House prices and income
A civil parish in Dorset — Dorchester, E04003533. Every figure below describes that area, except where it is labelled as a comparison, or as a figure for a neighbourhood or a wider area.
These figures are published for three statistical areas, not for Dorchester, though together they are made of the same output areas as Dorchester. House prices are medians and the affordability figure is a ratio, so neither can be added up for the parish.
House prices, incomes and businesses in the areas Dorchester sits in
One column for each area, each figure with the period the publisher gives it.
| Measure | Dorchester East (statistical area) | Dorchester North (statistical area) | Poundbury & Dorchester West (statistical area) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median house price | £327,500Year ending Sep 2025 | £300,000Year ending Sep 2025 | £360,000Year ending Sep 2025 |
| House price to earnings ratio | 8.7Year ending Sep 2025 | 8Year ending Sep 2025 | 9.6Year ending Sep 2025 |
| Net household income | £41,898FYE 2023, modelled estimate, 95% CI £36,421–£48,199 | £39,382FYE 2023, modelled estimate, 95% CI £34,083–£45,506 | £43,770FYE 2023, modelled estimate, 95% CI £37,937–£50,499 |
| Business units | 2602026 | 6702026 | 3252026 |
These figures are for the three areas, not for Dorchester, and cannot be combined to give a figure for Dorchester.
Source Office for National Statistics, from NomisPeriod 2026Area Middle Layer Super Output Area
Source Office for National Statistics, house price and income statisticsPeriod Year ending Sep 2025Area Middle Layer Super Output Area
Source Office for National Statistics, house price and income statisticsPeriod FYE 2023Area Middle Layer Super Output Area
Sources, notes and figures: House prices, incomes and businesses in the areas Dorchester sits in
Source Nomis (ONS Census 2021, claimant count, ASHE, UK Business Counts), ONS / Durham University
Source ONS datasets (median house prices by MSOA, small area income), Office for National Statistics
Source: Office for National Statistics Licence terms
Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0. Licence terms
Source: Office for National Statistics licensed under the Open Government Licence v.3.0 Licence terms
Contains HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright and database right 2021. This data is licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Licence terms
Reported per constituent MSOA and never combined: a location's MSOAs are not a partition of it, so summing them overstates by 50-70%. Counts rounded to the nearest 5 — a zero means 0, 1 or 2. UK Business Counts (IDBR-derived), not BRES, which carries confidentiality conditions we do not accept.
Constructed, not published — ONS publishes this ratio at local authority level only. The denominator is LA-wide, so treat as indicative. A ratio does not aggregate. The earnings are the median gross annual pay of full-time employees who live in the local authority, from the resident analysis of the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings.
A median. It cannot be summed or averaged across areas, and a location spanning several MSOAs has no single median. Published at MSOA, so the footprint is not the parish.
A model-based estimate, not a measurement. Compare using the published confidence interval, which is stored with every observation.
| Area | Area code | Share of Dorchester in the area | Share of the area that is Dorchester |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dorchester East (statistical area) | E02004278 | 41% | 100% |
| Dorchester North (statistical area) | E02007006 | 30% | 100% |
| Poundbury & Dorchester West (statistical area) | E02007007 | 30% | 100% |
Both shares count output areas rather than people, so they are close to the share of residents without being it.
Table of the figures for the wider areas
Figures published only for a wider area
House prices, household income, business counts and four census tables are not published for parishes. The smallest area they exist for is a Middle Layer Super Output Area — roughly 7,200 people, drawn for statistical convenience rather than as somewhere anyone would say they live.
The figures below describe those areas, not Dorchester. There is no parish version to give you, for two different reasons. A median cannot be added up, and averaging the medians of two areas produces a number that is not a median of anything. The census counts could be added up arithmetically, but ONS does not publish them below this level and these areas do not divide neatly along the boundary of Dorchester — so a parish figure would be an estimate of ours wearing the census's authority. Either way they are shown as what they are, one row per area, and left unsummed.
