Photo: A P Monblat · CC BY-SA 3.0Household incomes in Sutton are among the highest of any UK town
Each working day 32,172 residents head out to work, and 22,754 people travel in. Measured against other UK towns, jobs and pay in Sutton rate A−, #6 of 33 in London. Jobless benefit claims cover 3.5% of working-age residents; the typical UK town’s rate is 2.7%.
Work in Sutton, in a few figures
Fewer jobs than working residents
74,426 jobs are based in Sutton for 103,644 working residents; the typical UK town has 0.7 jobs per resident in work. Hospitals and health care, education and shops make up 34% 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.
Sutton grades A− for jobs and income
Its four measures together rank it better than 76% of UK towns: #6 of 33 in London.
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 Sutton council area are below England and Wales’ rate
Sutton’s rate was about 2.4% in 2019, peaked at 5.7% in September 2020 and has averaged 3.4% 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 Sutton, which Nomis publishes monthly; the figures above the line are for Sutton’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).
On a working day, Sutton loses more workers than it gains
103,644 residents were in work at the 2021 Census; 93,985 people worked in Sutton.
35% of residents who travel to a workplace stay in the borough; 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 borough or from home.
Sutton’s commuters work from Merton to Westminster
- Croydon5,992
- Merton3,495
- Kingston upon Thames1,019
- Wandsworth877
- Lambeth772
- Tadworth and Epsom Downs674
- Ewell580
- Bromley561
- Countryside525
- Epsom524
- Merton4,915
- Croydon4,287
- Wandsworth3,273
- Kingston upon Thames2,161
- Epsom1,661
- Westminster1,636
- Lambeth1,438
- Countryside859
- Southwark751
- Kensington and Chelsea690
65% of residents who travel to a workplace work outside Sutton; Merton takes the most (4,915). Coming the other way, Croydon sends the most (5,992).
The ten places that send the most workers into Sutton, and the ten where its residents most often work (Census 2021, by home and workplace). Line width is the number of people.
74,426 jobs, 21% in health and social care
0.7 for every working resident, the same as the typical UK town.
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 (93,985). 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 Sutton (employees and working owners, ONS Business Register and Employment Survey 2024).
Household income in Sutton averages £81,902
Higher than 99% of UK towns of 2,500+; the typical town is £52,385. The whole council area of Sutton averages £82,095.
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).
In Sutton, household incomes run from £63K to £108K from one neighbourhood to the next
Mean household income before tax in each of the 24 neighbourhoods (MSOAs) mostly inside the borough: the highest is 1.7 times the lowest.
Each dot is a neighbourhood (MSOA, about 8,000 people) mostly inside Sutton; 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.
For 32% of Sutton’s commuters, the trip is on foot, by bike, bus or train
Median journey 5.7 km; typical UK town 8.4 km.
47% of journeys to work are under 5 km (3 miles), against 45% across England’s towns, and 3% are 30 km or more. Sutton 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).
How Sutton spends its days: 63% of adults in work
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.
Sutton next to UK towns of 146,000 to 282,000: 5th of 44 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Jobs per worker | Work in own town | Claimants | Income | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cambridge Cambridgeshire | 152,742 | 1.6 | 70% | 2.1% | £71K | A |
| 2 | Richmond upon Thames London | 192,888 | 0.9 | 35% | 2.5% | £102K | A |
| 3 | Oxford Oxfordshire | 170,799 | 1.7 | 76% | 2.6% | £65K | A |
| 4 | Kingston upon Thames London | 166,333 | 0.9 | 39% | 3.3% | £91K | A− |
| 5 | Sutton London | 208,858 | 0.7 | 35% | 3.5% | £82K | A− |
| 6 | Bexley London | 246,074 | 0.6 | 33% | 3.5% | £76K | B+ |
| 7 | Merton London | 214,931 | 0.7 | 24% | 4.6% | £84K | B+ |
| 8 | Harrow London | 260,534 | 0.6 | 25% | 4.9% | £78K | B+ |
| 9 | Havering London | 259,401 | 0.7 | 37% | 4.7% | £75K | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 44 | Blackpool Lancashire | 149,087 | 1.1 | 68% | 5.8% | £36K | 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 Sutton, and others in London.
How Sutton compares with the places nearby
| Town | People | Jobs | Work in own town | Claimants | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sutton | 208,858 | 74,426 | 35% | 3.5% | A− |
| Worcester Park and Stoneleigh | 15,851 | 2,929 | 5% | 2.1% | A+ |
| Merton | 214,931 | 79,754 | 24% | 4.6% | B+ |
| Banstead | 8,929 | 3,565 | 10% | 2.1% | A |
| Ewell | 27,509 | 5,725 | 8% | 2% | A+ |
| Chipstead and Woodmansterne | 4,523 | 733 | 3% | 1.6% | A+ |
| Croydon | 389,242 | 123,209 | 37% | 6.5% | B |
| Epsom | 35,857 | 23,189 | 31% | 2.4% | A |
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. Sutton 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 Sutton as a whole; the claimant rate elsewhere on this page is Sutton’s built-up area, from small areas.
Questions about work in Sutton
Where do people in Sutton work?
At the 2021 Census, 35% of Sutton’s residents who travelled to work worked in the borough itself; the most common other places were Merton (4,915), Croydon (4,287) and Wandsworth (3,273). 52% 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 Sutton?
22,754 people who lived elsewhere worked in Sutton at the 2021 Census, 24% of its 93,985 workers. The most came from Croydon (5,992), Merton (3,495) and Kingston upon Thames (1,019). 32,172 residents travelled out the other way.
How many jobs are there in Sutton?
About 74,450 jobs (employees and working owners) were based in Sutton in 2024, on ONS’s Business Register and Employment Survey: 0.7 for every resident in work, against 0.7 in the typical UK town. The biggest kinds of work are hospitals and health care (about 11,000), education (about 7,610) and shops (about 6,270).
Is Sutton a good place to find work?
Sutton earns an A− for jobs and income, better than 76% of UK towns on household income, the claimant rate, employment deprivation and access to jobs together. Mean household income £81,902; 3.5% of 16 to 64s claim unemployment benefits.
How do people in Sutton get to work?
58% of commuters go by car or van, 10% walk, 2% cycle and 20% take the bus or train; 47% travel under 5 km. Census 2021, taken during lockdown.
What is the average household income in Sutton?
Mean household income before tax was £81,902 in the year to March 2023 (ONS), against £52,385 in the typical UK town. By neighbourhood it runs from £63,180 in Roundshaw to £107,618 in Carshalton Beeches & Banstead Road.
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.