Photo: Madereugeneandrew · CC BY-SA 4.0Household incomes in Blackfalds top those of 89% of Canadian towns
Unemployment in Blackfalds stood at 13% on census day 2021; the middle of Canadian towns is 9.9%. 1,965 people have their usual place of work in Blackfalds, against 3,335 residents who travel to a job. In Blackfalds, 72% of residents aged 15 to 64 were working in May 2021, and the middle of Canadian towns sits at 73%.
Blackfalds and work: the main findings
Work near the middle
At the 2021 census 72% of the 15-to-64s were in work (73% in the middle of Canadian towns); across all ages 15 and over, 66%. In work ↓
Higher incomes than most towns
Half of households had more than $103,700 before tax in 2020, where the middle of Canadian towns is $85,900. Household income ↓
Written from the data on this page: Statistics Canada’s 2021 Census, its commuting tables, Employment Insurance and the Labour Force Survey.
On jobs and income, Blackfalds grades B
Better than 59% of Canadian towns on three measures together, #207 of 474 in Alberta.
Its strongest measure is household income; its weakest, the share of 15-to-64s in work.
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.
What households earned in Blackfalds: $103,700 in 2020
That puts Blackfalds 12% above the median of Alberta’s towns, $92,250. No other place of 2,500 or more in Census Division No. 8 has a higher median. Incomes here are 2020’s and include the pandemic payments, CERB among them, that propped up the lower end.
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census: median total income of households in 2020, before tax (a neighbourhood’s estimated from its dissemination areas’ income groups).
On a working day, Blackfalds loses more workers than it gains
For every person who comes in to work, about 2 residents travel out. 20% 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.
80% of Blackfalds’ residents in work leave it to work; Red Deer takes the most
- Red Deer625
- Lacombe140
- Lacombe County125
- Red Deer County100
- Sylvan Lake95
- Ponoka County50
- Ponoka40
- Calgary25
- Clive25
- Bentley20
- Red Deer1,585
- Lacombe290
- Red Deer County285
- Lacombe County145
- Ponoka100
- Sylvan Lake50
- Innisfail45
- Fort McMurray40
- Edmonton35
- Calgary15
Red Deer sends the largest group the other way, 625 people.
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census (98-10-0459): commuting flows between municipalities (census subdivisions), rounded to 5; linked names have their own pages.
2021 Census, people with a usual place of work: where residents of Blackfalds work and where people who work there live, the ten largest each way.
Who in Blackfalds has a job
Of the 10 other places of 2,500 people or more in Census Division No. 8, 3 have a smaller share of 15-to-64s in work.
Counting those looking for work too, 76% of people aged 15 and over were in the labour force. In October 2026, 66% of the wider area’s adults had a job, on the Labour Force Survey’s count. Census day was 11 May 2021, in the pandemic’s third wave: unemployment ran high and many worked from home, so these figures describe that spring rather than today.
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.
On foot, by bike, bus or train: 2.8% of Blackfalds’ commuters
Home was the workplace for 10%, under the 21% in the middle of Canadian towns. Transit takes 1.1% of commuters, against 3.5% in the middle of Canadian towns. The car is the way to work for 95% of commuters.
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census: main mode of commuting; average durations by mode from table 98-10-0458 (whole municipalities only).
How residents who commute got to work, 2021 Census; working at home is counted apart.
Close to the middle of Canadian towns: commutes from Blackfalds average 25.5 minutes
Statistics Canada’s own average, timed exactly rather than by band, is 23.9 minutes. Only 27% get to work within a quarter-hour, against 39% in the middle of Alberta’s towns. An hour or more: 7.4% of commuters, close to the middle of Alberta’s towns.
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.
Commuting time at the 2021 Census, to work only, for people who travel to a usual workplace or have none fixed.
5% more people are on EI in Census Division No. 8 than in 2019
For each 100 residents of working age in the division, about 3.4 are on EI. Set against the same month a year before, the count in August 2026 fell by 6%. The highest month was February 2021: 13,700 people, 3.1 times the 2019 level.
Statistics Canada, Employment Insurance beneficiaries by census division (14-10-0323): all income benefits, not seasonally adjusted. EI beneficiaries: Census Division No. 8. EI counts are context, not part of any grade.
People receiving Employment Insurance each month, as a share of the 2019 average (100).
Getting around Blackfalds on foot earns C
Better than 34% of Canadian towns on two measures together, #431 of 474 in Alberta.
OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL); active commuting from the 2021 Census.
Blackfalds next to Canadian towns of 8,600 to 16,500: 246th of 615 on jobs and income
| # | Place | People | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Household income | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | North Saanich British Columbia | 12,986 | 85% | 5.9% | $121K | A+ |
| 2 | Sillery Quebec | 13,950 | 81% | 6.2% | $120K | A+ |
| 3 | Walsh Acres/Lakeridge/Garden Ridge Saskatchewan | 9,325 | 80% | 6.7% | $127K | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 13 | West Hillhurst Alberta | 10,319 | 78% | 9.3% | $126K | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 34 | Lakeview Alberta | 12,799 | 75% | 11% | $125K | A |
| … | ||||||
| 40 | Lake Bonavista Alberta | 11,154 | 76% | 11% | $138K | A |
| … | ||||||
| 244 | Saint-Félicien Quebec | 10,143 | 77% | 6.2% | $67K | B |
| 245 | Portage la Prairie Manitoba | 14,738 | 74% | 7% | $69K | B |
| 246 | Blackfalds Alberta | 12,258 | 72% | 13% | $104K | B |
| 247 | East Riverside Ontario | 15,758 | 64% | 17% | $96K | B |
| 248 | Silver Berry Alberta | 9,439 | 74% | 12% | $108K | B |
| … | ||||||
| 615 | René-Goupil Quebec | 11,663 | 58% | 15% | $54K | D− |
Ordered by Jobs & income Grade: the top three, the places either side of Blackfalds, and others among Alberta’s towns.
The work picture around Blackfalds
| Place | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Household income | Average trip | Jobs | Walk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Blackfalds | 72% | 13% | $104K | 25.5 min | B | C |
| Lacombe County 7.3 km | 78% | 8.8% | $89K | 27.9 min | B | C+ |
| Lacombe 10.6 km | 72% | 12% | $89K | 21.7 min | B | B+ |
| Red Deer 13.2 km | 70% | 12% | $85K | 20 min | B | A− |
| Bentley 19.2 km | 69% | 17% | $78K | 26.2 min | C− | B |
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 Blackfalds, where it comes from, and what it leaves out.
- Employment Insurance. Statistics Canada counts EI beneficiaries each month by census division. Seasonal work makes it swing, so read it as a trend, not a jobless 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. Everyone with a job, whatever their age, divided by the residents aged 15 to 64 at the 2021 Census: below the municipality the census doesn’t split work by age, and this is the one rate every town and neighbourhood can be given.
- Unemployment. It counts only people who wanted work and had none in May 2021, as a share of those working or searching; students and retirees who weren’t looking stay out of both sides.
- Household income. The 2020 income of the household at the midpoint, all sources and before tax. Inside a city we rebuild it from the dissemination areas’ income bands, so there it is an estimate.
- Trip times. One way, on a usual day, from the census’s travel-time bands. Band midpoints overstate it a little next to the figure Statistics Canada times.
- Where people commute. Built from the census table that pairs each worker’s home municipality with their workplace municipality. A job here means someone who usually works in the municipality, local or not.
- Which towns we compare. Towns and city neighbourhoods of 2,500 people or more, never a whole city and never a First Nations reserve. Middles are medians.
Questions about work in Blackfalds
What is the unemployment rate in Blackfalds?
The census put unemployment at 13% in May 2021, where the middle of Canadian towns was 9.9%. More recently, in October 2026, the Labour Force Survey had the Red Deer economic region at 5.3%.
What is the average household income in Blackfalds?
The median household in Blackfalds had $103,700 before tax in 2020, against $85,900 in the middle of Canadian towns.
How do people in Blackfalds get to work?
By car: 95% of commuters, 1.1% take public transit and 1.7% walk; on census day 10% of those in work worked from home.
How long is the commute from Blackfalds?
25.5 minutes is the average trip, with 27% of commuters there in under 15 minutes and 7.4% taking an hour or more.
Where do people in Blackfalds work?
Only 20% work in Blackfalds itself; the rest go first to Red Deer (1,585) and Lacombe (290).
How many jobs are there in Blackfalds?
The 2021 census counted about 1,965 people working in Blackfalds: 0.6 jobs for every resident who commutes to a fixed workplace. In June 2026, 272 businesses with employees were on Statistics Canada’s count.
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).