| Measure | Period | Dorchester East (wider statistical area)E02004278 — 41% of Dorchester · Dorchester is 100% of it | Dorchester North (wider statistical area)E02007006 — 30% of Dorchester · Dorchester is 100% of it | Poundbury & Dorchester West (wider statistical area)E02007007 — 30% of Dorchester · Dorchester is 100% of it |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Business units | 2026 | 260 | 670 | 325 |
| Census 2021 — Gender identity — All other gender identities | 2021 | 5 | 3 | 4 |
| Census 2021 — Gender identity — Gender identity different from sex registered at birth but no specific identity given | 2021 | 3 | 6 | 8 |
| Census 2021 — Gender identity — Gender identity the same as sex registered at birth | 2021 | 6,899 | 4,749 | 5,304 |
| Census 2021 — Gender identity — Not answered | 2021 | 416 | 289 | 279 |
| Census 2021 — Gender identity — Total | 2021 | 7,329 | 5,056 | 5,603 |
| Census 2021 — Gender identity — Trans man | 2021 | 2 | 5 | 3 |
| Census 2021 — Gender identity — Trans woman | 2021 | 4 | 4 | 5 |
| Census 2021 — Industry — 01 Crop and animal production, hunting and related service activities | 2021 | 41 | 18 | 29 |
| Census 2021 — Industry — 02 Forestry and logging | 2021 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Census 2021 — Industry — 03 Fishing and aquaculture | 2021 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Census 2021 — Industry — 05 Mining of coal and lignite | 2021 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Census 2021 — Industry — 06 Extraction of crude petroleum and natural gas | 2021 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Census 2021 — Industry — 07 Mining of metal ores | 2021 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Census 2021 — Industry — 08 Other mining and quarrying | 2021 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Census 2021 — Industry — 09 Mining support service activities | 2021 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Census 2021 — Industry — 10 Manufacture of food products | 2021 | 32 | 16 | 39 |
| Census 2021 — Industry — 11 Manufacture of beverages | 2021 | 4 | 4 | 4 |
| Census 2021 — Industry — 12 Manufacture of tobacco products | 2021 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Census 2021 — Industry — 13 Manufacture of textiles | 2021 | 1 | 1 | 6 |
| Census 2021 — Industry — 14 Manufacture of wearing apparel | 2021 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| Census 2021 — Industry — 15 Manufacture of leather and related products | 2021 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Census 2021 — Industry — 16 Manufacture of wood and of products of wood and cork, except furniture; manufacture of articles of straw and plaiting materials | 2021 | 5 | 0 | 1 |
| Census 2021 — Industry — 17 Manufacture of paper and paper products | 2021 | 2 | 1 | 0 |
| Census 2021 — Industry — 18 Printing and reproduction of recorded media | 2021 | 27 | 12 | 11 |
| Census 2021 — Industry — 19 Manufacture of coke and refined petroleum products | 2021 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Census 2021 — Industry — 20 Manufacture of chemicals and chemical products | 2021 | 4 | 5 | 3 |
| Census 2021 — Industry — 21 Manufacture of basic pharmaceutical products and pharmaceutical preparations | 2021 | 2 | 4 | 2 |
| Census 2021 — Industry — 22 Manufacture of rubber and plastic products | 2021 | 7 | 4 | 3 |
| Census 2021 — Industry — 23 Manufacture of other non-metallic mineral products | 2021 | 2 | 3 | 3 |
| Census 2021 — Industry — 24 Manufacture of basic metals | 2021 | 7 | 4 | 2 |
| Census 2021 — Industry — 25 Manufacture of fabricated metal products, except machinery and equipment | 2021 | 29 | 11 | 10 |
| Census 2021 — Industry — 26 Manufacture of computer, electrical and optical products | 2021 | 20 | 7 | 13 |
| Census 2021 — Industry — 27 Manufacture of electrical equipment | 2021 | 3 | 2 | 0 |
| Census 2021 — Industry — 28 Manufacture of machinery and equipment not otherwise specified | 2021 | 13 | 2 | 4 |
| Census 2021 — Industry — 29 Manufacture of motor vehicles, trailers and semi-trailers | 2021 | 8 | 5 | 9 |
| Census 2021 — Industry — 30 Manufacture of other transport equipment | 2021 | 31 | 11 | 16 |
| Census 2021 — Industry — 31 Manufacture of furniture | 2021 | 10 | 2 | 7 |
| Census 2021 — Industry — 32 Other Manufacturing | 2021 | 25 | 23 | 24 |
| Census 2021 — Industry — 33 Repair and installation of machinery and equipment | 2021 | 8 | 4 | 3 |
| Census 2021 — Industry — 35 Electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply | 2021 | 15 | 4 | 12 |
