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Work & commute in Byfleet · ONS, DWP · claims to August 2026

Byfleet has higher household incomes than 96% of UK towns

Every working day brings 5,196 commuters in: the town fills up. Set against UK towns, the Jobs & income grade of Byfleet is A+, #19 of 65 in Surrey. Short trips are common: 38% of commuters travel less than 3 miles.

16thof 357 towns its size

Jobs per resident in work

of residents who commute

Commute under 5 km

38%

England’s towns 45%

Claim jobless benefits

or no fixed place, Census 2021

What stands out · In brief

Byfleet and work: the main findings

2.4jobs for every resident in work +37%weekday workforce

A local job centre

17,388 jobs are based in Byfleet for 7,153 working residents; the typical UK town has 0.7 jobs per resident in work. Cleaning and grounds maintenance, wholesale and head offices and management consulting make up 37% of them. Jobs based here ↓

The town fills up on a working day

5,196 people come in to work and 2,544 residents go out, so Byfleet gains about 2,652 workers a day. Woking sends the most (589). The daily tide ↓

Written from the data on this page: ONS Census 2021 and BRES, DWP claimant counts via Nomis, and ONS household income.

Jobs & income Grade

Jobs and income in Byfleet earn A+

On four measures together, it is better than 95% of UK towns: #19 of 65 in Surrey.

Access to jobs without a car 60 / 100 · DfT connectivity by public transport, walking and cyclingBetter than 91% of UK towns

Mean household income £76,777 · before tax, ONS, year to March 2023Better than 96% of UK towns

Claimant rate, 16 to 64 2.3% · DWP claimant count, January to August 2026Better than 55% of UK towns

Employment deprivation 6% · out of work through unemployment, sickness or caring, IoD 2025Better than 87% of UK towns

Its strongest measure is household income; 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.

Jobs based here

17,388 jobs, one in four in business administration and support

2.4 for every working resident; the typical UK town has 0.7.

The six biggest kinds of work

2,180Cleaning and grounds maintenance13% of jobs · England 2%5.5× England’s share

2,070Wholesale12% of jobs · England 4%3.3× England’s share

1,890Head offices and management consulting11% of jobs · England 3%3.7× England’s share

1,140Shops7% of jobs · England 8%

960Warehousing and logistics6% of jobs · England 2%2.6× England’s share

820Office support and call centres5% of jobs · England 2%2.8× England’s share

Share of jobs by industry England’s towns

Business administration and support24%

Professional, scientific and technical16%

Wholesale12%

Transport and storage9%

Retail7%

Construction5%

Arts, leisure and other services4%

Hotels, pubs and restaurants4%

Manufacturing4%

Health and social care3%

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 (9,773). 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 Byfleet (employees and working owners, ONS Business Register and Employment Survey 2024).

The daily tide

On a working day Byfleet gains 37% in workers

7,153 residents were in work at the 2021 Census; 9,773 people worked in Byfleet.

Live in Byfleet7,153 in work

2,5444344,175

Work in Byfleet9,773 people

5,1964344,143

Commute in · 5,196Commute out · 2,544Live and work here · 434At home or no fixed place · 4,143

For every resident who leaves Byfleet for work, about 2 people come in. 15% 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.

On the map

Byfleet’s workers come from Woking to Hounslow

Grey dots: where people live (Census 2021). Places drawn centre to centre; flows under 5 people are listed, not drawn.

Where Byfleet’s workers live

Where residents work, outside Byfleet

Woking, 5 miles away, sends 589 people, more than any other town; in all, 53% of the people who work in Byfleet live outside it. Going the other way, Woking is the biggest single destination (244).

The ten places that send the most workers into Byfleet, and the ten where its residents most often work (Census 2021, by home and workplace). Line width is the number of people.

Household income

What households earn in Byfleet: £76,777 a year on average

The whole council area of Woking averages £73,396.

Byfleet £77KTypical UK town £52K

£50K£60K£70K£80K£90K

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).

Getting to work

Walking, cycling, the bus or the train: 18% of Byfleet’s commuters

Median journey 7.6 km; typical UK town 8.4 km.

Drive73%Surrey 69% · England 64%

Passenger4%Surrey 5% · England 6%

Walk8%Surrey 11% · England 11%

Cycle3%Surrey 3% · England 3%

Bus0.8%Surrey 3% · England 6%

Train6%Surrey 6% · England 3%

Other4%Surrey 4% · England 6%

ByfleetSurrey’s townsEngland’s towns

How far they travel England’s towns

18%

Under 2 km

20%

2–5 km

23%

5–10 km

22%

10–20 km

11%

20–30 km

30–40 km

40–60 km

60 km +

Byfleet 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).

