Barrow-in-Furness
Economic profile. Data last updated 2026-03-28.
Barrow-in-Furness supports 31,625 workplace jobs.
Source: ONS, Nomis, HM Land Registry, 2024-2025·Last updated March 2026
Employment & Labour Market
Monthly claimant count rate over the past 3 years.
Source: Claimant Count via Nomis, BRES, 2020-2026·Last updated March 2026
Industry Structure
Location quotients and shift-share analysis for Barrow-in-Furness's economy.
The most specialised sectors are Mining & quarrying (LQ 6.72) and Manufacturing (LQ 5.05). Manufacturing shows the strongest local competitive advantage. Wholesale & retail trade underperforms its national sectoral trend.
Source: BRES via Nomis, 2020-2024·Last updated March 2026
Economic Output
Estimated Gross Value Added for Barrow-in-Furness, derived from sector employment and national productivity ratios.
Estimates based on national GVA-per-job ratios applied to local sector employment (BRES). Indicative only. See Methodology for details.
Earnings & Income
Gross annual earnings distribution, 2025.Note: ASHE earnings data may be suppressed for areas with fewer than 30 survey respondents.
Earnings data is not available for this area (likely suppressed due to small sample size).
Source: ASHE via Nomis, 2025·Last updated March 2026
Skills & Qualifications
Census 2021 highest qualification and occupation data.
Source: Census 2021, ONS
Demographics
Census 2021 population by age band.
The population is 67,407 with 62.3% of working age. The dependency ratio is 60.4% (above average, indicating a relatively older or younger population).
Source: Census 2021, ONS·Last updated 2021
Commuting & Travel to Work
Census 2021 method of travel to work for Barrow-in-Furness residents.
19.4% of residents work from home (below the national average). The most common commute method is driving a car or van (50.3%).
Source: Census 2021 TS061, ONS·Last updated 2021
Business Environment
Active enterprises in Barrow-in-Furness from the UK Business Counts dataset.
1,515 active enterprises operate in this area. The business base has declined by 4.4% over three years. 74.8% of enterprises have fewer than 5 employees.
Source: UK Business Counts via Nomis, 2024·Last updated March 2026
Housing & Property Market
Estimated house prices for Barrow-in-Furness vs England, 2015-2025.
House price data is not available for this area.
Source: HM Land Registry, Census 2021, 2015-2025·Last updated March 2026
Place & Deprivation
Index of Multiple Deprivation 2019. Barrow-in-Furness is ranked 44 out of 317 local authorities (1 = most deprived).
Ranked 44th of 317 local authorities on the IMD (1 = most deprived). The most challenging domain is Health & Disability (ranked 4th), while Barriers to Housing & Services ranks comparatively better (316th).
Source: MHCLG English Indices of Deprivation, 2019·Last updated 2019
Impact Calculator
Estimate the economic impact of investment or job creation in Barrow-in-Furness using regional input-output multipliers.
Source: Derived from ONS Supply-Use Tables, regionalized via SLQ, 2019·Last updated March 2026