Photo: David Martin · CC BY-SA 2.0A larger share of people claim jobless benefits in Chatham than in 96% of UK towns
The claimant rate is 5.1% of working-age residents, against 2.7% in the typical UK town. UK towns are the yardstick, and by them Chatham earns C on jobs and income, #68 of 87 in Kent. On a working day 16,168 residents travel out to work, and 7,005 people come the other way.
Chatham at work: what stands out
Fewer jobs than working residents
19,120 jobs are based in Chatham for 36,042 working residents; the typical UK town has 0.7 jobs per resident in work. Education, shops and public administration and defence make up 32% of them. Jobs based here ↓
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.
Jobs and income in Chatham earn C
Its four measures together rank it better than 32% of UK towns: #68 of 87 in Kent.
Its strongest measure is getting to jobs without a car; its weakest, the claimant rate.
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.
Jobless claims in the Medway council area are above England and Wales’ rate
Medway’s rate was about 2.9% in 2019, peaked at 7% in May 2020 and has averaged 4.2% 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.
The chart is the whole council area of Medway, which Nomis publishes monthly; the figures above the line are for Chatham’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).
More of Chatham’s workers leave each day than arrive
36,042 residents were in work at the 2021 Census; 26,787 people worked in Chatham.
For every person who comes in to work, about 2 residents travel out. 19% 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.
Chatham’s commuters work from Gillingham to Maidstone
- Gillingham2,237
- Rochester1,394
- Maidstone413
- Countryside343
- Sittingbourne234
- Gravesend176
- Hoo St Werburgh120
- Larkfield97
- Dartford94
- Bexley81
- Gillingham3,563
- Rochester2,681
- Maidstone1,493
- Countryside1,241
- Larkfield577
- Dartford519
- Sittingbourne510
- Bexley350
- Gravesend288
- Northfleet228
81% of residents who travel to a workplace work outside Chatham; Gillingham takes the most (3,563). Coming the other way, Gillingham sends the most (2,237).
The ten places that send the most workers into Chatham, and the ten where its residents most often work (Census 2021, by home and workplace). Line width is the number of people.
19,120 jobs, one in eight in education
0.5 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 (26,787). 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 Chatham (employees and working owners, ONS Business Register and Employment Survey 2024).
Chatham households bring in £54,172 a year on average
Higher than 55% of UK towns of 2,500+; the typical town is £52,385. The whole council area of Medway averages £56,127.
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).
The richest and poorest parts of Chatham: £44K to £63K
Mean household income before tax in each of the 10 neighbourhoods (MSOAs) mostly inside the town: the highest is 1.4 times the lowest.
Each dot is a neighbourhood (MSOA, about 8,000 people) mostly inside Chatham; names from the House of Commons Library. ONS gives each a 95% range of roughly ±£7K to ±£10K, so neighbourhoods close together on the strip may not really differ.
Chatham commutes on foot, by bike or bus for 18% of trips
Median journey 6.5 km; typical UK town 8.4 km.
45% of journeys to work are under 5 km (3 miles), against 45% across England’s towns, and 14% are 30 km or more. Chatham 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).
60% of adults in Chatham are in work
Compared with England’s towns, 18% are retired (against 21%).
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.
Among UK towns of 54,000 to 104,000, Chatham ranks 38th of 89 for jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Jobs per worker | Work in own town | Claimants | Income | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Guildford Surrey | 77,870 | 1.6 | 54% | 2.2% | £70K | A |
| 2 | St Albans Hertfordshire | 75,544 | 1 | 41% | 2.7% | £80K | A |
| 3 | Maidenhead Berkshire | 67,391 | 1 | 36% | 2.8% | £73K | A |
| … | |||||||
| 12 | Dartford Kent | 69,131 | 1.3 | 30% | 3.6% | £65K | B |
| … | |||||||
| 22 | Canterbury Kent | 55,107 | 1.7 | 53% | 3.8% | £57K | C+ |
| 23 | Ashford Kent | 82,143 | 1.1 | 58% | 3.5% | £58K | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 36 | Newcastle-under-Lyme Staffordshire | 76,511 | 1 | 34% | 3.4% | £47K | C |
| 37 | Stourbridge West Midlands | 56,961 | 0.6 | 22% | 4.5% | £51K | C |
| 38 | Chatham Kent | 76,956 | 0.5 | 19% | 5.1% | £54K | C |
| 39 | Cannock Staffordshire | 63,057 | 0.8 | 32% | 3.2% | £48K | C |
| 40 | Kettering Northamptonshire | 63,149 | 1 | 44% | 4% | £49K | C |
| … | |||||||
| 89 | Hartlepool County Durham | 88,001 | 0.9 | 57% | 4.9% | £41K | 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 Chatham, and others in Kent.
Next to Chatham: how nearby places compare
| Town | People | Jobs | Work in own town | Claimants | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chatham | 76,956 | 19,120 | 19% | 5.1% | C |
| Gillingham | 108,485 | 42,953 | 37% | 4.2% | C+ |
| Rochester | 67,279 | 30,267 | 26% | 4% | C+ |
| Burham | 1,293 | 171 | 5% | 2.4% | B− |
| Cuxton | 3,039 | 675 | 5% | 2% | A− |
| Eccles | 1,706 | 179 | 2% | 2.4% | B |
| Halling | 2,926 | 274 | 3% | 1.9% | A− |
| Chattenden | 2,417 | 361 | 2% | 3.8% | C+ |
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. Chatham 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 Medway as a whole; the claimant rate elsewhere on this page is Chatham’s built-up area, from small areas.
Questions about work in Chatham
Where do people in Chatham work?
At the 2021 Census, 19% of Chatham’s residents who travelled to work worked in the town itself; the most common other places were Gillingham (3,563), Rochester (2,681) and Maidstone (1,493). 44% 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 Chatham?
7,005 people who lived elsewhere worked in Chatham at the 2021 Census, 26% of its 26,787 workers. The most came from Gillingham (2,237), Rochester (1,394) and Maidstone (413). 16,168 residents travelled out the other way.
How many jobs are there in Chatham?
About 19,100 jobs (employees and working owners) were based in Chatham 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 education (about 2,620), shops (about 2,280) and public administration and defence (about 1,580).
Is Chatham a good place to find work?
Chatham 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 £54,172; 5.1% of 16 to 64s claim unemployment benefits.
How do people in Chatham get to work?
79% of commuters go by car or van, 8% walk, 1% cycle and 9% take the bus or train; 45% travel under 5 km. Census 2021, taken during lockdown.
What is the average household income in Chatham?
Mean household income before tax was £54,172 in the year to March 2023 (ONS), against £52,385 in the typical UK town. By neighbourhood it runs from £44,229 in Chatham Central and Rochester Riverside to £62,659 in Settington.
How does Chatham compare with Maidstone for jobs?
Chatham has 0.5 jobs per working resident against Maidstone’s 1.1, a 5.1% claimant rate against 4.1%, and mean household income of £54,172 against £58,325.
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.