Photo: Terry Burnett · CC BY-SA 2.0Combe Martin has 0.5 jobs for every resident in work, so most commute out
Jobless benefit claims cover 3.6% of working-age residents; the typical UK town’s rate is 2.7%. Every working day, 523 residents go out to work, and 171 people travel in. Measured against other UK towns, jobs and pay in Combe Martin rate D.
What the numbers say about work in Combe Martin
Longer journeys to work
Against 45% across England’s towns. 15% of commuters walk to work (11% across England’s towns). Getting to work ↓
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.
Combe Martin grades D for jobs and income
Taken together, its four measures make it better than 5% of UK towns.
Its strongest measure is employment deprivation; 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.
19% of Combe Martin’s trips to work are on foot, by bike or public transport
Median journey 11.6 km; typical UK town 8.4 km.
22% of journeys to work are under 5 km (3 miles), against 45% across England’s towns, and 9% are 30 km or more. Combe Martin 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).
Jobless claims in the North Devon council area are below England and Wales’ rate
North Devon’s rate was about 1.8% in 2019, peaked at 5.9% in May 2020 and has averaged 2.9% 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 North Devon, which Nomis publishes monthly; the figures above the line are for Combe Martin’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).
The daily tide in Combe Martin runs outward
1,082 residents were in work at the 2021 Census; 724 people worked in Combe Martin.
For every person who comes in to work, about 3 residents travel out. 15% 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.
Combe Martin’s commuters work from Barnstaple to Ilfracombe
- Countryside61
- Ilfracombe38
- Barnstaple27
- Braunton7
- Lapford3
- South Molton3
- Chawleigh2
- Witheridge2
- Fremington2
- Bickington2
- Barnstaple204
- Countryside105
- Ilfracombe102
- Chambercombe13
- Braunton12
- Lynton and Lynmouth10
- Chivenor and Wrafton8
- Exeter7
- South Molton7
- Bideford7
85% of residents who travel to a workplace work outside Combe Martin; Barnstaple takes the most (204). Coming the other way, Ilfracombe sends the most (38).
The ten places that send the most workers into Combe Martin, and the ten where its residents most often work (Census 2021, by home and workplace). Line width is the number of people.
581 jobs, half in hotels, pubs and restaurants
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 (724). 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 Combe Martin (employees and working owners, ONS Business Register and Employment Survey 2024).
How much households earn in Combe Martin: £44,502
Higher than 22% of UK towns of 2,500+; the typical town is £52,385. The whole council area of North Devon averages £47,337.
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).
Retirement is the main occupation for 37% of adults in Combe Martin
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.
Where Combe Martin sits among UK towns of 2,000 to 4,000
| # | Town | People | Jobs per worker | Work in own town | Claimants | Income | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Pannal North Yorkshire | 2,530 | 0.8 | 4% | 0.6% | £71K | A+ |
| 2 | Charvil Berkshire | 3,158 | 0.4 | 2% | 1.4% | £83K | A+ |
| 3 | Barnt Green Worcestershire | 3,821 | 0.7 | 4% | 1.2% | £77K | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 265 | West Hill Devon | 2,109 | 0.4 | 3% | 1.4% | £58K | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 275 | Marldon Devon | 2,073 | 0.4 | 4% | 1% | £56K | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 327 | Bishopsteignton Devon | 2,271 | 0.3 | 5% | 1.6% | £54K | B |
| … | |||||||
| 774 | Langwith Derbyshire | 3,009 | 0.3 | 9% | 3.3% | £40K | D |
| 775 | St Mary's Bay Kent | 2,966 | 0.2 | 3% | 2.9% | £43K | D |
| 776 | Combe Martin Devon | 2,707 | 0.5 | 15% | 3.6% | £45K | D |
| 777 | Beaminster Dorset | 2,995 | 1 | 17% | 3.8% | £48K | D |
| 778 | Church Warsop Nottinghamshire | 2,139 | 0.2 | 2% | 4.6% | £41K | D− |
| … | |||||||
| 836 | Maerdy Mid Glamorgan | 2,843 | 0.4 | 11% | 5.7% | £38K | 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 Combe Martin, and others in Devon.
How the places next to Combe Martin compare on work
| Town | People | Jobs | Work in own town | Claimants | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Combe Martin | 2,707 | 581 | 15% | 3.6% | D |
| Chambercombe | 1,502 | 347 | 5% | 2.5% | D |
| Ilfracombe | 9,199 | 3,411 | 44% | 4.7% | D− |
| Barnstaple | 31,271 | 22,559 | 65% | 3.6% | C− |
| Braunton | 6,610 | 2,141 | 21% | 2% | B− |
| Chivenor and Wrafton | 1,953 | 1,259 | 18% | 2.6% | C+ |
| Bickington | 2,105 | 196 | 1% | 2.4% | C+ |
| Landkey | 2,001 | 212 | 4% | 1.5% | 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. Combe Martin 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 North Devon as a whole; the claimant rate elsewhere on this page is Combe Martin’s built-up area, from small areas.
Questions about work in Combe Martin
Where do people in Combe Martin work?
At the 2021 Census, 15% of Combe Martin’s residents who travelled to work worked in the town itself; the most common other places were Barnstaple (204), Ilfracombe (102) and Chambercombe (13). 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 Combe Martin?
171 people who lived elsewhere worked in Combe Martin at the 2021 Census, 24% of its 724 workers. The most came from Ilfracombe (38), Barnstaple (27) and Braunton (7). 523 residents travelled out the other way.
How many jobs are there in Combe Martin?
About 580 jobs (employees and working owners) were based in Combe Martin 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 hotels and holiday accommodation (about 170), restaurants, cafés and pubs (about 130) and shops (about 50).
Is Combe Martin a good place to find work?
Combe Martin earns a D for jobs and income, better than 5% of UK towns on household income, the claimant rate, employment deprivation and access to jobs together. Mean household income £44,502; 3.6% of 16 to 64s claim unemployment benefits.
How do people in Combe Martin get to work?
79% of commuters go by car or van, 15% walk, 2% cycle and 2% take the bus or train; 22% travel under 5 km. Census 2021, taken during lockdown.
What is the average household income in Combe Martin?
Mean household income before tax was £44,502 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.