Photo: Paul Jerry · CC BY 2.0Households in Brooks have higher incomes than those in 77% of Canadian towns
At the 2021 census, 72% of Brooks’ 15-to-64s were in work; the middle of Canadian towns is 73%. Most commutes from Brooks take well under an hour: the average is 15.1 minutes, and 4.1% take 60 minutes or longer. Census day 2021 found 8.8% of Brooks’ labour force without a job, and the middle of Canadian towns sits at 9.9%.
What the numbers say about work in Brooks
Work near the middle
Of residents aged 15 to 64, 72% held a job in 2021; the middle of Canadian towns is 73%, and over all adults the share is 63%. In work ↓
Shorter trips than most towns
The average trip to work is 15.1 minutes (26 in the middle of Canadian towns), and 4.1% 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.
Brooks earns A− for jobs and income
Better than 85% of Canadian towns on three measures together, #48 of 474 in Alberta.
Its strongest measure is trip times; 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.
Commuting times in Brooks
Trips under 15 minutes: 70%, more than the 39% in the middle of Alberta’s towns. Statistics Canada’s own average, timed exactly rather than by band, is 13.9 minutes. In the middle of Alberta’s towns, the average commute is 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.
About as many people come in to work in Brooks as leave
People with no fixed workplace are in neither count.
1,606 people come into Brooks to work, most from Newell County and Duchess
- Newell County1,065
- Duchess145
- Medicine Hat70
- Bassano65
- Rosemary55
- Calgary55
- Taber20
- Redcliff15
- Cypress County10
- Lethbridge10
- Newell County855
- Duchess335
- Coaldale170
- Medicine Hat45
- Calgary35
- Rocky View County20
- Lethbridge15
- Taber10
- Taber10
- Bassano10
29% of the people who work in Brooks live outside it, 1,065 of them in Newell County, 5 km away. Outbound, Newell County takes the most: 855 people.
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census (98-10-0459): commuting flows between municipalities (census subdivisions), rounded to 5; linked names have their own pages.
Who in Brooks has a job
Of the 9 other places of 2,500 people or more in Census Division No. 2, 3 have a smaller share of 15-to-64s in work.
A more recent figure, for the wider area: 59% in work in October 2026, by the Labour Force Survey. 69% of residents aged 15 and over were in the labour force, in work or seeking it. 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.
$91,200 a year: the median household in Brooks
Brooks’ median is 1% below the middle of Alberta’s towns ($92,250). 3 of the 9 other places of 2,500+ in Census Division No. 2 have a higher median. The year is 2020: emergency benefits like CERB count in these incomes, and they raised the bottom of the range.
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census: median total income of households in 2020, before tax (a neighbourhood’s estimated from its dissemination areas’ income groups).
Brooks gets to work without a car for 4.8% of commuters
Only 5.3% worked at home on census day, against 21% in the middle of Canadian towns. Transit takes 0.5% of commuters, against 3.5% in the middle of Canadian towns. The car is the way to work for 93% of commuters.
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census: main mode of commuting; average durations by mode from table 98-10-0458 (whole municipalities only).
EI claims in Census Division No. 2 run 27% above their 2019 level
That works out to around 3.3 beneficiaries per 100 people aged 15 to 64 across the division. Set against the same month a year before, the count in August 2026 rose by 1%. January 2021 was the busiest month, with 8,020 people on EI, 2.7 times 2019’s average.
Statistics Canada, Employment Insurance beneficiaries by census division (14-10-0323): all income benefits, not seasonally adjusted. Area behind the EI beneficiaries figures: Census Division No. 2. EI counts are context, not part of any grade.
People receiving Employment Insurance each month, as a share of the 2019 average (100).
The walkability of Brooks: B+
Better than 71% of Canadian towns on two measures together, #333 of 474 in Alberta.
OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL); active commuting from the 2021 Census.
Brooks is 61st of 527 Canadian towns of 12,300 to 23,700 people for jobs and income
| # | Place | People | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Household income | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Yellowknife Northwest Territories | 22,858 | 80% | 5.8% | $148K | A+ |
| 2 | North Saanich British Columbia | 12,986 | 85% | 5.9% | $121K | A+ |
| 3 | Sillery Quebec | 13,950 | 81% | 6.2% | $120K | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 13 | Canmore Alberta | 17,341 | 79% | 9.7% | $107K | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 28 | Lloydminster (Part) Alberta | 21,267 | 75% | 11% | $98K | A |
| … | ||||||
| 31 | Lakeview Alberta | 12,799 | 75% | 11% | $125K | A |
| … | ||||||
| 59 | Riverview New Brunswick | 22,614 | 79% | 7.8% | $80K | A |
| 60 | Carignan Quebec | 12,618 | 84% | 5.2% | $122K | A |
| 61 | Brooks Alberta | 17,537 | 72% | 8.8% | $91K | A− |
| 62 | Whistler British Columbia | 15,090 | 71% | 18% | $99K | A− |
| 63 | Cole Harbour Nova Scotia | 21,627 | 77% | 9.9% | $103K | A− |
| … | ||||||
| 527 | Oakridge Ontario | 13,913 | 51% | 21% | $60K | D− |
Ordered by Jobs & income Grade: the top three, the places either side of Brooks, and others among Alberta’s towns.
Work next door to Brooks
| Place | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Household income | Average trip | Jobs | Walk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brooks | 72% | 8.8% | $91K | 15.1 min | A− | B+ |
| Newell County 4.9 km | 73% | 7% | $92K | 20.4 min | A− | C+ |
| Duchess 18 km | 68% | 13% | $95K | 28.1 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 Brooks, where it comes from, and what it leaves out.
- Trip times. Built from banded answers: each commuter’s usual one-way trip counts as the midpoint of the band they chose, and the result tends to sit slightly higher than Statistics Canada’s average.
- Where people commute. Who travels where, from the census: workers with a regular workplace, sorted by the municipality they live in and the one they work in.
- Employment Insurance. People receiving EI benefits each month, counted for the census division. It follows the local job market; it isn’t an unemployment rate.
- The Labour Force Survey. The most recent unemployment rate on the page comes from this monthly survey, which covers the wider metro area or economic region, not the town.
- 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 census median total income of households in 2020, before tax; a neighbourhood’s is estimated from its dissemination areas’ income groups.
- 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 Brooks
How do people in Brooks get to work?
Driving takes 93% of commuters to work, 0.5% take public transit, 3.8% walk and 0.5% cycle, and on census day 5.3% of those in work were at home.
How long is the commute from Brooks?
About 15.1 minutes on average, with 70% under a quarter-hour and 4.1% at an hour or longer.
Where do people in Brooks work?
Most stay: 72% work in Brooks. The rest go first to Newell County (855) and Duchess (335).
How many jobs are there in Brooks?
Some 5,605 people worked in Brooks at the 2021 census: 1 jobs per working resident with a fixed workplace. In June 2026, 654 businesses with employees were on Statistics Canada’s count.
What is the unemployment rate in Brooks?
The census put unemployment at 8.8% in May 2021, where the middle of Canadian towns was 9.9%. More recently, in October 2026, the Labour Force Survey had the Lethbridge-Medicine Hat economic region at 6.3%.
What is the average household income in Brooks?
Brooks’s middle household had $91,200 in 2020, before tax; Canadian towns have $85,900 at their middle.
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).