Photo: Jonathan Thacker · CC BY-SA 2.0Jobless benefit claims are higher in Shepton Mallet than in 70% of UK towns
3% of people of working age are on jobless benefits; the typical UK town’s rate is 2.7%. Shepton Mallet grades C for jobs and income against UK towns, #38 of 49 in Somerset. The working day takes 2,220 residents elsewhere and brings 1,906 people in.
Jobs and income in Shepton Mallet: what the figures say
More jobs than the typical town
4,607 jobs are based in Shepton Mallet for 5,066 working residents; the typical UK town has 0.7 jobs per resident in work. Shops, hospitals and health care and public administration and defence make up 34% of them. Jobs based here ↓
More people leave for work than arrive
1,906 people come in to work and 2,220 residents go out, so Shepton Mallet loses about 314 workers a day. Wells sends the most (147). The daily tide ↓
Written from the data on this page: ONS Census 2021 and BRES, DWP claimant counts via Nomis, and ONS household income.
Shepton Mallet grades C for jobs and income
Taken together, its four measures make it better than 25% of UK towns: #38 of 49 in Somerset.
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.
4,607 jobs, 18% in retail
0.9 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 (4,748). 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 Shepton Mallet (employees and working owners, ONS Business Register and Employment Survey 2024).
Shepton Mallet empties a little on a working day
5,066 residents were in work at the 2021 Census; 4,748 people worked in Shepton Mallet.
31% 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.
Shepton Mallet’s commuters work from Wells to Bath
- Countryside387
- Wells147
- Frome139
- Street92
- Evercreech72
- Glastonbury72
- Yeovil58
- Midsomer Norton53
- Castle Cary44
- Radstock33
- Countryside755
- Wells246
- Frome125
- Glastonbury86
- Street82
- Bath63
- Evercreech52
- Bristol48
- Yeovil47
- Midsomer Norton43
69% of residents who travel to a workplace work outside Shepton Mallet; Wells takes the most (246). Coming the other way, Wells sends the most (147).
The ten places that send the most workers into Shepton Mallet, and the ten where its residents most often work (Census 2021, by home and workplace). Line width is the number of people.
An average of £49,222 a year per household in Shepton Mallet
Higher than 39% of UK towns of 2,500+; the typical town is £52,385. The whole council area of Mendip averages £53,048.
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).
How Shepton Mallet gets to work: 19% without a car
Median journey 7 km; typical UK town 8.4 km.
42% of journeys to work are under 5 km (3 miles), against 45% across England’s towns, and 6% are 30 km or more. Shepton Mallet 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 Somerset council area are below England and Wales’ rate
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.
The chart is the whole council area of Somerset, which Nomis publishes monthly; the figures above the line are for Shepton Mallet’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).
Work, study, retirement: 65% of adults in Shepton Mallet are 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.
Shepton Mallet next to UK towns of 7,000 to 13,000: 278th of 412 on jobs and income
| # | Town | People | Jobs per worker | Work in own town | Claimants | Income | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Twyford Berkshire | 8,072 | 0.9 | 11% | 1.5% | £82K | A+ |
| 2 | Esher Surrey | 9,484 | 1.6 | 12% | 1.6% | £91K | A+ |
| 3 | Whiteley Hampshire | 9,350 | 6.4 | 16% | 1.3% | £78K | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 63 | Yatton Somerset | 7,704 | 0.8 | 14% | 1.9% | £62K | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 232 | Radstock Somerset | 9,983 | 0.6 | 13% | 2.8% | £50K | C+ |
| … | |||||||
| 243 | Street Somerset | 12,707 | 1 | 37% | 2.5% | £47K | C |
| … | |||||||
| 276 | Irthlingborough Northamptonshire | 9,308 | 0.4 | 11% | 3.3% | £48K | C |
| 277 | Littleport Cambridgeshire | 9,170 | 0.4 | 13% | 3.2% | £52K | C |
| 278 | Shepton Mallet Somerset | 9,645 | 0.9 | 31% | 3% | £49K | C |
| 279 | Wells Somerset | 12,097 | 1.2 | 35% | 3.4% | £50K | C |
| 280 | Dawlish Devon | 11,800 | 0.5 | 18% | 2.7% | £46K | C |
| … | |||||||
| 412 | Mablethorpe Lincolnshire | 7,633 | 1.1 | 39% | 5.2% | £30K | 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 Shepton Mallet, and others in Somerset.
The work picture around Shepton Mallet
| Town | People | Jobs | Work in own town | Claimants | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shepton Mallet | 9,645 | 4,607 | 31% | 3% | C |
| Pilton | 1,104 | 235 | 7% | 2.8% | B− |
| Evercreech | 2,165 | 719 | 10% | 2.5% | C |
| Wells | 12,097 | 6,176 | 35% | 3.4% | C |
| Chilcompton | 1,857 | 752 | 7% | 1.7% | B+ |
| Coleford | 2,235 | 258 | 4% | 2.4% | C |
| Bruton | 2,816 | 1,854 | 28% | 2.2% | B− |
| Castle Cary | 3,451 | 1,400 | 25% | 2.7% | 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. Shepton Mallet 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 Shepton Mallet’s built-up area, from small areas.
Questions about work in Shepton Mallet
Where do people in Shepton Mallet work?
At the 2021 Census, 31% of Shepton Mallet’s residents who travelled to work worked in the town itself; the most common other places were Wells (246), Frome (125) and Glastonbury (86). 36% 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 Shepton Mallet?
1,906 people who lived elsewhere worked in Shepton Mallet at the 2021 Census, 40% of its 4,748 workers. The most came from Wells (147), Frome (139) and Street (92). 2,220 residents travelled out the other way.
How many jobs are there in Shepton Mallet?
About 4,610 jobs (employees and working owners) were based in Shepton Mallet in 2024, on ONS’s Business Register and Employment Survey: 0.9 for every resident in work, against 0.7 in the typical UK town. The biggest kinds of work are shops (about 660), hospitals and health care (about 370) and public administration and defence (about 190).
Is Shepton Mallet a good place to find work?
Shepton Mallet earns a C for jobs and income, better than 25% of UK towns on household income, the claimant rate, employment deprivation and access to jobs together. Mean household income £49,222; 3% of 16 to 64s claim unemployment benefits.
How do people in Shepton Mallet get to work?
79% of commuters go by car or van, 17% walk, 1% cycle and 1% take the bus or train; 42% travel under 5 km. Census 2021, taken during lockdown.
What is the average household income in Shepton Mallet?
Mean household income before tax was £49,222 in the year to March 2023 (ONS), against £52,385 in the typical UK town.
How does Shepton Mallet compare with Bath for jobs?
Shepton Mallet has 0.9 jobs per working resident against Bath’s 1.5, a 3% claimant rate against 2.1%, and mean household income of £49,222 against £60,909.
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.