| Census 2021 — Industry — 36 Water collection, treatment and supply | 2021 | 22 | 12 | 17 |
| Census 2021 — Industry — 37 Sewerage | 2021 | 2 | 2 | 1 |
| Census 2021 — Industry — 38 Waste collection, treatment and disposal activities; materials recovery | 2021 | 29 | 5 | 19 |
| Census 2021 — Industry — 39 Remediation activities and other waste management services | 2021 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Census 2021 — Industry — 41 Construction of buildings; 42 Civil engineering; 43 Specialised construction activities | 2021 | 314 | 157 | 252 |
| Census 2021 — Industry — 45 Wholesale and retail trade and repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles | 2021 | 81 | 27 | 43 |
| Census 2021 — Industry — 46 Wholesale trade, except of motor vehicles and motorcycles | 2021 | 79 | 53 | 76 |
| Census 2021 — Industry — 47 Retail trade, except of motor vehicles and motorcycles | 2021 | 443 | 250 | 300 |
| Census 2021 — Industry — 48 Wholesale and retail not otherwise specified | 2021 | 9 | 7 | 8 |
| Census 2021 — Industry — 49 Land transport and transport via pipelines | 2021 | 51 | 27 | 19 |
| Census 2021 — Industry — 50 Water transport | 2021 | 2 | 2 | 1 |
| Census 2021 — Industry — 51 Air transport | 2021 | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| Census 2021 — Industry — 52 Warehousing and support activities for transportation | 2021 | 13 | 4 | 4 |
| Census 2021 — Industry — 53 Postal and courier activities | 2021 | 31 | 15 | 18 |
| Census 2021 — Industry — 55 Accommodation | 2021 | 30 | 32 | 27 |
| Census 2021 — Industry — 56 Food and beverage service activities | 2021 | 152 | 175 | 139 |
| Census 2021 — Industry — 58 Publishing activities | 2021 | 12 | 9 | 7 |
| Census 2021 — Industry — 59 Motion picture, video and television production, sound recording and music publishing activities | 2021 | 10 | 8 | 7 |
| Census 2021 — Industry — 60 Programming and broadcasting activities | 2021 | 2 | 1 | 4 |
| Census 2021 — Industry — 61 Telecommunications | 2021 | 11 | 14 | 8 |
| Census 2021 — Industry — 62 Computer programming, consultancy and related activities | 2021 | 68 | 28 | 39 |
| Census 2021 — Industry — 63 Information service activities | 2021 | 3 | 0 | 1 |
| Census 2021 — Industry — 64 Financial service activities, except insurance and pension funding | 2021 | 26 | 20 | 17 |
| Census 2021 — Industry — 65 Insurance, reinsurance and pension funding, except compulsory social security | 2021 | 24 | 9 | 17 |
| Census 2021 — Industry — 66 Activities auxiliary to financial services and insurance activities | 2021 | 22 | 14 | 17 |
| Census 2021 — Industry — 68 Real estate activities | 2021 | 59 | 49 | 52 |
| Census 2021 — Industry — 69 Legal and accounting activities | 2021 | 71 | 43 | 45 |
| Census 2021 — Industry — 70 Activities of head offices; management consultancy activities | 2021 | 16 | 13 | 19 |
| Census 2021 — Industry — 71 Architectural and engineering activities; technical testing and analysis | 2021 | 55 | 21 | 38 |
| Census 2021 — Industry — 72 Scientific research and development | 2021 | 11 | 10 | 9 |
| Census 2021 — Industry — 73 Advertising and market research | 2021 | 20 | 12 | 15 |
| Census 2021 — Industry — 74 Other professional, scientific and technical activities | 2021 | 25 | 6 | 17 |
| Census 2021 — Industry — 75 Veterinary activities | 2021 | 7 | 9 | 9 |
| Census 2021 — Industry — 77 Rental and leasing activities | 2021 | 12 | 5 | 5 |
| Census 2021 — Industry — 78 Employment activities | 2021 | 8 | 11 | 10 |
| Census 2021 — Industry — 79 Travel agency, tour operator and other reservation service and related activities | 2021 | 14 | 10 | 11 |
| Census 2021 — Industry — 80 Security and investigation activities | 2021 | 2 | 7 | 8 |
| Census 2021 — Industry — 81 Services to buildings and landscape activities | 2021 | 71 | 40 | 89 |
| Census 2021 — Industry — 82 Office administrative, office support and other business support activities | 2021 | 11 | 13 | 5 |
| Census 2021 — Industry — 84 Public administration and defence; compulsory social security | 2021 | 485 | 245 | 243 |
| Census 2021 — Industry — 85 Education | 2021 | 464 | 185 | 313 |
| Census 2021 — Industry — 86 Human health activities | 2021 | 563 | 433 | 550 |
| Census 2021 — Industry — 87 Residential care activities | 2021 | 88 | 61 | 71 |
| Census 2021 — Industry — 88 Social work activities without accommodation | 2021 | 187 | 107 | 145 |
| Census 2021 — Industry — 90 Creative, arts and entertainment activities | 2021 | 32 | 15 | 32 |
| Census 2021 — Industry — 91 Libraries, archives, museums and other cultural activities | 2021 | 22 | 19 | 17 |
