Photo: Simon Cobb · CC0Jobless benefit claims are lower in Clyst St Mary than in 98% of UK towns
Clyst St Mary grades A+ for jobs and income against UK towns. The claimant rate is 0.9% of working-age residents (the typical UK town: 2.7%). Each working day 285 residents head out to work, and 188 people travel in.
What the numbers say about work in Clyst St Mary
A local job centre
912 jobs are based in Clyst St Mary for 579 working residents; the typical UK town has 0.7 jobs per resident in work. Restaurants, cafés and pubs, public administration and defence and wholesale make up 28% of them. Jobs based here ↓
Fewer benefit claims than most towns
The typical UK town: 2.7%; England and Wales: 4% so far in 2026. Claims across the East Devon council area have run below the national rate every month since 2015. Benefits over time ↓
Written from the data on this page: ONS Census 2021 and BRES, DWP claimant counts via Nomis, and ONS household income.
Jobs & income in Clyst St Mary: graded A+
Better than 97% of UK towns on four measures taken together.
Its strongest measure is the claimant rate; its weakest, getting to jobs without a car.
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.
912 jobs, one in eight in professional, scientific and technical
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 (481). 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 Clyst St Mary (employees and working owners, ONS Business Register and Employment Survey 2024).
Jobless claims in the East Devon council area have run below England and Wales every month since 2015
East Devon’s rate was about 1.3% in 2019, peaked at 4.6% in May 2020 and has averaged 2.1% 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 East Devon, which Nomis publishes monthly; the figures above the line are for Clyst St Mary’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).
A commuter town: Clyst St Mary sends out more workers than it takes in
579 residents were in work at the 2021 Census; 481 people worked in Clyst St Mary.
For every person who comes in to work, about 2 residents travel out. 2% 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.
Most of Clyst St Mary’s commuters who leave work in Exeter and the places around
- Exeter59
- Exmouth17
- Countryside17
- Ottery St Mary7
- Cranbrook5
- Okehampton5
- Newton Poppleford4
- Cullompton4
- Taunton4
- Paignton3
- Exeter136
- Countryside36
- Exmouth15
- Sidmouth12
- Honiton10
- Woodbury Salterton7
- Cranbrook7
- Kingsteignton5
- Taunton5
- Plymouth4
Coming the other way, Exeter sends the most (59).
The ten places that send the most workers into Clyst St Mary, 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 Clyst St Mary: £64,201 a year on average
Higher than 79% of UK towns of 2,500+; the typical town is £52,385. The whole council area of East Devon averages £53,349.
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).
For 13% of Clyst St Mary’s commuters, the trip is on foot, by bike, bus or train
Median journey 6.5 km; typical UK town 8.4 km.
42% of journeys to work are under 5 km (3 miles), against 45% across England’s towns, and 11% are 30 km or more. Clyst St Mary 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).
59% of Clyst St Mary’s adults have a job
Compared with England’s towns, 4% are full-time students (against 7%), 28% are retired (against 21%) and 2% 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.
Clyst St Mary next to UK towns of 1,000 to 2,000: 34th of 1,215 on 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+ |
| … | |||||||
| 32 | Balcombe West Sussex | 1,445 | 0.5 | 6% | 1.3% | £72K | A+ |
| 33 | Hampton in Arden West Midlands | 1,867 | 2.2 | 5% | 1.8% | £65K | A+ |
| 34 | Clyst St Mary Devon | 1,193 | 1.6 | 2% | 0.9% | £64K | A+ |
| 35 | Chawley Oxfordshire | 1,127 | 0.9 | 3% | 1.8% | £74K | A+ |
| 36 | Southfields Essex | 1,167 | 1 | — | 1.5% | £67K | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 39 | Exton Devon | 1,287 | 1.4 | 2% | 0.3% | £64K | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 229 | Lympstone Devon | 1,838 | 0.4 | 4% | 1.3% | £64K | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 292 | Broadclyst Devon | 1,549 | 0.7 | 3% | 1.5% | £66K | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 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 Clyst St Mary, and others in Devon.
How Clyst St Mary compares with the places nearby
| Town | People | Jobs | Work in own town | Claimants | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Clyst St Mary | 1,193 | 912 | 2% | 0.9% | A+ |
| Topsham | 4,193 | 1,072 | 10% | 2.4% | B+ |
| Clyst Honiton | 1,030 | 392 | 0% | 3.1% | B+ |
| West Clyst | 2,683 | 203 | 0% | 3% | B |
| Exminster | 4,388 | 1,272 | 8% | 2% | B |
| Exeter | 126,181 | 98,845 | 74% | 2.4% | B |
| Exton | 1,287 | 1,202 | 2% | 0.3% | A+ |
| Woodbury | 1,749 | 350 | 4% | 1.2% | 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. Clyst St Mary 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 East Devon as a whole; the claimant rate elsewhere on this page is Clyst St Mary’s built-up area, from small areas.
Questions about work in Clyst St Mary
Where do people in Clyst St Mary work?
At the 2021 Census, 2% of Clyst St Mary’s residents who travelled to work worked in the village itself; the most common other places were Exeter (136), Exmouth (15) and Sidmouth (12). 49% 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 Clyst St Mary?
188 people who lived elsewhere worked in Clyst St Mary at the 2021 Census, 39% of its 481 workers. The most came from Exeter (59), Exmouth (17) and Ottery St Mary (7). 285 residents travelled out the other way.
How many jobs are there in Clyst St Mary?
About 910 jobs (employees and working owners) were based in Clyst St Mary 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 restaurants, cafés and pubs (about 60), public administration and defence (about 60) and wholesale (about 50).
Is Clyst St Mary a good place to find work?
Clyst St Mary earns an A+ for jobs and income, better than 97% of UK towns on household income, the claimant rate, employment deprivation and access to jobs together. Mean household income £64,201; 0.9% of 16 to 64s claim unemployment benefits.
How do people in Clyst St Mary get to work?
84% of commuters go by car or van, 7% walk, 3% cycle and 3% take the bus or train; 42% travel under 5 km. Census 2021, taken during lockdown.
What is the average household income in Clyst St Mary?
Mean household income before tax was £64,201 in the year to March 2023 (ONS), against £52,385 in the typical UK town.
How does Clyst St Mary compare with Plymouth for jobs?
Clyst St Mary has 1.6 jobs per working resident against Plymouth’s 1, a 0.9% claimant rate against 3.6%, and mean household income of £64,201 against £48,927.
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.