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).

The daily tide

Each working day, more people leave Northlew for work than come in

366 residents were in work at the 2021 Census; 266 people worked in Northlew.

Live in Northlew366 in work

1337226

Work in Northlew266 people

357224

Commute in · 35Commute out · 133Live and work here · 7At home or no fixed place · 224

For every person who comes in to work, about 4 residents travel out. 5% 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.

On the map

Northlew’s commuters work from Okehampton to Exeter

Grey dots: where people live (Census 2021). Places drawn centre to centre; flows under 5 people are listed, not drawn.

Where Northlew’s workers live

Where residents work, outside Northlew

95% of residents who travel to a workplace work outside Northlew; Okehampton takes the most (19). Coming the other way, Okehampton sends the most (6).

The ten places that send the most workers into Northlew, and the ten where its residents most often work (Census 2021, by home and workplace). Line width is the number of people.

Jobs based here

113 jobs, 18% in manufacturing

Share of jobs by industry England’s towns

Manufacturing18%

Transport and storage12%

Construction10%

Hotels, pubs and restaurants9%

Health and social care8%

Wholesale7%

Retail7%

Education7%

Professional, scientific and technical6%

Arts, leisure and other services4%

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 (266). 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 Northlew (employees and working owners, ONS Business Register and Employment Survey 2024).

Household income

Households in Northlew average £47,667 a year

Higher than 33% of UK towns of 2,500+; the typical town is £52,385. The whole council area of West Devon averages £49,679.

Northlew £48KTypical UK town £52K

£40K£45K£50K£55K£60K

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).

Benefits over time

Jobless claims in the West Devon council area have run below England and Wales every month since 2015

West Devon (council area)South WestEngland and Wales

West Devon’s rate was about 1.3% in 2019, peaked at 4.3% in May 2020 and has averaged 2.2% 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.

Claimant rate

2.3%

of 16 to 64s in the built-up area, January to August 2026

10 people in August 2026 · typical UK town 2.7%

Employment deprivation

of 18 to 66s out of work through unemployment, sickness, disability or caring

IoD 2025

Income deprivation

16%

of residents in low-income households on means-tested benefits

In the most deprived tenth

of residents live in England’s most employment-deprived 10% of areas

The chart is the whole council area of West Devon, which Nomis publishes monthly; the figures above the line are for Northlew’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).

What residents do

33% of Northlew’s adults have retired

Northlew

53%33%

England’s towns

56%21%

In workStudents in workUnemployedStudentsRetiredLong-term sick or disabledLooking after home or familyOther

Residents in work, by occupation points above or below England’s towns

Managers, directors and senior officials22%+9.3

Professional occupations11%−9.6

Associate professional and technical occupations10%−3.1

Administrative and secretarial occupations8%−1

Skilled trades occupations21%+11

Caring, leisure and other service occupations8%−1.1

Sales and customer service occupations4%−3.5

Process, plant and machine operatives6%−1.5

Elementary occupations10%−0.4

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.

Neighbours

Around Northlew: jobs, pay and the commute

Town	People	Jobs	Work in own town	Claimants	Grade
Northlew	782	113	5%	2.3%	—
Okehampton	9,108	4,013	41%	3.1%	D
Winkleigh	1,342	431	8%	2.9%	D
North Tawton	1,785	525	11%	2.5%	C⁻
Holsworthy	3,472	1,790	39%	2.7%	D

Jobs based in each place, commuters who stay in their own town, and the claimant rate.

How to read these numbers

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. Northlew 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 West Devon as a whole; the claimant rate elsewhere on this page is Northlew’s built-up area, from small areas.

Questions about work in Northlew

Where do people in Northlew work?

At the 2021 Census, 5% of Northlew’s residents who travelled to work worked in the village itself; the most common other places were Okehampton (19), Exeter (12) and Tavistock (11). 61% 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 Northlew?

35 people who lived elsewhere worked in Northlew at the 2021 Census, 13% of its 266 workers. The most came from Okehampton (6), Exeter (2) and Hammersmith and Fulham (2). 133 residents travelled out the other way.

How many jobs are there in Northlew?

About 110 jobs (employees and working owners) were based in Northlew in 2024, on ONS’s Business Register and Employment Survey: 0.3 for every resident in work, against 0.7 in the typical UK town.

How do people in Northlew get to work?

88% of commuters go by car or van, 8% walk, 0% cycle and 0% take the bus or train; 8% travel under 5 km. Census 2021, taken during lockdown.

What is the average household income in Northlew?

Mean household income before tax was £47,667 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.