Benefits over time

Jobless claims in the Woking council area have run below England and Wales every month since 2015

Woking (council area)South EastEngland and Wales

Woking’s rate was about 0.9% in 2019, peaked at 4.3% in August 2020 and has averaged 2.7% 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

2.3%

of 16 to 64s in the built-up area, January to August 2026

218 people in August 2026 · typical UK town 2.7%

Employment deprivation

6.1%

of 18 to 66s out of work through unemployment, sickness, disability or caring

IoD 2025

Income deprivation

10%

of residents in low-income households on means-tested benefits

In the most deprived tenth

of residents live in England’s most employment-deprived 10% of areas

The chart is the whole council area of Woking, which Nomis publishes monthly; the figures above the line are for Byfleet’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).

What residents do

In work, studying or retired: 63% of Byfleet’s adults work

Byfleet

62%20%

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 officials21%+9

Professional occupations22%+1.7

Associate professional and technical occupations15%+2

Administrative and secretarial occupations9%+0

Skilled trades occupations8%−1.6

Caring, leisure and other service occupations8%−1.2

Sales and customer service occupations6%−1.9

Process, plant and machine operatives4%−3.4

Elementary occupations6%−4.6

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.

Towns its size

Byfleet places 16th of 357 on jobs and income among UK towns of 10,000 to 19,000

#	Town	People	Jobs per worker	Work in own town	Claimants	Income	Grade
1	Hale Greater Manchester	16,716	0.7	7%	1.1%	£73K	A⁺
2	Ashtead Surrey	14,830	0.7	16%	1.2%	£80K	A⁺
3	Chorleywood Hertfordshire	12,632	0.5	8%	1.5%	£86K	A⁺
…
6	Worcester Park and Stoneleigh Surrey	15,851	0.4	5%	2.1%	£73K	A⁺
…
8	Cobham Surrey	17,505	1	21%	1.8%	£85K	A⁺
…
14	Chalfont St Peter Buckinghamshire	13,654	0.8	19%	1.9%	£76K	A⁺
15	Southwater West Sussex	11,204	0.4	10%	1.3%	£73K	A⁺
16	Byfleet Surrey	14,187	2.4	15%	2.3%	£77K	A⁺
17	Frimley Surrey	15,101	2	27%	2.3%	£75K	A⁺
18	Guiseley West Yorkshire	12,462	0.8	13%	1.7%	£62K	A⁺
…
357	Holyhead Gwynedd	11,753	0.7	40%	5.8%	£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 Byfleet, and others in Surrey.

Neighbours

Around Byfleet: jobs, pay and the commute

Town	People	Jobs	Work in own town	Claimants	Grade
Byfleet	14,187	17,388	15%	2.3%	A⁺
Weybridge	15,918	8,125	17%	2.6%	A
New Haw, West Byfleet and Sheerwater	33,035	11,217	15%	2.4%	A
Addlestone	13,748	5,811	11%	3.3%	B
Hersham	12,622	3,669	8%	2.8%	A
Chertsey	14,558	14,060	23%	3.2%	B⁺
Shepperton	5,917	2,497	11%	2.1%	A
Cobham	17,505	7,706	21%	1.8%	A⁺

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. Byfleet 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 Woking as a whole; the claimant rate elsewhere on this page is Byfleet’s built-up area, from small areas.

Questions about work in Byfleet

Where do people in Byfleet work?

At the 2021 Census, 15% of Byfleet’s residents who travelled to work worked in the town itself; the most common other places were Woking (244), New Haw, West Byfleet and Sheerwater (223) and Weybridge (170). 58% 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 Byfleet?

5,196 people who lived elsewhere worked in Byfleet at the 2021 Census, 53% of its 9,773 workers. The most came from Woking (589), New Haw, West Byfleet and Sheerwater (504) and Addlestone (249). 2,544 residents travelled out the other way.

How many jobs are there in Byfleet?

About 17,400 jobs (employees and working owners) were based in Byfleet in 2024, on ONS’s Business Register and Employment Survey: 2.4 for every resident in work, against 0.7 in the typical UK town. The biggest kinds of work are cleaning and grounds maintenance (about 2,180), wholesale (about 2,070) and head offices and management consulting (about 1,890).

Is Byfleet a good place to find work?

Byfleet earns an A+ for jobs and income, better than 95% of UK towns on household income, the claimant rate, employment deprivation and access to jobs together. Mean household income £76,777; 2.3% of 16 to 64s claim unemployment benefits.

How do people in Byfleet get to work?

78% of commuters go by car or van, 8% walk, 3% cycle and 7% take the bus or train; 38% travel under 5 km. Census 2021, taken during lockdown.

What is the average household income in Byfleet?

Mean household income before tax was £76,777 in the year to March 2023 (ONS), against £52,385 in the typical UK town.

How does Byfleet compare with Guildford for jobs?

Byfleet has 2.4 jobs per working resident against Guildford’s 1.6, a 2.3% claimant rate against 2.2%, and mean household income of £76,777 against £69,856.

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.