Photo: Des Blenkinsopp · CC BY-SA 2.0Household incomes in Farnham are higher than in 95% of UK towns
Set against UK towns, the Jobs & income grade of Farnham is A, #27 of 65 in Surrey. 4,867 people travel into the town for work each working day. The claimant rate is 2.1% of working-age residents, next to 2.7% in the typical UK town.
The work numbers behind Farnham
A local job centre
14,039 jobs are based in Farnham for 9,269 working residents; the typical UK town has 0.7 jobs per resident in work. Education, shops and restaurants, cafés and pubs make up 35% of them. Jobs based here ↓
Fewer benefit claims than most towns
The typical UK town: 2.7%; England and Wales: 4% so far in 2026. Claims across the Waverley council area have run below the national rate every month since 2015. Benefits over time ↓
Written from the data on this page: ONS Census 2021 and BRES, DWP claimant counts via Nomis, and ONS household income.
Farnham earns A for jobs and income
Better than 93% of UK towns once its four measures are combined: #27 of 65 in Surrey.
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.
14,039 jobs, one in seven in education
1.5 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 (11,515). 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 Farnham (employees and working owners, ONS Business Register and Employment Survey 2024).
Jobless claims in the Waverley council area have run below England and Wales every month since 2015
Waverley’s rate was about 0.8% in 2019, peaked at 3.4% in May 2020 and has averaged 1.9% 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 Waverley, which Nomis publishes monthly; the figures above the line are for Farnham’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).
Each working day, Farnham’s workforce swells by 24%
9,269 residents were in work at the 2021 Census; 11,515 people worked in Farnham.
For every resident who leaves Farnham for work, about 2 people come in. 27% 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.
Farnham’s workers come from Aldershot to Alton
- Aldershot618
- Weybourne386
- Farnborough382
- Wrecclesham264
- Countryside264
- Ash and Ash Vale222
- Fleet215
- Guildford158
- Bordon139
- Alton138
- Countryside359
- Guildford263
- Weybourne130
- Aldershot121
- Farnborough119
- Wrecclesham89
- Alton80
- Godalming74
- Frimley68
- Camberley48
Aldershot, 3 miles away, sends 618 people, more than any other town; in all, 42% of the people who work in Farnham live outside it. Going the other way, Guildford is the biggest single destination (263).
The ten places that send the most workers into Farnham, and the ten where its residents most often work (Census 2021, by home and workplace). Line width is the number of people.
The average household in Farnham has £74,894 a year
Higher than 94% of UK towns of 2,500+; the typical town is £52,385. The whole council area of Waverley averages £72,813.
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).
Across Farnham, household incomes range from £60K to £91K
Mean household income before tax in each of the 3 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 Farnham; 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.
25% of Farnham’s commuters walk, cycle, or take the bus or train
Median journey 10.1 km; typical UK town 8.4 km.
39% of journeys to work are under 5 km (3 miles), against 45% across England’s towns, and 14% are 30 km or more. Farnham 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).
Work, study, retirement: 56% of adults in Farnham are in work
Compared with England’s towns, 3% are long-term sick or disabled (against 4%).
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.
For jobs and income, Farnham is 34th of 322 UK towns of 14,000 to 28,000
| # | 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 | Knowle and Dorridge West Midlands | 19,323 | 0.6 | 13% | 1.5% | £79K | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 12 | Worcester Park and Stoneleigh Surrey | 15,851 | 0.4 | 5% | 2.1% | £73K | A+ |
| 13 | Great Bookham and Fetcham Surrey | 21,655 | 0.5 | 19% | 1.3% | £77K | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 32 | Weybridge Surrey | 15,918 | 1 | 17% | 2.6% | £78K | A |
| 33 | Yateley Hampshire | 14,676 | 0.4 | 15% | 1.8% | £70K | A |
| 34 | Farnham Surrey | 20,499 | 1.5 | 27% | 2.1% | £75K | A |
| 35 | Frampton Cotterell and Winterbourne Gloucestershire | 14,969 | 0.4 | 10% | 1.7% | £68K | A |
| 36 | Tadworth and Epsom Downs Surrey | 27,095 | 0.6 | 13% | 2.1% | £73K | A |
| … | |||||||
| 322 | Maesteg Mid Glamorgan | 18,342 | 0.4 | 23% | 3.8% | £37K | 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 Farnham, and others in Surrey.
Work in and around Farnham
| Town | People | Jobs | Work in own town | Claimants | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Farnham | 20,499 | 14,039 | 27% | 2.1% | A |
| Wrecclesham | 7,312 | 1,493 | 9% | 1.7% | A+ |
| Weybourne | 11,241 | 2,419 | 8% | 2.3% | A |
| Badshot Lea | 1,883 | 508 | 3% | 1.8% | A |
| Aldershot | 39,827 | 19,474 | 25% | 3.8% | B− |
| Crondall | 1,220 | 175 | 5% | 1.7% | B+ |
| Bentley | 1,406 | 985 | 8% | 2% | A− |
| Elstead | 2,261 | 1,062 | 9% | 1.8% | B+ |
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. Farnham 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 Waverley as a whole; the claimant rate elsewhere on this page is Farnham’s built-up area, from small areas.
Questions about work in Farnham
Where do people in Farnham work?
At the 2021 Census, 27% of Farnham’s residents who travelled to work worked in the town itself; the most common other places were Guildford (263), Weybourne (130) and Aldershot (121). 62% 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 Farnham?
4,867 people who lived elsewhere worked in Farnham at the 2021 Census, 42% of its 11,515 workers. The most came from Aldershot (618), Weybourne (386) and Farnborough (382). 2,588 residents travelled out the other way.
How many jobs are there in Farnham?
About 14,050 jobs (employees and working owners) were based in Farnham in 2024, on ONS’s Business Register and Employment Survey: 1.5 for every resident in work, against 0.7 in the typical UK town. The biggest kinds of work are education (about 1,990), shops (about 1,380) and restaurants, cafés and pubs (about 1,300).
Is Farnham a good place to find work?
Farnham earns an A for jobs and income, better than 93% of UK towns on household income, the claimant rate, employment deprivation and access to jobs together. Mean household income £74,894; 2.1% of 16 to 64s claim unemployment benefits.
How do people in Farnham get to work?
73% of commuters go by car or van, 17% walk, 2% cycle and 6% take the bus or train; 39% travel under 5 km. Census 2021, taken during lockdown.
What is the average household income in Farnham?
Mean household income before tax was £74,894 in the year to March 2023 (ONS), against £52,385 in the typical UK town. By neighbourhood it runs from £60,250 in Farnham Town to £90,665 in Farnham Moor Park & Bourne.
How does Farnham compare with Guildford for jobs?
Farnham has 1.5 jobs per working resident against Guildford’s 1.6, a 2.1% claimant rate against 2.2%, and mean household income of £74,894 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.