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Fore Street, TeignmouthPhoto: John Lucas · CC BY-SA 2.0
CJobs & income Grade
Work & commute in Teignmouth · ONS, DWP · claims to August 2026

With 0.5 jobs for each resident in work, most of Teignmouth commutes out

Set against UK towns, the Jobs & income grade of Teignmouth is C, #20 of 47 in Devon. Each working day 2,760 residents head out to work, and 1,290 people come the other way. 35% of commuters travel less than 3 miles.

What stands out · In brief

Teignmouth and work: the main findings

More people leave for work than arrive

1,290 people come in to work and 2,760 residents go out, so Teignmouth loses about 1,470 workers a day. Dawlish sends the most (211). The daily tide ↓

Longer journeys to work

Against 45% across England’s towns. 15% of commuters walk to work (11% across England’s towns). Getting to work ↓

Written from the data on this page: ONS Census 2021 and BRES, DWP claimant counts via Nomis, and ONS household income.

Jobs & income Grade

Jobs and income in Teignmouth earn C

Its four measures together rank it better than 32% of UK towns: #20 of 47 in Devon.

Access to jobs without a car 46 / 100 · DfT connectivity by public transport, walking and cyclingBetter than 54% of UK towns
Mean household income £48,565 · before tax, ONS, year to March 2023Better than 32% of UK towns
Claimant rate, 16 to 64 2.5% · DWP claimant count, January to August 2026Better than 47% of UK towns
Employment deprivation 14% · out of work through unemployment, sickness or caring, IoD 2025Better than 23% of UK towns

Its strongest measure is getting to jobs without a car; 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.

Getting to work

22% of Teignmouth’s trips to work are on foot, by bike or public transport

Median journey 7.9 km; typical UK town 8.4 km.

Drive70%Devon 68% · England 64%
Passenger5%Devon 6% · England 6%
Walk15%Devon 15% · England 11%
Cycle0.9%Devon 3% · England 3%
Bus3%Devon 5% · England 6%
Train3%Devon 1% · England 3%
Other2%Devon 3% · England 6%
TeignmouthDevon’s townsEngland’s towns
How far they travel England’s towns
26%
Under 2 km
8%
2–5 km
27%
5–10 km
27%
10–20 km
5%
20–30 km
1%
30–40 km
3%
40–60 km
3%
60 km +

Teignmouth grades A− 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).

The daily tide

On a working day, Teignmouth loses more workers than it gains

6,478 residents were in work at the 2021 Census; 4,986 people worked in Teignmouth.

Live in Teignmouth6,478 in work
2,7609162,802
Work in Teignmouth4,986 people
1,2909162,780
Commute in · 1,290Commute out · 2,760Live and work here · 916At home or no fixed place · 2,780

For every person who comes in to work, about 2 residents travel out. 25% 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.

On the map

Teignmouth’s commuters work from Exeter to Paignton

Dawlish: 211 commute inNewton Abbot: 175 commute inTorquay: 124 commute inPaignton: 102 commute inKingsteignton: 99 commute inExeter: 52 commute inPlymouth: 47 commute inBishopsteignton: 43 commute inShaldon: 38 commute inNewton AbbotTorquayPaigntonKingsteigntonExeterPlymouthExeter: 627 residents work thereNewton Abbot: 353 residents work therePaignton: 227 residents work thereDawlish: 199 residents work thereTorquay: 156 residents work thereKingsteignton: 118 residents work thereBovey Tracey: 80 residents work thereDawlish Warren: 77 residents work thereShaldon: 75 residents work thereExeterNewton AbbotPaigntonTorquayKingsteigntonBovey TraceyTeignmouth5 miles
Grey dots: where people live (Census 2021). Places drawn centre to centre; flows under 5 people are listed, not drawn.
Where Teignmouth’s workers live
  1. Dawlish211
  2. Newton Abbot175
  3. Torquay124
  4. Countryside121
  5. Paignton102
  6. Kingsteignton99
  7. Exeter52
  8. Plymouth47
  9. Bishopsteignton43
  10. Shaldon38
Where residents work, outside Teignmouth
  1. Exeter627
  2. Newton Abbot353
  3. Countryside302
  4. Paignton227
  5. Dawlish199
  6. Torquay156
  7. Kingsteignton118
  8. Bovey Tracey80
  9. Dawlish Warren77
  10. Shaldon75

75% of residents who travel to a workplace work outside Teignmouth; Exeter takes the most (627). Coming the other way, Dawlish sends the most (211).