| Census 2021 — Industry — 92 Gambling and betting activities | 2021 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Census 2021 — Industry — 93 Sports activities and amusement and recreation activities | 2021 | 34 | 15 | 19 |
| Census 2021 — Industry — 94 Activities of membership organisations | 2021 | 27 | 14 | 17 |
| Census 2021 — Industry — 95 Repair of computers and personal and household goods | 2021 | 1 | 1 | 7 |
| Census 2021 — Industry — 96 Other personal service activities | 2021 | 72 | 37 | 56 |
| Census 2021 — Industry — 97 Activities of households as employers of domestic personnel | 2021 | 7 | 3 | 1 |
| Census 2021 — Industry — 98 Undifferentiated goods- and services-producing activities of private households for own use | 2021 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Census 2021 — Industry — 99 Activities of extraterritorial organisations and bodies | 2021 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Census 2021 — Industry — A: Agriculture, Forestry and fishing | 2021 | 42 | 19 | 32 |
| Census 2021 — Industry — B: Mining and quarrying | 2021 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Census 2021 — Industry — C: Manufacturing | 2021 | 242 | 122 | 163 |
| Census 2021 — Industry — D: Electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply | 2021 | 15 | 4 | 12 |
| Census 2021 — Industry — E: Water supply; Sewerage, Waste management and Remediation activities | 2021 | 53 | 20 | 37 |
| Census 2021 — Industry — F: Construction | 2021 | 314 | 157 | 252 |
| Census 2021 — Industry — G: Wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles | 2021 | 612 | 337 | 427 |
| Census 2021 — Industry — H: Transport and storage | 2021 | 99 | 49 | 45 |
| Census 2021 — Industry — I: Accommodation and food service activities | 2021 | 182 | 207 | 166 |
| Census 2021 — Industry — J: Information and communication | 2021 | 106 | 60 | 66 |
| Census 2021 — Industry — K: Financial and insurance activities | 2021 | 72 | 43 | 51 |
| Census 2021 — Industry — L: Real estate activities | 2021 | 59 | 49 | 52 |
| Census 2021 — Industry — M: Professional, scientific and technical activities | 2021 | 205 | 114 | 152 |
| Census 2021 — Industry — N: Administrative and support service activities | 2021 | 118 | 86 | 128 |
| Census 2021 — Industry — O: Public administration and defence; compulsory social security | 2021 | 485 | 245 | 243 |
| Census 2021 — Industry — P: Education | 2021 | 464 | 185 | 313 |
| Census 2021 — Industry — Q: Human health and social work activities | 2021 | 838 | 601 | 766 |
| Census 2021 — Industry — R, S, T, U Other | 2021 | 195 | 106 | 151 |
| Census 2021 — Industry — Total: All usual residents aged 16 years and over in employment the week before the census | 2021 | 4,101 | 2,405 | 3,057 |
| Census 2021 — Previously served in UK armed forces — Has not previously served in any UK armed forces | 2021 | 6,907 | 4,663 | 5,218 |
| Census 2021 — Previously served in UK armed forces — Previously served in UK regular armed forces | 2021 | 329 | 310 | 303 |
| Census 2021 — Previously served in UK armed forces — Previously served in UK reserve armed forces | 2021 | 66 | 62 | 66 |
| Census 2021 — Previously served in UK armed forces — Previously served in both regular and reserve UK armed forces | 2021 | 27 | 21 | 18 |
| Census 2021 — Previously served in UK armed forces — Total: All usual residents aged 16 and over | 2021 | 7,329 | 5,056 | 5,605 |
| Census 2021 — Sexual orientation — All other sexual orientations | 2021 | 15 | 15 | 20 |
| Census 2021 — Sexual orientation — Bisexual | 2021 | 67 | 58 | 77 |
| Census 2021 — Sexual orientation — Gay or Lesbian | 2021 | 89 | 85 | 60 |
| Census 2021 — Sexual orientation — Not answered | 2021 | 564 | 366 | 383 |
| Census 2021 — Sexual orientation — Straight or Heterosexual | 2021 | 6,596 | 4,534 | 5,061 |
| Census 2021 — Sexual orientation — Total: All usual residents aged 16 years and over | 2021 | 7,331 | 5,058 | 5,601 |
| House price to earnings ratio | Year ending Sep 2025 | 8.7 | 8 | 9.6 |
| Median house price | Year ending Sep 2025 | 327,500 | 300,000 | 360,000 |
| Net household income — modelled estimate | FYE 2023 | 41,898 95% CI 36,421–48,199 | 39,382 95% CI 34,083–45,506 | 43,770 95% CI 37,937–50,499 |
| Net household income after housing costs (equivalised) — modelled estimate | FYE 2023 | 36,212 95% CI 31,763–41,284 | 36,447 95% CI 31,804–41,768 | 35,758 95% CI 31,352–40,783 |
| Net household income before housing costs (equivalised) — modelled estimate | FYE 2023 | 39,292 95% CI 36,370–42,449 | 39,325 95% CI 36,216–42,701 | 40,344 95% CI 37,052–43,928 |
