Sunderland
Economic profile. Data last updated 2026-03-28.
Sunderland supports 117,940 workplace jobs with median earnings 15% below the England average. The claimant rate (3.8%) is lower than the England average of 4.1%.
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 Sunderland's economy.
The most specialised sectors are Electricity, gas & air conditioning (LQ 4.69) and Manufacturing (LQ 2.40). Manufacturing shows the strongest local competitive advantage. Administrative & support services underperforms its national sectoral trend.
Source: BRES via Nomis, 2020-2024·Last updated March 2026
Economic Output
Estimated Gross Value Added for Sunderland, 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.
Median annual earnings of £27,989 are significantly below the England median of £33,080.
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 274,172 with 63% of working age. The dependency ratio is 58.7%.
Source: Census 2021, ONS·Last updated 2021
Commuting & Travel to Work
Census 2021 method of travel to work for Sunderland residents.
23.4% of residents work from home (below the national average). The most common commute method is driving a car or van (51.8%).
Source: Census 2021 TS061, ONS·Last updated 2021
Business Environment
Active enterprises in Sunderland from the UK Business Counts dataset.
5,975 active enterprises operate in this area. The business base has declined by 1.3% over three years. 73.4% 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 Sunderland vs England, 2015-2025.
The median house price of £233,101 is significantly below the England median of £290,000. The price-to-earnings ratio is 8.3x. Prices have risen 1.8% over the past year.
Source: HM Land Registry, Census 2021, 2015-2025·Last updated March 2026
Place & Deprivation
Index of Multiple Deprivation 2019. Sunderland is ranked 33 out of 317 local authorities (1 = most deprived).
Ranked 33rd of 317 local authorities on the IMD (1 = most deprived). The most challenging domain is Employment (ranked 6th), while Living Environment ranks comparatively better (314th).
Source: MHCLG English Indices of Deprivation, 2019·Last updated 2019
Impact Calculator
Estimate the economic impact of investment or job creation in Sunderland using regional input-output multipliers.
Source: Derived from ONS Supply-Use Tables, regionalized via SLQ, 2019·Last updated March 2026