Photo: peter robinson · CC BY-SA 2.0Most of School Aycliffe works elsewhere: the town has 0.5 jobs for each resident in work
2% of people of working age are on jobless benefits, next to 2.7% in the typical UK town. The working day takes 446 residents elsewhere; 352 people arrive. Measured against other UK towns, jobs and pay in School Aycliffe rate B−.
Work in School Aycliffe: the figures worth knowing
Longer journeys to work
Against 45% across England’s towns. 3% of commuters walk to work (11% across England’s towns). Getting to work ↓
Fewer 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.
School Aycliffe grades B− for jobs and income
Taken together, its four measures make it better than 47% of UK towns.
Its strongest measure is the claimant rate; its weakest, employment deprivation.
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.
Walking, cycling, the bus or the train: 7% of School Aycliffe’s commuters
Median journey 9.6 km; typical UK town 8.4 km.
24% of journeys to work are under 5 km (3 miles), against 45% across England’s towns, and 11% are 30 km or more. School Aycliffe grades D 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).
Jobless claims in the Darlington council area are below England and Wales’ rate
Darlington’s rate was about 4.4% in 2019, peaked at 7.5% in May 2020 and has averaged 3.6% 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 Darlington, which Nomis publishes monthly; the figures above the line are for School Aycliffe’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).
More of School Aycliffe’s workers leave each day than arrive
767 residents were in work at the 2021 Census; 669 people worked in School Aycliffe.
0% of residents who travel to a workplace stay in the village; 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 village or from home.
School Aycliffe’s commuters work from Darlington to Bishop Auckland
- Newton Aycliffe91
- Darlington39
- Bishop Auckland26
- Shildon22
- Hartlepool18
- Countryside17
- Middlesbrough16
- Chilton10
- Spennymoor9
- Ferryhill8
- Darlington115
- Newton Aycliffe90
- Bishop Auckland32
- Countryside21
- Durham20
- Middlesbrough13
- Shildon11
- Barnard Castle10
- Stockton-on-Tees10
- Washington10
100% of residents who travel to a workplace work outside School Aycliffe; Darlington takes the most (115). Coming the other way, Newton Aycliffe sends the most (91).
The ten places that send the most workers into School Aycliffe, and the ten where its residents most often work (Census 2021, by home and workplace). Line width is the number of people.
418 jobs, one in four in transport and storage
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 (669). 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 School Aycliffe (employees and working owners, ONS Business Register and Employment Survey 2024).
Before tax, households in School Aycliffe average £52,655
Higher than 51% of UK towns of 2,500+; the typical town is £52,385. The whole council area of Darlington averages £46,395.
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).
61% of adults in School Aycliffe are in work
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.
School Aycliffe is 720th of 1,215 UK towns of 1,000 to 2,000 for jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Jobs per worker | Work in own town | Claimants | Income | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hurst Berkshire | 1,009 | 0.8 | 2% | 1.1% | £83K | A+ |
| 2 | Otterbourne Hampshire | 1,252 | 2.5 | 7% | 1.1% | £74K | A+ |
| 3 | Lower Shiplake Oxfordshire | 1,086 | 0.6 | 1% | 0.8% | £84K | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 183 | Heighington County Durham | 1,548 | 0.2 | 5% | 0.4% | £62K | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 232 | High Shincliffe County Durham | 1,045 | 0.1 | 3% | 1.6% | £48K | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 718 | Copplestone Devon | 1,475 | 0.4 | 6% | 1.6% | £54K | B− |
| 719 | Walsham le Willows Suffolk | 1,258 | 0.6 | 11% | 2.1% | £58K | B− |
| 720 | School Aycliffe County Durham | 1,590 | 0.5 | 0% | 2% | £53K | B− |
| 721 | Westham East Sussex | 1,861 | 0.7 | 3% | 2.9% | £55K | B− |
| 722 | North Curry Somerset | 1,057 | 0.5 | 5% | 1.8% | £54K | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 741 | High Pittington County Durham | 1,147 | 0.3 | 1% | 1.5% | £43K | B− |
| … | |||||||
| 1215 | Croeserw West Glamorgan | 1,294 | 0.3 | 9% | 4.9% | £39K | 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 School Aycliffe, and others in County Durham.
Neighbouring places to School Aycliffe, compared
| Town | People | Jobs | Work in own town | Claimants | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| School Aycliffe | 1,590 | 418 | 0% | 2% | B− |
| Heighington | 1,548 | 150 | 5% | 0.4% | A− |
| Newton Aycliffe | 25,760 | 13,921 | 41% | 3.3% | C− |
| Shildon | 9,650 | 2,279 | 13% | 4.5% | D |
| Coundon and Leeholme | 2,522 | 344 | 8% | 5% | D− |
| Chilton | 4,693 | 1,725 | 10% | 3.2% | D |
| Bishop Auckland | 23,359 | 11,240 | 33% | 3.8% | D |
| West Auckland | 3,107 | 957 | 6% | 3.7% | 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. School Aycliffe 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 Darlington as a whole; the claimant rate elsewhere on this page is School Aycliffe’s built-up area, from small areas.
Questions about work in School Aycliffe
Where do people in School Aycliffe work?
At the 2021 Census, 0% of School Aycliffe’s residents who travelled to work worked in the village itself; the most common other places were Darlington (115), Newton Aycliffe (90) and Bishop Auckland (32). 41% 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 School Aycliffe?
352 people who lived elsewhere worked in School Aycliffe at the 2021 Census, 53% of its 669 workers. The most came from Newton Aycliffe (91), Darlington (39) and Bishop Auckland (26). 446 residents travelled out the other way.
How many jobs are there in School Aycliffe?
About 420 jobs (employees and working owners) were based in School Aycliffe in 2024, on ONS’s Business Register and Employment Survey: 0.5 for every resident in work, against 0.7 in the typical UK town. The biggest kinds of work are warehousing and logistics (about 160), shops (about 50) and hospitals and health care (about 50).
Is School Aycliffe a good place to find work?
School Aycliffe earns a B− for jobs and income, better than 47% of UK towns on household income, the claimant rate, employment deprivation and access to jobs together. Mean household income £52,655; 2% of 16 to 64s claim unemployment benefits.
How do people in School Aycliffe get to work?
91% of commuters go by car or van, 3% walk, 2% cycle and 2% take the bus or train; 24% travel under 5 km. Census 2021, taken during lockdown.
What is the average household income in School Aycliffe?
Mean household income before tax was £52,655 in the year to March 2023 (ONS), against £52,385 in the typical UK town.
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.