| Total household income — modelled estimate | FYE 2023 | 56,146 95% CI 48,231–65,360 | 48,241 95% CI 41,145–56,563 | 54,643 95% CI 46,718–63,912 |
The first percentage says how much of Dorchester falls in each area. The second says how much of that area is Dorchester, which is the one that tells you how far to trust a figure published for it: where it is small, the number is mostly about somewhere else. Both count output areas rather than people, so they are close to the share of residents without being it. Across the 198 single-MSOA parishes Ezra has derived, the median second figure is 4.8%.
- Source
- Nomis (ONS Census 2021, claimant count, ASHE, UK Business Counts), ONS / Durham University
- Period
- 2026
- Area
- Middle Layer Super Output Area
Reported per constituent MSOA and never combined: a location's MSOAs are not a partition of it, so summing them overstates by 50-70%. Counts rounded to the nearest 5 — a zero means 0, 1 or 2. UK Business Counts (IDBR-derived), not BRES, which carries confidentiality conditions we do not accept.
Source: Office for National Statistics Licence terms Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0. Licence terms · All sources
- Source
- Nomis (ONS Census 2021, claimant count, ASHE, UK Business Counts), ONS / Durham University
- Period
- 2021
- Area
- Middle Layer Super Output Area
Reported per constituent MSOA and never combined: a location's MSOAs are not a partition of it, so summing them overstates by 50-70%. Published at MSOA only, so this is the MSOA set the location falls in, not the parish. The footprint differs from every parish figure on the page and must be labelled as such.
Source: Office for National Statistics Licence terms Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0. Licence terms · All sources
- Source
- Nomis (ONS Census 2021, claimant count, ASHE, UK Business Counts), ONS / Durham University
- Period
- 2021
- Area
- Middle Layer Super Output Area
The categories are a hierarchy: some are subtotals of others, so they do not add to the total and summing them overstates it. Reported per constituent MSOA and never combined: a location's MSOAs are not a partition of it, so summing them overstates by 50-70%. Published at MSOA only, so this is the MSOA set the location falls in, not the parish. The footprint differs from every parish figure on the page and must be labelled as such.
Source: Office for National Statistics Licence terms Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0. Licence terms · All sources
- Source
- ONS datasets (median house prices by MSOA, small area income), Office for National Statistics
- Period
- Year ending Sep 2025
- Area
- Middle Layer Super Output Area
Constructed, not published — ONS publishes this ratio at local authority level only. The denominator is LA-wide, so treat as indicative. A ratio does not aggregate. The earnings are the median gross annual pay of full-time employees who live in the local authority, from the resident analysis of the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings.
Source: Office for National Statistics licensed under the Open Government Licence v.3.0 Licence terms Contains HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright and database right 2021. This data is licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Licence terms Source: Office for National Statistics Licence terms Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0. Licence terms · All sources
- Source
- ONS datasets (median house prices by MSOA, small area income), Office for National Statistics
- Period
- Year ending Sep 2025
- Area
- Middle Layer Super Output Area
A median. It cannot be summed or averaged across areas, and a location spanning several MSOAs has no single median. Published at MSOA, so the footprint is not the parish.
Source: Office for National Statistics licensed under the Open Government Licence v.3.0 Licence terms Contains HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright and database right 2021. This data is licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Licence terms Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0. Licence terms · All sources
- Source
- ONS datasets (median house prices by MSOA, small area income), Office for National Statistics
- Period
- FYE 2023
- Area
- Middle Layer Super Output Area
A model-based estimate, not a measurement. Compare using the published confidence interval, which is stored with every observation.
Source: Office for National Statistics licensed under the Open Government Licence v.3.0 Licence terms Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0. Licence terms · All sources