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High Street, EastryPhoto: Chris Whippet · CC BY-SA 2.0
C−Jobs & income Grade
Work & commute in Eastry · ONS, DWP · claims to August 2026

Eastry has fewer jobs than residents in work: 0.4 for each

23% of commuters travel less than 3 miles. 529 residents leave for work each working day; 243 people arrive. UK towns are the yardstick, and by them Eastry earns C− on jobs and income.

What stands out · In brief

What sets Eastry apart on jobs and income

More people leave for work than arrive

243 people come in to work and 529 residents go out, so Eastry loses about 286 workers a day. Deal sends the most (62). The daily tide ↓

Longer journeys to work

Against 45% across England’s towns. 7% 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

On jobs and income, Eastry grades C−

With four measures combined, it comes out better than 25% of UK towns.

Access to jobs without a car 34 / 100 · DfT connectivity by public transport, walking and cyclingBetter than 20% of UK towns
Mean household income £55,794 · before tax, ONS, year to March 2023Better than 56% of UK towns
Claimant rate, 16 to 64 2.7% · DWP claimant count, January to August 2026Better than 40% of UK towns
Employment deprivation 15% · out of work through unemployment, sickness or caring, IoD 2025Better than 20% of UK towns

Its strongest measure is household income; 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

In Eastry, 10% of commuters leave the car behind

Median journey 12.3 km; typical UK town 8.4 km.

Drive81%Kent 70% · England 64%
Passenger6%Kent 6% · England 6%
Walk7%Kent 11% · England 11%
Cycle0.8%Kent 2% · England 3%
Bus1%Kent 3% · England 6%
Train1%Kent 5% · England 3%
Other3%Kent 3% · England 6%
EastryKent’s townsEngland’s towns
How far they travel England’s towns
9%
Under 2 km
14%
2–5 km
18%
5–10 km
42%
10–20 km
9%
20–30 km
3%
30–40 km
3%
40–60 km
2%
60 km +

Eastry grades C 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, Eastry loses more workers than it gains

1,040 residents were in work at the 2021 Census; 743 people worked in Eastry.

Live in Eastry1,040 in work
52950461
Work in Eastry743 people
24350450
Commute in · 243Commute out · 529Live and work here · 50At home or no fixed place · 450

For every person who comes in to work, about 2 residents travel out. 9% 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

Eastry’s commuters work from Canterbury to Ramsgate

Deal: 62 commute inDover: 27 commute inMargate: 16 commute inFolkestone: 12 commute inCanterbury: 11 commute inSandwich: 11 commute inAylesham: 9 commute inRamsgate: 9 commute inBroadstairs: 6 commute inDealDoverMargateFolkestoneCanterburySandwichAyleshamRamsgateBroadstairsCanterbury: 66 residents work thereDover: 58 residents work thereDeal: 37 residents work thereSandwich: 29 residents work thereFolkestone: 28 residents work thereWhitfield: 27 residents work thereRamsgate: 23 residents work thereMargate: 21 residents work thereAshford: 18 residents work thereCanterburyDoverDealSandwichFolkestoneWhitfieldRamsgateMargateAshfordEastry5 miles
Grey dots: where people live (Census 2021). Places drawn centre to centre; flows under 5 people are listed, not drawn.
Where Eastry’s workers live
  1. Deal62
  2. Dover27
  3. Countryside24
  4. Margate16
  5. Folkestone12
  6. Canterbury11
  7. Sandwich11
  8. Aylesham9
  9. Ramsgate9
  10. Broadstairs6
Where residents work, outside Eastry
  1. Countryside105
  2. Canterbury66
  3. Dover58
  4. Deal37
  5. Sandwich29
  6. Folkestone28
  7. Whitfield27
  8. Ramsgate23
  9. Margate21
  10. Ashford18

91% of residents who travel to a workplace work outside Eastry; Canterbury takes the most (66). Coming the other way, Deal sends the most (62).

The ten places that send the most workers into Eastry, 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

396 jobs, one in five in professional, scientific and technical

The six biggest kinds of work
120Scientific research14% of jobs · England 1%27.1× England’s share
90Recruitment and staffing11% of jobs · England 3%3.4× England’s share
90Food manufacturing10% of jobs · England 1%9.2× England’s share
60Restaurants, cafés and pubs7% of jobs · England 6%
40Education5% of jobs · England 9%
30Care homes4% of jobs · England 2%1.6× England’s share
Share of jobs by industry England’s towns
Professional, scientific and technical20%
Manufacturing16%
Business administration and support15%
Health and social care7%
Hotels, pubs and restaurants7%
Construction6%
Education5%
Mining, energy and water4%
Arts, leisure and other services4%
Motor trades3%

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 (743). 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 Eastry (employees and working owners, ONS Business Register and Employment Survey 2024).

