Photo: Chris Whippet · CC BY-SA 2.0Seal has higher household incomes than 92% of UK towns
Jobless benefit claims cover 2.8% of working-age residents; the typical UK town’s rate is 2.7%. Measured against other UK towns, jobs and pay in Seal rate B. Under 3 miles is the trip to work for 41% of commuters.
Where Seal stands out on work
Fewer jobs than working residents
400 jobs are based in Seal for 702 working residents; the typical UK town has 0.7 jobs per resident in work. Shops, education and care homes make up 35% of them. Jobs based here ↓
As many come in to work as leave
266 people come in to work and 280 residents go out, so Seal loses about 14 workers a day. Sevenoaks sends the most (38). The daily tide ↓
Written from the data on this page: ONS Census 2021 and BRES, DWP claimant counts via Nomis, and ONS household income.
Seal grades B for jobs and income
Better than 55% of UK towns across four measures.
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.
As many come into Seal to work as leave
702 residents were in work at the 2021 Census; 686 people worked in Seal.
3% 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.
Most of Seal’s commuters who leave work in Sevenoaks and the places around
- Sevenoaks38
- Otford and Kemsing21
- Countryside21
- Royal Tunbridge Wells17
- Tonbridge17
- Maidstone12
- Bromley12
- Larkfield10
- Swanley9
- Borough Green8
- Sevenoaks89
- Countryside29
- Bromley16
- Westminster13
- Tonbridge12
- Otford and Kemsing11
- City of London9
- Royal Tunbridge Wells6
- Maidstone6
- Dartford6
97% of residents who travel to a workplace work outside Seal; Sevenoaks takes the most (89). Coming the other way, Sevenoaks sends the most (38).
The ten places that send the most workers into Seal, and the ten where its residents most often work (Census 2021, by home and workplace). Line width is the number of people.
400 jobs, one in six in health and social care
0.6 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 (686). 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 Seal (employees and working owners, ONS Business Register and Employment Survey 2024).
Households in Seal average £71,894 a year
Higher than 91% of UK towns of 2,500+; the typical town is £52,385. The whole council area of Sevenoaks averages £68,988.
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).
21% of people travelling to work from Seal walk, cycle or take the bus or train
Median journey 10.8 km; typical UK town 8.4 km.
Seal 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).
Jobless claims in the Sevenoaks council area have run below England and Wales every month since 2015
Sevenoaks’ rate was about 1.1% in 2019, peaked at 4.3% in May 2020 and has averaged 2.3% 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 Sevenoaks, which Nomis publishes monthly; the figures above the line are for Seal’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).
55% of people 16 and over in Seal are in work
Compared with England’s towns, 28% 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 1,000 to 2,000, Seal ranks 604th of 1,215 for jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Jobs per worker | Work in own town | Claimants | Income | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hurst Berkshire | 1,009 | 0.8 | 2% | 1.1% | £83K | A+ |
| 2 | Otterbourne Hampshire | 1,252 | 2.5 | 7% | 1.1% | £74K | A+ |
| 3 | Lower Shiplake Oxfordshire | 1,086 | 0.6 | 1% | 0.8% | £84K | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 47 | Rough Common Kent | 1,291 | 1.2 | 1% | 1.6% | £67K | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 52 | Eynsford Kent | 1,676 | 0.4 | 7% | 1.2% | £64K | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 65 | Blean Kent | 1,327 | 1 | 0% | 1.5% | £67K | A |
| … | |||||||
| 602 | Elswick Lancashire | 1,047 | 0.3 | 3% | 1.6% | £51K | B |
| 603 | Eccles Kent | 1,706 | 0.2 | 2% | 2.4% | £64K | B |
| 604 | Seal Kent | 1,616 | 0.6 | 3% | 2.8% | £72K | B |
| 605 | Cropwell Bishop Nottinghamshire | 1,903 | 0.5 | 10% | 2.3% | £61K | B |
| 606 | Tideswell Derbyshire | 1,554 | 0.8 | 16% | 1.6% | £57K | B |
| … | |||||||
| 1215 | Croeserw West Glamorgan | 1,294 | 0.3 | 9% | 4.9% | £39K | 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 Seal, and others in Kent.
How Seal compares with the places nearby
| Town | People | Jobs | Work in own town | Claimants | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Seal | 1,616 | 400 | 3% | 2.8% | B |
| Otford and Kemsing | 7,332 | 2,741 | 9% | 1.4% | A+ |
| Sevenoaks | 26,474 | 14,995 | 34% | 1.6% | A+ |
| Dunton Green | 3,241 | 443 | 2% | 2.4% | A |
| Ightham | 2,037 | 600 | 2% | 1.6% | A |
| Borough Green | 4,712 | 1,684 | 10% | 2.4% | A− |
| Wrotham | 1,961 | 1,000 | 5% | 2.4% | B− |
| West Kingsdown | 4,306 | 1,221 | 8% | 2.3% | 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. Seal 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 Sevenoaks as a whole; the claimant rate elsewhere on this page is Seal’s built-up area, from small areas.
Questions about work in Seal
Where do people in Seal work?
At the 2021 Census, 3% of Seal’s residents who travelled to work worked in the village itself; the most common other places were Sevenoaks (89), Bromley (16) and Westminster (13). 58% 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 Seal?
266 people who lived elsewhere worked in Seal at the 2021 Census, 39% of its 686 workers. The most came from Sevenoaks (38), Otford and Kemsing (21) and Royal Tunbridge Wells (17). 280 residents travelled out the other way.
How many jobs are there in Seal?
About 400 jobs (employees and working owners) were based in Seal in 2024, on ONS’s Business Register and Employment Survey: 0.6 for every resident in work, against 0.7 in the typical UK town. The biggest kinds of work are shops (about 80), education (about 70) and care homes (about 50).
Is Seal a good place to find work?
Seal earns a B for jobs and income, better than 55% of UK towns on household income, the claimant rate, employment deprivation and access to jobs together. Mean household income £71,894; 2.8% of 16 to 64s claim unemployment benefits.
How do people in Seal get to work?
76% of commuters go by car or van, 8% walk, 2% cycle and 11% take the bus or train; 41% travel under 5 km. Census 2021, taken during lockdown.
What is the average household income in Seal?
Mean household income before tax was £71,894 in the year to March 2023 (ONS), against £52,385 in the typical UK town.
How does Seal compare with Maidstone for jobs?
Seal has 0.6 jobs per working resident against Maidstone’s 1.1, a 2.8% claimant rate against 4.1%, and mean household income of £71,894 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.