Photo: awmcphee · CC BY-SA 4.0Barrhead has 2 jobs for every resident in work
Of Barrhead’s residents aged 15 to 64, 72% were employed when the 2021 census was taken, next to 73% for the middle of Canadian towns. In 2020, a household at the middle of Barrhead had $67,100 before tax, and the middle of Canadian towns sits at $85,900. An hour or more each way is the commute for 7.1% of workers in Barrhead; the average is 17.7 minutes.
The work figures that set Barrhead apart
Lower incomes than most towns
Household income at the median was $67,100 in 2020, before tax; Canadian towns have $85,900 at the middle. Household income ↓
Shorter trips than most towns
The average trip to work is 17.7 minutes (26 in the middle of Canadian towns), and 7.1% last an hour or longer. The trip to work ↓
Written from the data on this page: Statistics Canada’s 2021 Census, its commuting tables, Employment Insurance and the Labour Force Survey.
Jobs & income in Barrhead: graded C+
Better than 44% of Canadian towns on three measures together, #306 of 474 in Alberta.
Its strongest measure is trip times; its weakest, household income.
Graded against Canadian towns of 2,500 people or more; less unemployment and a shorter commute count in its favour.
How the grade works
Census 2021 measures, weighed equally against every Canadian town and neighbourhood of 2,500 people or more: the share of residents aged 15 to 64 in work, median household income (2020), the unemployment rate and the average commute. Each becomes a percentile; their average sets the letter.
Household income in Barrhead
Of the 9 other places of 2,500 or more in Census Division No. 13, 8 have a higher median. Against the middle of Alberta’s towns ($92,250), Barrhead’s median is 27% below. That year, 2020, brought emergency benefits that count in these totals, before tax.
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census: median total income of households in 2020, before tax (a neighbourhood’s estimated from its dissemination areas’ income groups).
Each working day, Barrhead’s workforce swells by 92%
Each resident commuting out of Barrhead is matched by about 7 coming in. 83% of residents who commute work inside the municipality, against 70% in the middle of Canadian towns.
People with no fixed workplace are in neither count.
Commuting times in Barrhead
A quarter-hour or less for 70% of commuters, against 39% in the middle of Alberta’s towns. Statistics Canada’s own average, timed exactly rather than by band, is 16.1 minutes. The middle of Alberta’s towns averages 25.8 minutes.
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census: commuting duration in five bands; our average uses each band’s middle (75 minutes for an hour or more), so it runs about two minutes above Statistics Canada’s own.
1,502 people come into Barrhead to work, most from Barrhead County No. 11 and Lac Ste. Anne County
59% of the people who work in Barrhead live outside it, 940 of them in Barrhead County No. 11, 9 km away. The main destination the other way is Westlock, with 85.
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census (98-10-0459): commuting flows between municipalities (census subdivisions), rounded to 5; linked names have their own pages.
Work for 72% of 15-to-64s in Barrhead
Of the 9 other places of 2,500 people or more in Census Division No. 13, 3 have a smaller share of 15-to-64s in work.
The participation rate, everyone 15 and over working or looking for work, was 57%. Across all ages 15 and over the share in work falls to 51%: many residents are past working age. For the wider area, the Labour Force Survey had 63% in work in October 2026. May 2021, when the census was taken, was a pandemic spring; unemployment has come down since, as the Labour Force Survey records.
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census: people in work of any age over residents aged 15 to 64, and the census unemployment rate (15 and over); the 25-to-54 rate is Statistics Canada’s own (98-10-0485). The Labour Force Survey and business counts are context, not grade inputs.
Without a car, 13% of Barrhead’s commuters get to work
Home was the workplace for 7.3%, under the 21% in the middle of Canadian towns. Transit barely figures here, against 3.5% in the middle of Canadian towns. Fewer drive than in the middle of Alberta’s towns: 86% against 88%.
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census: main mode of commuting; average durations by mode from table 98-10-0458 (whole municipalities only).
In Census Division No. 13, 4% more people receive EI than in 2019
Compared with a year earlier, the count in August 2026 fell by 5%. At its peak, in January 2021, 3,910 people were on EI, 2.4 times the 2019 average. That works out to around 4 beneficiaries per 100 people aged 15 to 64 across the division.
Statistics Canada, Employment Insurance beneficiaries by census division (14-10-0323): all income benefits, not seasonally adjusted. Data for EI beneficiaries covers Census Division No. 13. EI counts are context, not part of any grade.
People receiving Employment Insurance each month, as a share of the 2019 average (100).
How walkable Barrhead is: A
Better than 93% of Canadian towns on two measures together, #143 of 474 in Alberta.
OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL); active commuting from the 2021 Census.
