Church of St Andrew · Photo: Rept0n1x · CC BY-SA 3.0Fewer of Bebington’s residents are on jobless benefits than in 63% of UK towns
On a working day 12,209 residents travel out to work; 9,426 people arrive. Jobless benefit claims cover 2.1% of working-age residents (the typical UK town: 2.7%). Measured against other UK towns, jobs and pay in Bebington rate B, #9 of 25 in Merseyside.
Work in Bebington, in a few figures
Longer journeys to work
Against 45% across England’s towns. 7% of commuters walk to work (11% across England’s towns). Getting to work ↓
Fewer 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.
Bebington grades B for jobs and income
Taken together, its four measures make it better than 59% of UK towns: #9 of 25 in Merseyside.
Its strongest measure is getting to jobs without a car; 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.
Bebington commutes on foot, by bike or bus for 17% of trips
Median journey 7.1 km; typical UK town 8.4 km.
36% of journeys to work are under 5 km (3 miles), against 45% across England’s towns, and 5% are 30 km or more. Bebington 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).
Jobless claims in the Wirral council area are below England and Wales’ rate
Wirral’s rate was about 3.6% in 2019, peaked at 6.9% 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 Wirral, which Nomis publishes monthly; the figures above the line are for Bebington’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).
The daily tide in Bebington runs outward
26,561 residents were in work at the 2021 Census; 23,657 people worked in Bebington.
24% 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.
Bebington’s commuters work from Birkenhead to Ellesmere Port
- Birkenhead3,280
- Wallasey1,404
- Ellesmere Port777
- Liverpool686
- Heswall506
- Chester265
- Countryside240
- Neston228
- Greasby164
- West Kirby124
- Birkenhead3,150
- Liverpool2,124
- Countryside1,124
- Ellesmere Port1,117
- Wallasey927
- Chester596
- Heswall321
- Neston245
- Broughton208
- Garden City198
76% of residents who travel to a workplace work outside Bebington; Birkenhead takes the most (3,150). Coming the other way, Birkenhead sends the most (3,280).
The ten places that send the most workers into Bebington, and the ten where its residents most often work (Census 2021, by home and workplace). Line width is the number of people.
21,128 jobs, one in six in manufacturing
0.8 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 (23,657). 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 Bebington (employees and working owners, ONS Business Register and Employment Survey 2024).
Mean household income: £50,215 a year
Higher than 42% of UK towns of 2,500+; the typical town is £52,385. The whole council area of Wirral averages £45,739.
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).
Household incomes across Bebington: £40K to £58K
Mean household income before tax in each of the 8 neighbourhoods (MSOAs) mostly inside the town: the highest is 1.5 times the lowest.
Each dot is a neighbourhood (MSOA, about 8,000 people) mostly inside Bebington; 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.
Bebington at work: 56% of adults have a job
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.
Bebington next to UK towns of 40,000 to 78,000: 30th of 126 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Jobs per worker | Work in own town | Claimants | Income | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Wokingham Berkshire | 50,320 | 0.9 | 29% | 2.1% | £83K | A+ |
| 2 | West Molesey Surrey | 47,144 | 0.6 | 18% | 2.1% | £87K | A+ |
| 3 | Haywards Heath West Sussex | 40,186 | 0.7 | 36% | 1.9% | £74K | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 28 | Andover Hampshire | 48,484 | 0.9 | 46% | 2.4% | £60K | B |
| 29 | Eastleigh Hampshire | 48,355 | 1.1 | 25% | 3% | £59K | B |
| 30 | Bebington Merseyside | 57,607 | 0.8 | 24% | 2.1% | £50K | B |
| 31 | Hatfield Hertfordshire | 41,561 | 1.8 | 38% | 3.8% | £58K | B |
| 32 | Loughborough Leicestershire | 64,850 | 1.2 | 49% | 2.8% | £53K | B |
| … | |||||||
| 63 | Crosby Merseyside | 50,218 | 0.6 | 22% | 3.5% | £48K | C |
| … | |||||||
| 107 | Huyton with Roby Merseyside | 59,844 | 0.7 | 16% | 4.6% | £40K | C− |
| … | |||||||
| 118 | Kirkby Merseyside | 45,559 | 1.1 | 24% | 4.8% | £38K | D |
| … | |||||||
| 126 | Clacton-on-Sea Essex | 53,190 | 0.8 | 52% | 5.6% | £40K | 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 Bebington, and others in Merseyside.
Jobs and income in the places around Bebington
| Town | People | Jobs | Work in own town | Claimants | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bebington | 57,607 | 21,128 | 24% | 2.1% | B |
| Willaston (Cheshire West and Chester) | 2,472 | 270 | 4% | 0.9% | A |
| Birkenhead | 109,854 | 44,273 | 39% | 4.9% | C− |
| Heswall | 29,082 | 5,745 | 13% | 1.7% | A− |
| Neston | 14,963 | 4,127 | 19% | 2% | B− |
| Ellesmere Port | 65,425 | 29,233 | 37% | 3.3% | C |
| Greasby | 9,175 | 864 | 5% | 1.5% | A |
| Liverpool | 506,564 | 298,771 | 70% | 5.7% | 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. Bebington 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 Wirral as a whole; the claimant rate elsewhere on this page is Bebington’s built-up area, from small areas.
Questions about work in Bebington
Where do people in Bebington work?
At the 2021 Census, 24% of Bebington’s residents who travelled to work worked in the town itself; the most common other places were Birkenhead (3,150), Liverpool (2,124) and Ellesmere Port (1,117). 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 Bebington?
9,426 people who lived elsewhere worked in Bebington at the 2021 Census, 40% of its 23,657 workers. The most came from Birkenhead (3,280), Wallasey (1,404) and Ellesmere Port (777). 12,209 residents travelled out the other way.
How many jobs are there in Bebington?
About 21,150 jobs (employees and working owners) were based in Bebington in 2024, on ONS’s Business Register and Employment Survey: 0.8 for every resident in work, against 0.7 in the typical UK town. The biggest kinds of work are shops (about 2,180), hospitals and health care (about 2,000) and education (about 1,660).
Is Bebington a good place to find work?
Bebington earns a B for jobs and income, better than 59% of UK towns on household income, the claimant rate, employment deprivation and access to jobs together. Mean household income £50,215; 2.1% of 16 to 64s claim unemployment benefits.
How do people in Bebington get to work?
80% of commuters go by car or van, 7% walk, 2% cycle and 8% take the bus or train; 36% travel under 5 km. Census 2021, taken during lockdown.
What is the average household income in Bebington?
Mean household income before tax was £50,215 in the year to March 2023 (ONS), against £52,385 in the typical UK town. By neighbourhood it runs from £39,883 in Bebington New Ferry to £58,097 in Higher Bebington.
How does Bebington compare with Liverpool for jobs?
Bebington has 0.8 jobs per working resident against Liverpool’s 1.4, a 2.1% claimant rate against 5.7%, and mean household income of £50,215 against £42,405.
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.