Photo: Stavros1 · CC BY 3.0A larger share of people claim jobless benefits in Lowestoft than in 93% of UK towns
Each working day 8,875 residents head out to work; 5,559 people arrive. 4.5% of working-age residents claim jobless benefits, where the typical UK town’s rate is 2.7%. Set against UK towns, the Jobs & income grade of Lowestoft is D, #31 of 34 in Suffolk.
Work in Lowestoft, in a few figures
Fewer jobs than working residents
22,704 jobs are based in Lowestoft for 29,284 working residents; the typical UK town has 0.7 jobs per resident in work. Shops, education and care homes make up 30% 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.
On jobs and income, Lowestoft grades D
Its four measures together rank it better than 12% of UK towns: #31 of 34 in Suffolk.
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 East Suffolk council area are below England and Wales’ rate
East Suffolk’s rate was about 2.4% in 2019, peaked at 5.3% in May 2020 and has averaged 2.9% 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 East Suffolk, which Nomis publishes monthly; the figures above the line are for Lowestoft’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).
Lowestoft empties a little on a working day
29,284 residents were in work at the 2021 Census; 25,395 people worked in Lowestoft.
For every person who comes in to work, about 2 residents travel out. 53% 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.
Lowestoft’s commuters work from Gorleston-on-Sea to Ipswich
- Countryside780
- Gorleston-on-Sea564
- Kessingland393
- Norwich371
- Bradwell283
- Great Yarmouth262
- Beccles261
- Felixstowe154
- Worlingham154
- Hopton on Sea124
- Countryside1,440
- Gorleston-on-Sea1,122
- Beccles822
- Norwich765
- Great Yarmouth763
- Ipswich298
- Bradwell271
- Bungay217
- Felixstowe214
- Worlingham207
47% of residents who travel to a workplace work outside Lowestoft; Gorleston-on-Sea takes the most (1,122). Coming the other way, Gorleston-on-Sea sends the most (564).
The ten places that send the most workers into Lowestoft, and the ten where its residents most often work (Census 2021, by home and workplace). Line width is the number of people.
22,704 jobs, 16% in health and social care
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 (25,395). 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 Lowestoft (employees and working owners, ONS Business Register and Employment Survey 2024).
Before tax, households in Lowestoft average £44,609
Higher than 23% of UK towns of 2,500+; the typical town is £52,385. The whole council area of East Suffolk averages £52,033.
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).
Within Lowestoft, incomes range from £37K to £54K
Mean household income before tax in each of the 9 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 Lowestoft; 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.
Lowestoft commutes on foot, by bike or bus for 20% of trips
Median journey 4.7 km; typical UK town 8.4 km.
52% of journeys to work are under 5 km (3 miles), against 45% across England’s towns, and 17% are 30 km or more. Lowestoft 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).
In Lowestoft, 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.
Where Lowestoft sits among UK towns of 50,000 to 96,000
| # | 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 | Guildford Surrey | 77,870 | 1.6 | 54% | 2.2% | £70K | A |
| 3 | St Albans Hertfordshire | 75,544 | 1 | 41% | 2.7% | £80K | A |
| … | |||||||
| 98 | Bootle Merseyside | 53,722 | 1.1 | 22% | 6.2% | £38K | D |
| 99 | Scarborough North Yorkshire | 59,505 | 1.1 | 73% | 3.8% | £39K | D |
| 100 | Lowestoft Suffolk | 71,308 | 0.8 | 53% | 4.5% | £45K | D |
| 101 | Burnley Lancashire | 78,266 | 0.9 | 47% | 6.3% | £40K | D |
| 102 | Torquay Devon | 52,034 | 0.9 | 39% | 4.2% | £41K | D |
| … | |||||||
| 105 | 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 Lowestoft, and others in Suffolk.
Around Lowestoft: jobs, pay and the commute
| Town | People | Jobs | Work in own town | Claimants | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lowestoft | 71,308 | 22,704 | 53% | 4.5% | D |
| Corton | 1,134 | 375 | 4% | 2.8% | C |
| Kessingland | 4,242 | 880 | 10% | 4.2% | D |
| Hopton on Sea | 2,575 | 1,250 | 9% | 2.8% | C |
| Worlingham | 3,618 | 994 | 7% | 1.8% | B |
| Beccles | 9,807 | 4,233 | 34% | 3.4% | C− |
| Gorleston-on-Sea | 24,474 | 11,494 | 33% | 4.3% | D |
| Belton | 3,603 | 622 | 4% | 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. Lowestoft 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 East Suffolk as a whole; the claimant rate elsewhere on this page is Lowestoft’s built-up area, from small areas.
Questions about work in Lowestoft
Where do people in Lowestoft work?
At the 2021 Census, 53% of Lowestoft’s residents who travelled to work worked in the town itself; the most common other places were Gorleston-on-Sea (1,122), Beccles (822) and Norwich (765). 34% 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 Lowestoft?
5,559 people who lived elsewhere worked in Lowestoft at the 2021 Census, 22% of its 25,395 workers. The most came from Gorleston-on-Sea (564), Kessingland (393) and Norwich (371). 8,875 residents travelled out the other way.
How many jobs are there in Lowestoft?
About 22,700 jobs (employees and working owners) were based in Lowestoft 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 2,710), education (about 2,180) and care homes (about 1,900).
Is Lowestoft a good place to find work?
Lowestoft earns a D for jobs and income, better than 12% of UK towns on household income, the claimant rate, employment deprivation and access to jobs together. Mean household income £44,609; 4.5% of 16 to 64s claim unemployment benefits.
How do people in Lowestoft get to work?
76% of commuters go by car or van, 11% walk, 6% cycle and 3% take the bus or train; 52% travel under 5 km. Census 2021, taken during lockdown.
What is the average household income in Lowestoft?
Mean household income before tax was £44,609 in the year to March 2023 (ONS), against £52,385 in the typical UK town. By neighbourhood it runs from £36,808 in Lowestoft Harbour & Kirkley to £54,476 in Carlton Colville.
How does Lowestoft compare with Ipswich for jobs?
Lowestoft has 0.8 jobs per working resident against Ipswich’s 1.1, a 4.5% claimant rate against 4.2%, and mean household income of £44,609 against £53,519.
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.