The benefits bill in a Norfolk town has risen nearly 10 times quicker than wages, new figures have revealed.
Welfare spending in Great Yarmouth rose by 17.4pc in two years, while average wages crept up by just 1.8pc.
The town's annual benefits bill stood at £293.5m between 2025-2026, equivalent to £2,920 for every resident, the highest in Norfolk.
The figures, from the TaxPayers' Alliance, also reveal that one in 10 working-age adults in the borough has been assessed as unfit for work, the highest rate in the county.
It comes after it was also revealed that nearly one in three working-age adults in Yarmouth are claiming Universal Credit, while almost one in 20 of the town’s 16 and 17-year-olds receive disability benefits for ADHD or autism.
The soaring benefits bill has caused experts and politicians to warn that Yarmouth risks being "left behind" amid fears that many are choosing benefits over employment.
The figures - which are broken down by local authority - also lay bare the scale of welfare spending elsewhere in the county.
In Norwich, the bill stands at £376.8m, or £2,560 per resident, up 20pc in two years, while wages rose 14pc.
South Norfolk saw the steepest rise in the county, with benefit spending up 24.4pc to £218.9m, against wage growth of just 6.8pc.
In Breckland, welfare spending climbed 21.8pc to £267.6m, while pay increased by 6.1pc.
Broadland's bill rose 24.1pc to £195.2m and North Norfolk's 20.4pc to £188.8m, while in West Norfolk it grew 18.6pc to £299.2m.
In total, benefits spending outpaced wages in every district in the county, with Norfolk's combined bill now standing at around £1.84bn a year.
But it is in Yarmouth - where benefits now cost almost £3,000 a head and pay has barely moved in two years - that the figures have raised the most concern.
Benjamin Elks, grassroots development manager at the TaxPayers' Alliance, said: "The benefits bill in Great Yarmouth is spiralling out of control.
"With welfare spending rising nearly ten times faster than local wages, areas like Great Yarmouth risks being completely left behind.
"If the prime minister is serious about spreading growth to every corner of the country, he must step up and put coastal communities back on the map."
Rupert Lowe, Great Yarmouth MP and leader of Restore Britain, said that the extent of welfare had "gone too far".
"My view is straightforward - healthy individuals must work. If they refuse, they should lose their benefits," he said.
"Foreign nationals claiming benefits across Great Yarmouth should lose those benefits, and if they are unable to support themselves financially? They should leave Britain.
"The welfare mess must end. It has gone too far. We must put hardworking British families first."
Earlier this year, figures revealed that 30.4pc of 20 to 64-year-olds in Great Yarmouth were claiming Universal Credit in May.
This stands well above the national rate of 20.3pc and more than double that of neighbouring Broadland, at 13.3pc.
Almost two in five of the town's residents in their 30s were on the benefit.
Yarmouth also has the county's highest rate of young people on disability benefits for ADHD or autism.
Some 5pc of 16 and 17-year-olds received Personal Independence Payment for the conditions in 2025, against a Norfolk average of 3.7pc.
Great Yarmouth Borough Council has been approached for comment.
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