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Church of St Mark (or Holy Cross)Photo: Sandy Gerrard · CC BY-SA 2.0
–Not graded
Work & commute in Mark · ONS, DWP · claims to August 2026

Most of Mark works elsewhere: the town has 0.5 jobs for each resident in work

Out go 155 residents each working day; in come 83 people. 18% of residents who travel to work go less than 3 miles. Mark isn’t graded for jobs and income.

What stands out · In brief

The work numbers behind Mark

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.

Getting to work

Mark commutes on foot, by bike or bus for 8% of trips

Median journey 12.3 km; typical UK town 8.4 km.

Drive85%Somerset 71% · England 64%
Passenger4%Somerset 5% · England 6%
Walk7%Somerset 14% · England 11%
Cycle0.5%Somerset 3% · England 3%
Bus0%Somerset 3% · England 6%
Train0%Somerset 1% · England 3%
Other2%Somerset 2% · England 6%
MarkSomerset’s townsEngland’s towns
How far they travel England’s towns
10%
Under 2 km
8%
2–5 km
23%
5–10 km
39%
10–20 km
7%
20–30 km
6%
30–40 km
2%
40–60 km
5%
60 km +

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).

Benefits over time

Jobless claims in the Somerset council area are below England and Wales’ rate

0%2%4%6%201520172019202120232025First lockdownCensus dayEngland & Wales 4%South West 2.7%Somerset 2.6%
Somerset (council area)South WestEngland and Wales

Somerset’s rate was about 2.2% in 2019, peaked at 5.1% in August 2020 and has averaged 2.6% 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
1.1%
of 16 to 64s in the built-up area, January to August 2026
2 people in August 2026 · typical UK town 2.7%
Employment deprivation
5.2%
of 18 to 66s out of work through unemployment, sickness, disability or caring
IoD 2025
Income deprivation
9%
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 Somerset, which Nomis publishes monthly; the figures above the line are for Mark’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

The daily tide in Mark runs outward

315 residents were in work at the 2021 Census; 242 people worked in Mark.

Live in Mark315 in work
1555155
Work in Mark242 people
835154
Commute in · 83Commute out · 155Live and work here · 5At home or no fixed place · 154

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

On the map

Mark’s commuters work from Bridgwater to Bristol

Weston-super-Mare: 12 commute inBridgwater: 9 commute inBurnham-on-Sea: 7 commute inWeston-super-MareBridgwaterBurnham-on-SeaBridgwater: 20 residents work thereBurnham-on-Sea: 14 residents work thereHighbridge: 11 residents work thereWeston-super-Mare: 8 residents work thereTaunton: 6 residents work thereBristol: 6 residents work thereBerrow and Brean: 5 residents work thereBridgwaterBurnham-on-SeaWeston-super-MareTauntonBristolBerrow and BreanMark5 miles
Grey dots: where people live (Census 2021). Places drawn centre to centre; flows under 5 people are listed, not drawn.

97% of residents who travel to a workplace work outside Mark; Bridgwater takes the most (20). Coming the other way, Weston-super-Mare sends the most (12).

The ten places that send the most workers into Mark, 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

167 jobs, one in eight in hotels, pubs and restaurants

Share of jobs by industry England’s towns
Hotels, pubs and restaurants13%
Professional, scientific and technical13%
Education12%
Transport and storage11%
Manufacturing10%
Business administration and support10%
Construction7%
Retail6%
Wholesale4%
Information and communication4%

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 (242). 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 Mark (employees and working owners, ONS Business Register and Employment Survey 2024).

Household income

What households earn in Mark: £65,879 a year on average

Higher than 82% of UK towns of 2,500+; the typical town is £52,385. The whole council area of Sedgemoor averages £49,552.

Mark £66KTypical UK town £52K
£50K£55K£60K£65K£70K

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).

What residents do

35% of Mark’s adults have retired

Mark
52%35%
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 officials19%+6.7
Professional occupations19%−1.2
Associate professional and technical occupations9%−3.9
Administrative and secretarial occupations12%+3
Skilled trades occupations14%+3.6
Caring, leisure and other service occupations10%+0.4
Sales and customer service occupations4%−3.8
Process, plant and machine operatives7%−0.1
Elementary occupations6%−4.7

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.

Neighbours

Jobs near Mark: the places around it

TownPeopleJobsWork in own townClaimantsGrade
Mark6651673%1.1%—
Wedmore1,4245037%2.7%B
Highbridge5,3664,05321%4.7%D
Burnham-on-Sea16,3173,79626%3%C−
Woolavington2,3242505%4.5%D−
Axbridge1,99845011%1.6%B−
Puriton2,2659004%1.9%B−
Cheddar5,8412,57324%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. Mark 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 Somerset as a whole; the claimant rate elsewhere on this page is Mark’s built-up area, from small areas.

Questions about work in Mark

Where do people in Mark work?

At the 2021 Census, 3% of Mark’s residents who travelled to work worked in the village itself; the most common other places were Bridgwater (20), Burnham-on-Sea (14) and Highbridge (11). 49% 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 Mark?

83 people who lived elsewhere worked in Mark at the 2021 Census, 34% of its 242 workers. The most came from Weston-super-Mare (12), Bridgwater (9) and Burnham-on-Sea (7). 155 residents travelled out the other way.

How many jobs are there in Mark?

About 170 jobs (employees and working owners) were based in Mark in 2024, on ONS’s Business Register and Employment Survey: 0.5 for every resident in work, against 0.7 in the typical UK town.

How do people in Mark get to work?

90% of commuters go by car or van, 7% walk, 0% cycle and 0% take the bus or train; 18% travel under 5 km. Census 2021, taken during lockdown.

What is the average household income in Mark?

Mean household income before tax was £65,879 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.