The ten places that send the most workers into Teignmouth, 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

3,516 jobs, one in six in health and social care

The six biggest kinds of work
510Restaurants, cafés and pubs14% of jobs · England 6%2.2× England’s share
450Shops12% of jobs · England 8%1.5× England’s share
410Education11% of jobs · England 9%
330Care homes9% of jobs · England 2%3.9× England’s share
220Hospitals and health care6% of jobs · England 9%
180Legal and accounting5% of jobs · England 3%1.8× England’s share
Share of jobs by industry England’s towns
Health and social care17%
Hotels, pubs and restaurants16%
Retail12%
Education11%
Professional, scientific and technical9%
Construction8%
Arts, leisure and other services6%
Transport and storage4%
Business administration and support4%
Manufacturing3%

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 (4,986). 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 Teignmouth (employees and working owners, ONS Business Register and Employment Survey 2024).

Household income

Teignmouth households bring in £48,565 a year on average

Higher than 37% of UK towns of 2,500+; the typical town is £52,385. The whole council area of Teignbridge averages £51,983.

Teignmouth £49KTypical 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 Teignbridge 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%Teignbridge 2.2%
Teignbridge (council area)South WestEngland and Wales

Teignbridge’s rate was about 1.5% in 2019, peaked at 5.3% 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
2.5%
of 16 to 64s in the built-up area, January to August 2026
217 people in August 2026 · typical UK town 2.7%
Employment deprivation
14%
of 18 to 66s out of work through unemployment, sickness, disability or caring
IoD 2025
Income deprivation
20%
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 Teignbridge, which Nomis publishes monthly; the figures above the line are for Teignmouth’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

34% of adults in Teignmouth are retired

Teignmouth
49%34%
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 officials12%−0.1
Professional occupations18%−2.2
Associate professional and technical occupations13%−0.8
Administrative and secretarial occupations8%−1.1
Skilled trades occupations13%+3.4
Caring, leisure and other service occupations13%+3.3
Sales and customer service occupations8%+0.4
Process, plant and machine operatives5%−1.6
Elementary occupations9%−1.3

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.

Towns its size

How Teignmouth ranks: 213th of 352 UK towns of 11,000 to 21,000

#TownPeopleJobs per workerWork in own townClaimantsIncomeGrade
1Hale Greater Manchester16,7160.77%1.1%£73KA+
2Ashtead Surrey14,8300.716%1.2%£80KA+
3Chorleywood Hertfordshire12,6320.58%1.5%£86KA+
…
100Ivybridge Devon12,4850.418%1.7%£59KB+
…
129Kingsteignton Devon11,9450.613%1.8%£53KB
…
188Sidmouth Devon13,2580.939%2%£49KC+
…
211Hythe Kent14,6130.618%2.8%£52KC
212Buckley Clwyd13,5620.49%3%£49KC
213Teignmouth Devon15,3140.525%2.5%£49KC
214Ripley Derbyshire20,1911.225%2.8%£44KC
215Stapleford Nottinghamshire15,0410.411%4.1%£48KC
…
352Holyhead Gwynedd11,7530.740%5.8%£40KD−

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 Teignmouth, and others in Devon.

Neighbours

The places around Teignmouth, side by side

TownPeopleJobsWork in own townClaimantsGrade
Teignmouth15,3143,51625%2.5%C
Shaldon1,71762010%1.4%B+
Bishopsteignton2,2712705%1.6%B
Dawlish11,8002,44218%2.7%C
Dawlish Warren1,1911,30313%3.1%C−
Kingsteignton11,9453,82413%1.8%B
Kingskerswell3,7615803%2.1%B−
Newton Abbot29,65014,97233%2.5%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. Teignmouth 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 Teignbridge as a whole; the claimant rate elsewhere on this page is Teignmouth’s built-up area, from small areas.

Questions about work in Teignmouth

Where do people in Teignmouth work?

At the 2021 Census, 25% of Teignmouth’s residents who travelled to work worked in the town itself; the most common other places were Exeter (627), Newton Abbot (353) and Paignton (227). 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 Teignmouth?

1,290 people who lived elsewhere worked in Teignmouth at the 2021 Census, 26% of its 4,986 workers. The most came from Dawlish (211), Newton Abbot (175) and Torquay (124). 2,760 residents travelled out the other way.

How many jobs are there in Teignmouth?

About 3,520 jobs (employees and working owners) were based in Teignmouth 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 restaurants, cafés and pubs (about 510), shops (about 450) and education (about 410).

Is Teignmouth a good place to find work?

Teignmouth earns a C for jobs and income, better than 32% of UK towns on household income, the claimant rate, employment deprivation and access to jobs together. Mean household income £48,565; 2.5% of 16 to 64s claim unemployment benefits.

How do people in Teignmouth get to work?

75% of commuters go by car or van, 15% walk, 1% cycle and 6% take the bus or train; 35% travel under 5 km. Census 2021, taken during lockdown.

What is the average household income in Teignmouth?

Mean household income before tax was £48,565 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.