For jobs and income, Barrhead is 413th of 739 Canadian towns of 3,300 to 6,400
| # | Place | People | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Household income | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cornwallis Manitoba | 4,705 | 85% | 2.1% | $99K | A+ |
| 2 | New Maryland New Brunswick | 4,455 | 81% | 6.5% | $118K | A+ |
| 3 | Hay River Northwest Territories | 3,317 | 78% | 6.5% | $129K | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 15 | Parkview Alberta | 5,729 | 80% | 9% | $155K | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 17 | Wainwright No. 61 Alberta | 4,576 | 84% | 5.5% | $108K | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 22 | Richmond Alberta | 4,811 | 79% | 9.2% | $114K | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 411 | Creston British Columbia | 5,976 | 73% | 9% | $59K | C+ |
| 412 | Morin-Heights Quebec | 5,086 | 78% | 7.8% | $87K | C+ |
| 413 | Barrhead Alberta | 4,768 | 72% | 11% | $67K | C+ |
| 414 | Templemead Ontario | 4,188 | 68% | 13% | $106K | C+ |
| 415 | North Norfolk Manitoba | 4,084 | 74% | 4.8% | $71K | C+ |
| … | ||||||
| 739 | Chertsey Quebec | 5,678 | 64% | 8.6% | $58K | D− |
Ordered by Jobs & income Grade: the top three, the places either side of Barrhead, and others among Alberta’s towns.
How Barrhead compares with the places nearby
Distances here run 9–45 km: that is how far the nearest places with figures are from Barrhead.
| Place | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Household income | Average trip | Jobs | Walk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Barrhead | 72% | 11% | $67K | 17.7 min | C+ | A |
| Barrhead County No. 11 8.5 km | 81% | 7.7% | $83K | 27.4 min | B | D |
| Westlock County 31.6 km | 79% | 7.6% | $81K | 31.7 min | C+ | C− |
| Lac Ste. Anne County 36.4 km | 74% | 10% | $87K | 38.8 min | C− | C |
| Westlock 36.7 km | 69% | 10% | $63K | 19.2 min | C | A |
| Alexander 134 44.6 km | 41% | 21% | $81K | 21.8 min | C | D− |
The people of each place: the share in work, unemployment, household income and the average commute, with both grades once they come.
What this data can and can’t tell you
What each figure measures for Barrhead, where it comes from, and what it leaves out.
- Where people commute. Jobs count everyone whose usual workplace lies in the municipality, residents or commuters from elsewhere, from Statistics Canada’s home-by-workplace table.
- Employment Insurance. Beneficiaries of Employment Insurance, month by month, for the census division rather than the town. Many jobless people don’t qualify, so it isn’t an unemployment rate.
- The Labour Force Survey. A monthly household survey by Statistics Canada, reported for metro areas and economic regions only. It supplies a recent rate next to the 2021 census figure.
- In work. Working residents per resident of working age (15 to 64), from the 2021 Census.
- Unemployment. Of everyone 15 or older who was working or job-hunting in the census week, the part still looking. Someone not seeking work isn’t in it at all.
- Household income. The census median total income of households in 2020, before tax; a neighbourhood’s is estimated from its dissemination areas’ income groups.
- Trip times. Our average assumes everyone in, say, the 15-to-29-minute band takes 22 minutes. Across all the bands that runs a shade above Statistics Canada’s measured average.
- Which towns we compare. Any town of 2,500 or more counts, and so does any city neighbourhood that size; the city as a whole and First Nations reserves don’t. The middle is the median.
Questions about work in Barrhead
How do people in Barrhead get to work?
Driving takes 86% of commuters to work, 13% walk, and on census day 7.3% of those in work were at home.
How long is the commute from Barrhead?
About 17.7 minutes on average, with 70% under a quarter-hour and 7.1% at an hour or longer.
Where do people in Barrhead work?
Most stay: 83% work in Barrhead. The rest go first to Westlock (85) and Barrhead County No. 11 (25).
How many jobs are there in Barrhead?
Statistics Canada counted 389 businesses with employees in June 2026.
What is the unemployment rate in Barrhead?
At the 2021 census 11% of the labour force had no job and was looking (9.9% in the middle of Canadian towns). The latest monthly survey, for the Banff-Jasper-Rocky Mountain House and Athabasca-Grande Prairie-Peace River economic region, gives 5.6% in October 2026.
What is the average household income in Barrhead?
At $67,100 before tax in 2020, the median household in Barrhead compares with $85,900 in the middle of Canadian towns.
Sources: Statistics Canada, 2021 Census of Population (Census Profile) · Statistics Canada, tables 98-10-0458 and 98-10-0459 (commuting) · Statistics Canada, table 14-10-0323 (EI beneficiaries) · Statistics Canada, Labour Force Survey (14-10-0459, 14-10-0462) · Statistics Canada, Canadian Business Counts (33-10-1176) · grades: TownRatings. Under the Statistics Canada Open Licence.
Adapted from Statistics Canada (Census of Population 2021, population estimates 2025, 2021 census boundaries) under the Statistics Canada Open Licence; this does not constitute an endorsement by Statistics Canada. Neighbourhood names in some cities © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).