Household income

The mean household in Eastry has £55,794 before tax

Higher than 60% of UK towns of 2,500+; the typical town is £52,385. The whole council area of Dover averages £52,389.

Eastry £56KTypical UK town £52K
£45K£50K£55K£60K£65K

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 Dover council area are below England and Wales’ rate

0%2%4%6%8%201520172019202120232025First lockdownCensus dayEngland & Wales 4%Dover 3.3%South East 3.1%
Dover (council area)South EastEngland and Wales

Dover’s rate was about 3.6% in 2019, peaked at 7.1% in May 2020 and has averaged 3.5% 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
2.7%
of 16 to 64s in the built-up area, January to August 2026
38 people in August 2026 · typical UK town 2.7%
Employment deprivation
15%
of 18 to 66s out of work through unemployment, sickness, disability or caring
IoD 2025
Income deprivation
23%
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 Dover, which Nomis publishes monthly; the figures above the line are for Eastry’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

A retired town: 31% of adults in Eastry

Eastry
49%31%
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 officials15%+2.4
Professional occupations16%−4.6
Associate professional and technical occupations14%+1
Administrative and secretarial occupations9%−0.5
Skilled trades occupations13%+3.5
Caring, leisure and other service occupations12%+2.6
Sales and customer service occupations6%−1.7
Process, plant and machine operatives7%+0
Elementary occupations8%−2.7

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

Ranked on jobs and income, Eastry is 427th among 542 UK towns of 2,000 to 3,000

#TownPeopleJobs per workerWork in own townClaimantsIncomeGrade
1Pannal North Yorkshire2,5300.84%0.6%£71KA+
2Limpsfield Surrey2,2470.98%1.1%£84KA+
3Woodford Greater Manchester2,2410.61%1.6%£72KA+
…
69Ebbsfleet Valley Kent2,98901%4.5%£75KA
…
80Ightham Kent2,0370.72%1.6%£70KA
…
84Wateringbury Kent2,2480.63%2.2%£83KA
…
425Loddon Norfolk2,2470.69%3.5%£57KC−
426Caistor Lincolnshire2,2840.820%2.3%£50KC−
427Eastry Kent2,3880.49%2.7%£56KC−
428Middlestown and Overton West Yorkshire2,4090.42%4%£50KC−
429Hambleton Lancashire2,4280.47%2.3%£34KC−
…
542Maerdy Mid Glamorgan2,8430.411%5.7%£38KD−

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 Eastry, and others in Kent.

Neighbours

Work in the places around Eastry

TownPeopleJobsWork in own townClaimantsGrade
Eastry2,3883969%2.7%C−
Sandwich4,2582,46916%3.5%C
Ash (Dover)2,5293998%2.3%C+
Eythorne1,4874373%2.6%C
Wingham1,3133769%2.2%B−
Deal28,9924,99729%2.8%C
Aylesham5,7881,5848%3.2%C
Sibertswold1,6193765%2.2%B−

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

Questions about work in Eastry

Where do people in Eastry work?

At the 2021 Census, 9% of Eastry’s residents who travelled to work worked in the village itself; the most common other places were Canterbury (66), Dover (58) and Deal (37). 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 Eastry?

243 people who lived elsewhere worked in Eastry at the 2021 Census, 33% of its 743 workers. The most came from Deal (62), Dover (27) and Margate (16). 529 residents travelled out the other way.

How many jobs are there in Eastry?

About 400 jobs (employees and working owners) were based in Eastry 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. The biggest kinds of work are scientific research (about 120), recruitment and staffing (about 90) and food manufacturing (about 90).

Is Eastry a good place to find work?

Eastry earns a C− for jobs and income, better than 25% of UK towns on household income, the claimant rate, employment deprivation and access to jobs together. Mean household income £55,794; 2.7% of 16 to 64s claim unemployment benefits.

How do people in Eastry get to work?

87% of commuters go by car or van, 7% walk, 1% cycle and 2% take the bus or train; 23% travel under 5 km. Census 2021, taken during lockdown.

What is the average household income in Eastry?

Mean household income before tax was £55,794 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.