− |
| Redruth | 15,455 | 9,579 | 24% | 4% | C− |
| Camborne | 20,445 | 4,569 | 19% | 4% | D |
| Portreath | 1,218 | 408 | 6% | 3.6% | C− |
| Four Lanes | 1,579 | 200 | 3% | 3.6% | D |
| Troon | 1,402 | 167 | 3% | 3.9% | D |
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. Pool and Illogan 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 Pool and Illogan’s built-up area, from small areas.
Questions about work in Pool and Illogan
Where do people in Pool and Illogan work?
At the 2021 Census, 19% of Pool and Illogan’s residents who travelled to work worked in the town itself; the most common other places were Redruth (376), Truro (314) and Camborne (208). 37% 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 Pool and Illogan?
3,380 people who lived elsewhere worked in Pool and Illogan at the 2021 Census, 64% of its 5,299 workers. The most came from Camborne (864), Redruth (507) and Hayle (110). 1,983 residents travelled out the other way.
How many jobs are there in Pool and Illogan?
About 6,250 jobs (employees and working owners) were based in Pool and Illogan in 2024, on ONS’s Business Register and Employment Survey: 1.6 for every resident in work, against 0.7 in the typical UK town. The biggest kinds of work are shops (about 740), food manufacturing (about 530) and education (about 530).
Is Pool and Illogan a good place to find work?
Pool and Illogan earns a D for jobs and income, better than 11% of UK towns on household income, the claimant rate, employment deprivation and access to jobs together. Mean household income £43,670; 4.4% of 16 to 64s claim unemployment benefits.
How do people in Pool and Illogan get to work?
83% of commuters go by car or van, 11% walk, 2% cycle and 2% take the bus or train; 47% travel under 5 km. Census 2021, taken during lockdown.
What is the average household income in Pool and Illogan?
Mean household income before tax was £43,670 in the year to March 2023 (ONS), against £52,385 in the typical UK town.
How does Pool and Illogan compare with Newquay for jobs?
Pool and Illogan has 1.6 jobs per working resident against Newquay’s 0.8, a 4.4% claimant rate against 4.4%, and mean household income of £43,670 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.