# Employment rate: highest and lowest councils in South West (March 2026)

East Devon had the highest employment rate of South West’s 26 councils in March 2026, at 87.5%.

Torridge had the lowest, at 71.2%. The middle council, Gloucester, had 78.9%.

1 council has no figure, and it is listed at the end with the reason.

| Rank | Area | Employment rate | Note |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | [East Devon](https://openindex.co.uk/east-devon) | 87.5% | – |
| 2 | [Mid Devon](https://openindex.co.uk/mid-devon) | 86.2% | – |
| 3 | [North Devon](https://openindex.co.uk/north-devon) | 85.9% | – |
| 4 | [Stroud](https://openindex.co.uk/stroud) | 84.5% | – |
| 5 | [South Gloucestershire](https://openindex.co.uk/south-gloucestershire) | 83.8% | – |
| 6 | [Teignbridge](https://openindex.co.uk/teignbridge) | 83.3% | – |
| 7 | [Cotswold](https://openindex.co.uk/cotswold) | 82.5% | – |
| 8 | [Wiltshire](https://openindex.co.uk/wiltshire) | 81.5% | – |
| 9 | [Dorset](https://openindex.co.uk/dorset) | 80.1% | – |
| 10 | [North Somerset](https://openindex.co.uk/north-somerset) | 79.9% | – |
| 11 | [Bristol](https://openindex.co.uk/bristol) | 79.8% | – |
| 12 | [Cheltenham](https://openindex.co.uk/cheltenham) | 79.3% | – |
| 13 | [Gloucester](https://openindex.co.uk/gloucester) | 78.9% | – |
| 14 | [West Devon](https://openindex.co.uk/west-devon) | 78.6% | ONS rates this figure as uncertain. The survey sample in this council is small, so the margin of error is wide (more than 7.5 percentage points either way) or ONS does not publish one. |
| 15 | [Somerset](https://openindex.co.uk/somerset) | 78.3% | – |
| 16 | [Plymouth](https://openindex.co.uk/plymouth) | 77.6% | – |
| 17 | [Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole](https://openindex.co.uk/bournemouth-christchurch-and-poole) | 77.4% | – |
| =18 | [Cornwall](https://openindex.co.uk/cornwall) | 76.8% | – |
| =18 | [Tewkesbury](https://openindex.co.uk/tewkesbury) | 76.8% | – |
| 20 | [Torbay](https://openindex.co.uk/torbay) | 76.7% | – |
| 21 | [Swindon](https://openindex.co.uk/swindon) | 76.1% | – |
| 22 | [Exeter](https://openindex.co.uk/exeter) | 74.8% | – |
| 23 | [Forest of Dean](https://openindex.co.uk/forest-of-dean) | 73.5% | ONS rates this figure as uncertain. The survey sample in this council is small, so the margin of error is wide (more than 7.5 percentage points either way) or ONS does not publish one. |
| 24 | [Bath and North East Somerset](https://openindex.co.uk/bath-and-north-east-somerset) | 72.6% | – |
| 25 | [South Hams](https://openindex.co.uk/south-hams) | 71.4% | ONS rates this figure as uncertain. The survey sample in this council is small, so the margin of error is wide (more than 7.5 percentage points either way) or ONS does not publish one. |
| 26 | [Torridge](https://openindex.co.uk/torridge) | 71.2% | ONS rates this figure as uncertain. The survey sample in this council is small, so the margin of error is wide (more than 7.5 percentage points either way) or ONS does not publish one. |
| – | [Isles of Scilly](https://openindex.co.uk/isles-of-scilly) | No figure | ONS publishes no figure for this council in this period. |

Source: Annual Population Survey, ONS population survey. Covers Great Britain. Period: March 2026. Period: March 2026.

## Other rankings of this measure

- [Great Britain](https://openindex.co.uk/rankings/employment/uk)
- [England](https://openindex.co.uk/rankings/employment/england)
- [Scotland](https://openindex.co.uk/rankings/employment/scotland)
- [Wales](https://openindex.co.uk/rankings/employment/wales)
- [North East](https://openindex.co.uk/rankings/employment/north-east)
- [North West](https://openindex.co.uk/rankings/employment/north-west)
- [Yorkshire and The Humber](https://openindex.co.uk/rankings/employment/yorkshire-and-the-humber)
- [East Midlands](https://openindex.co.uk/rankings/employment/east-midlands)
- [West Midlands](https://openindex.co.uk/rankings/employment/west-midlands)
- [East of England](https://openindex.co.uk/rankings/employment/east-of-england)
- [London](https://openindex.co.uk/rankings/employment/london)
- [South East](https://openindex.co.uk/rankings/employment/south-east)

- [The map](https://openindex.co.uk/map/employment)
- [Source and method](https://openindex.co.uk/sources/employment)

## How to cite

Source: Open Index, openindex.co.uk. Link to this page, https://openindex.co.uk/rankings/employment/south-west.

Open Index's own text and the figures it works out are licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Source data keeps its publishers' licences, named with each figure. Give each figure's period and source with it.

Snapshot 2026.10.11. The HTML page: https://openindex.co.uk/rankings/employment/south-west