Photo: Oast House Archive · CC BY-SA 2.0Households in Whitfield have higher incomes than those in 64% of UK towns
UK towns are the yardstick, and by them Whitfield earns C+ on jobs and income, #46 of 87 in Kent. The working day brings 2,276 people in, filling the town. 44% of residents who travel to work go less than 3 miles.
What stands out about work in Whitfield
A local job centre
4,222 jobs are based in Whitfield for 2,958 working residents; the typical UK town has 0.7 jobs per resident in work. Shops, road and rail transport and education make up 35% of them. Jobs based here ↓
The town fills up on a working day
2,276 people come in to work and 1,443 residents go out, so Whitfield gains about 833 workers a day. Dover sends the most (951). The daily tide ↓
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 Whitfield earn C+
Better than 43% of UK towns across four measures: #46 of 87 in Kent.
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.
4,222 jobs, one in six in transport and storage
1.4 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 (3,726). 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 Whitfield (employees and working owners, ONS Business Register and Employment Survey 2024).
Every working day, Whitfield’s workforce grows by 26%
2,958 residents were in work at the 2021 Census; 3,726 people worked in Whitfield.
For every resident who leaves Whitfield for work, about 2 people come in. 17% 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.
Whitfield’s workers come from Dover to Deal
- Dover951
- Deal282
- Countryside141
- Folkestone132
- Margate59
- Canterbury56
- Ramsgate48
- Aylesham45
- Ashford40
- St Margaret's at Cliffe38
- Dover469
- Countryside196
- Canterbury151
- Folkestone126
- Ashford69
- Deal66
- Sandwich26
- Margate25
- Ramsgate17
- Broadstairs17
Dover, 2 miles away, sends 951 people, more than any other town; in all, 61% of the people who work in Whitfield live outside it. Going the other way, Dover is the biggest single destination (469).
The ten places that send the most workers into Whitfield, and the ten where its residents most often work (Census 2021, by home and workplace). Line width is the number of people.
Households in Whitfield average £58,483 a year
Higher than 67% of UK towns of 2,500+; the typical town is £52,385. The whole council area of Dover averages £52,389.
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).
13% of people travelling to work from Whitfield walk, cycle or take the bus or train
Median journey 7.6 km; typical UK town 8.4 km.
Whitfield 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).
Jobless claims in the Dover council area are below England and Wales’ rate
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.
The chart is the whole council area of Dover, which Nomis publishes monthly; the figures above the line are for Whitfield’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).
In Whitfield, 29% of adults are retired
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.
For jobs and income, Whitfield is 252nd of 467 UK towns of 5,000 to 9,000
| # | Town | People | Jobs per worker | Work in own town | Claimants | Income | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Moor Park Hertfordshire | 5,850 | 2.2 | 17% | 1.1% | £86K | A+ |
| 2 | Twyford Berkshire | 8,072 | 0.9 | 11% | 1.5% | £82K | A+ |
| 3 | Bowdon Greater Manchester | 6,107 | 0.9 | 6% | 1% | £65K | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 17 | Bearsted Kent | 8,349 | 0.4 | 8% | 1.3% | £69K | A+ |
| 18 | Otford and Kemsing Kent | 7,332 | 0.8 | 9% | 1.4% | £74K | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 85 | Pembury Kent | 5,783 | 1.6 | 22% | 1.8% | £65K | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 250 | Chapel-en-le-Frith Derbyshire | 7,235 | 0.7 | 26% | 2.2% | £49K | C+ |
| 251 | Brinsworth South Yorkshire | 8,764 | 0.2 | 5% | 2.5% | £46K | C+ |
| 252 | Whitfield Kent | 6,509 | 1.4 | 17% | 2.7% | £58K | C+ |
| 253 | Hebden Bridge West Yorkshire | 5,230 | 0.8 | 22% | 2.6% | £54K | C+ |
| 254 | North Anston South Yorkshire | 6,599 | 0.5 | 7% | 2% | £49K | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 467 | Withernsea East Riding of Yorkshire | 5,766 | 0.7 | 35% | 5.4% | £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 Whitfield, and others in Kent.
How Whitfield compares with the places nearby
| Town | People | Jobs | Work in own town | Claimants | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Whitfield | 6,509 | 4,222 | 17% | 2.7% | C+ |
| Guston | 1,684 | 355 | 10% | 2.3% | C+ |
| Dover | 36,349 | 12,983 | 38% | 5.2% | C− |
| Eythorne | 1,487 | 437 | 3% | 2.6% | C |
| Sibertswold | 1,619 | 376 | 5% | 2.2% | B− |
| St Margaret's at Cliffe | 2,399 | 500 | 9% | 1.9% | B− |
| Kingsdown | 1,687 | 305 | 5% | 1.7% | B− |
| Capel-le-Ferne | 1,962 | 262 | 5% | 2.3% | B− |
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. Whitfield 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 Whitfield’s built-up area, from small areas.
Questions about work in Whitfield
Where do people in Whitfield work?
At the 2021 Census, 17% of Whitfield’s residents who travelled to work worked in the town itself; the most common other places were Dover (469), Canterbury (151) and Folkestone (126). 39% 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 Whitfield?
2,276 people who lived elsewhere worked in Whitfield at the 2021 Census, 61% of its 3,726 workers. The most came from Dover (951), Deal (282) and Folkestone (132). 1,443 residents travelled out the other way.
How many jobs are there in Whitfield?
About 4,220 jobs (employees and working owners) were based in Whitfield in 2024, on ONS’s Business Register and Employment Survey: 1.4 for every resident in work, against 0.7 in the typical UK town. The biggest kinds of work are shops (about 460), road and rail transport (about 410) and education (about 330).
Is Whitfield a good place to find work?
Whitfield earns a C+ for jobs and income, better than 43% of UK towns on household income, the claimant rate, employment deprivation and access to jobs together. Mean household income £58,483; 2.7% of 16 to 64s claim unemployment benefits.
How do people in Whitfield get to work?
84% of commuters go by car or van, 8% walk, 1% cycle and 4% take the bus or train; 44% travel under 5 km. Census 2021, taken during lockdown.
What is the average household income in Whitfield?
Mean household income before tax was £58,483 in the year to March 2023 (ONS), against £52,385 in the typical UK town.
How does Whitfield compare with Maidstone for jobs?
Whitfield has 1.4 jobs per working resident against Maidstone’s 1.1, a 2.7% claimant rate against 4.1%, and mean household income of £58,483 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.