Story · Transport map · about 3 min
Who worked from home during lockdown?
Census day, 21 March 2021, fell in the third national lockdown. The census asked how people usually travelled to work, and one answer was working mainly at or from home. This story reads that answer neighbourhood by neighbourhood. It is a picture of the lockdown and says nothing about how people work today.
Three in ten at home
31% of people in work in England and Wales said they mainly worked at or from home in the week before the census. The map shades each neighbourhood by that share. Workplaces were shut or limited and many people were on furlough, so the shares run far above what an ordinary year would give.
London at home
In London 42% of working residents mainly worked at home. The highest shares among councils were City of London (67%), Richmond upon Thames (59%), Kensington and Chelsea (58%) and Camden (57%). The most home-based neighbourhood of all is Hackney 026F, at 77%.
The lowest shares
At the bottom of the list of 331 councils come Boston (11%), Hull (13%) and North East Lincolnshire (14%), on the Wash and the Humber. There about one working resident in seven or fewer worked from home, against well over half in the highest London councils.
At home where deprivation is lowest
Now England’s 2025 deprivation index. In the most deprived tenth of neighbourhoods 16% of working residents mainly worked at home, in the least deprived tenth 44%. The deprivation map is on screen, with the most deprived tenth in dark purple.
For classrooms and curious minds
Questions to talk about, alone or in a group.
- Census day fell in a lockdown. What would you expect the map to look like in an ordinary year?
- Why might the neighbourhoods where most people worked at home not be the ones where their employers are?
Try it on the map: Switch on the car-free households layer beside this one. Do the two maps agree anywhere, and where do they part?
The figures above are calculated from the datasets listed on Data & sources and are approximate: many map layers are modelled or interpolated. Read each layer’s caveats on the map.