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St Peter's Church, Stoke FlemingPhoto: Derek Harper · CC BY-SA 2.0
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Work & commute in Stoke Fleming · ONS, DWP · claims to August 2026

Stoke Fleming has 0.4 jobs for every resident in work, so most commute out

Under 3 miles is the trip to work for 44% of commuters. 131 residents leave for work each working day, and 35 people come the other way. The Jobs & income Grade leaves out Stoke Fleming.

What stands out · In brief

Work in Stoke Fleming: the figures worth knowing

More people leave for work than arrive

35 people come in to work and 131 residents go out, so Stoke Fleming loses about 96 workers a day. Dartmouth sends the most (8). The daily tide ↓

More benefit claims than most towns

The typical UK town: 2.7%; England and Wales: 4% so far in 2026. Claims across the South Hams 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.

Benefits over time

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

0%2%4%6%201520172019202120232025First lockdownCensus dayEngland & Wales 4%South West 2.7%South Hams 2.1%
South Hams (council area)South WestEngland and Wales

South Hams’ rate was about 1.3% in 2019, peaked at 5.1% 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.

Claimant rate
3.4%
of 16 to 64s in the built-up area, January to August 2026
11 people in August 2026 · typical UK town 2.7%
Employment deprivation
8.5%
of 18 to 66s out of work through unemployment, sickness, disability or caring
IoD 2025
Income deprivation
15%
of residents in low-income households on means-tested benefits
In the most deprived tenth
0%
of residents live in England’s most employment-deprived 10% of areas

The chart is the whole council area of South Hams, which Nomis publishes monthly; the figures above the line are for Stoke Fleming’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

More workers leave Stoke Fleming each day than arrive

290 residents were in work at the 2021 Census; 191 people worked in Stoke Fleming.

Live in Stoke Fleming290 in work
1319150
Work in Stoke Fleming191 people
359147
Commute in · 35Commute out · 131Live and work here · 9At home or no fixed place · 147

For every person who comes in to work, about 4 residents travel out. 6% 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

Stoke Fleming’s commuters work from Dartmouth to Kingsbridge

Dartmouth: 8 commute inDartmouth: 43 residents work thereKingsbridge: 15 residents work therePaignton: 10 residents work therePlymouth: 7 residents work thereStrete: 6 residents work thereBrixham: 5 residents work thereKingsbridgePaigntonPlymouthStreteBrixhamStoke Fleming5 miles
Grey dots: where people live (Census 2021). Places drawn centre to centre; flows under 5 people are listed, not drawn.
Where Stoke Fleming’s workers live
  1. Dartmouth8
  2. Countryside6
  3. Ivybridge3
  4. Totnes3
  5. Slapton2
  6. Looe2
  7. Salcombe1
  8. Stokenham1
  9. Strete1
  10. Aveton Gifford1
Where residents work, outside Stoke Fleming
  1. Dartmouth43
  2. Countryside19
  3. Kingsbridge15
  4. Paignton10
  5. Plymouth7
  6. Strete6
  7. Brixham5
  8. Totnes3
  9. Chillington2
  10. Yealmpton2

94% of residents who travel to a workplace work outside Stoke Fleming; Dartmouth takes the most (43). Coming the other way, Dartmouth sends the most (8).

The ten places that send the most workers into Stoke Fleming, 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

122 jobs, 37% in hotels, pubs and restaurants

Share of jobs by industry England’s towns
Hotels, pubs and restaurants37%
Construction12%
Manufacturing8%
Retail7%
Education7%
Business administration and support6%
Health and social care6%
Professional, scientific and technical4%
Transport and storage2%
Information and communication2%

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 (191). 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 Stoke Fleming (employees and working owners, ONS Business Register and Employment Survey 2024).

Household income

Household income in Stoke Fleming averages £51,510

Higher than 47% of UK towns of 2,500+; the typical town is £52,385. The whole council area of South Hams averages £54,065.

Stoke Fleming £52KTypical UK town £52K
£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).

Getting to work

Car-free commutes: 12% of workers in Stoke Fleming

Median journey 9.1 km; typical UK town 8.4 km.

Drive74%Devon 68% · England 64%
Passenger7%Devon 6% · England 6%
Walk12%Devon 15% · England 11%
Cycle0%Devon 3% · England 3%
Bus0.5%Devon 5% · England 6%
Train0%Devon 1% · England 3%
Other6%Devon 3% · England 6%
Stoke FlemingDevon’s townsEngland’s towns
How far they travel England’s towns
11%
Under 2 km
33%
2–5 km
8%
5–10 km
28%
10–20 km
8%
20–30 km
6%
30–40 km
1%
40–60 km
4%
60 km +

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).

What residents do

49% of Stoke Fleming’s adults have retired

Stoke Fleming
42%49%
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 officials20%+7.4
Professional occupations16%−4.1
Associate professional and technical occupations11%−1.8
Administrative and secretarial occupations9%−0.2
Skilled trades occupations19%+9.3
Caring, leisure and other service occupations8%−1.3
Sales and customer service occupations7%−0.8
Process, plant and machine operatives2%−5
Elementary occupations7%−3.5

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

Work in the places around Stoke Fleming

TownPeopleJobsWork in own townClaimantsGrade
Stoke Fleming7671226%3.4%—
Dartmouth5,2602,70048%2.8%D
Stoke Gabriel1,3402893%2.5%B−
Brixham17,8393,79431%2.8%D
Chillington1,0742137%1.4%B−
Paignton67,50924,80245%3%C−
Totnes9,2175,28632%3.2%C−
Kingsbridge5,6822,65144%2.7%C−

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. Stoke Fleming 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 South Hams as a whole; the claimant rate elsewhere on this page is Stoke Fleming’s built-up area, from small areas.

Questions about work in Stoke Fleming

Where do people in Stoke Fleming work?

At the 2021 Census, 6% of Stoke Fleming’s residents who travelled to work worked in the village itself; the most common other places were Dartmouth (43), Kingsbridge (15) and Paignton (10). 51% 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 Stoke Fleming?

35 people who lived elsewhere worked in Stoke Fleming at the 2021 Census, 18% of its 191 workers. The most came from Dartmouth (8), Ivybridge (3) and Totnes (3). 131 residents travelled out the other way.

How many jobs are there in Stoke Fleming?

About 120 jobs (employees and working owners) were based in Stoke Fleming in 2024, on ONS’s Business Register and Employment Survey: 0.4 for every resident in work, against 0.7 in the typical UK town.

How do people in Stoke Fleming get to work?

81% of commuters go by car or van, 12% walk, 0% cycle and 0% take the bus or train; 44% travel under 5 km. Census 2021, taken during lockdown.

What is the average household income in Stoke Fleming?

Mean household income before tax was £51,510 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.