People and census

Working mainly from home

The share of residents aged 16 and over in work who worked mainly at or from home.

Level of detail
Output area
Published for
Nation, Region, Council, Constituency, Ward, Middle area, Neighbourhood and Output area
Covers
England and Wales
Updates
Every 10 years
Latest period
2021
Published
19 January 2023
Fetched by Open Index
15 October 2026
Licence
Open Government Licence 3.0

Where it covers

  • England
  • Wales
  • Scotland(not covered)
  • Northern Ireland(not covered)

Scotland's census was held a year later, after the lockdowns had ended, so its figures are not comparable with March 2021.

Northern Ireland's census asked about travel to work too. Open Index has not added it to this layer yet.

  • England178,605 of 178,605 output areas have a figure
  • Wales10,275 of 10,275 output areas have a figure
  • Scotland0 of 46,363 output areas have a figure

1,000 output areas have no figure for 2021. The map hatches each one and gives the reason.

  • Scotland's census was held a year later, after the lockdowns had ended, so its figures are not comparable with March 2021. Output area in Dyce - 07, Output area in Dyce - 07, Output area in Denmore - 05, Output area in Dyce - 07, Output area in Oldmachar West - 01, Output area in Dyce - 07 and 994 more

How it is made

Open Index shows the figures as Office for National Statistics publishes them, for the areas they were published for: nations, regions, councils, constituencies, wards, middle areas, neighbourhoods and output areas.

Rates for larger areas are worked out again from their own counts and populations, never averaged from output areas.

Zoom in past output area level and the map keeps the output area shapes and says so, rather than inventing detail.

  • Nation2021 only
  • Region2021 only
  • Council2021 only
  • Constituency2021 only
  • Ward2021 only
  • Middle area2021 only
  • Neighbourhood2021 only
  • Output area2021 only

Before you use it

  • The census was held on 21 March 2021, during a national lockdown, when many people were told to work from home if they could and many others were on furlough. It is not a picture of normal times.
  • Percentages worked out by Open Index from the published counts.
  • The census in England and Wales was held on 21 March 2021.
  • Each census office makes small random changes to counts to protect privacy, so the smallest areas can be a few people out, and small areas do not add up exactly to larger ones.
  • Wards and constituencies are worked out by Open Index by adding up the census areas that best fit them, so they are close but not exact. Councils whose boundaries changed after the census are added up from output areas.

Colours on the map

Fixed breaks, held for every period, so colours mean the same over time.

How Open Index describes it

Page text on Open Index comes from this layer’s sentence rules, filled in with published figures. For Hackney:

49.8% of working residents in Hackney worked mainly from home in March 2021.

In London the figure is 42.1%.

Source and licence

Office for National Statistics
Edition
Census 2021 topic summaries (Nomis bulk)
Published
19 January 2023
Fetched by Open Index
15 October 2026
Credit line

Source: Office for National Statistics, Census 2021, licensed under the Open Government Licence v.3.0.

Use this data