Photo: dave_7 from Lethbridge, Canada · CC BY 2.0Household incomes in Coaldale are higher than in 76% of Canadian towns
Joblessness at the 2021 census: 7.9% of Coaldale’s labour force, and the middle of Canadian towns sits at 9.9%. Getting to work from Coaldale takes 21.7 minutes on average, an hour or more for 3.8%. Coaldale counted 76% of its 15-to-64s in jobs at the 2021 census; the middle of Canadian towns is 73%.
Where Coaldale stands out on work
Work near the middle
In work at the 2021 census: 76% of people aged 15 to 64, against 73% in the middle of Canadian towns, and 60% of everyone 15 and over. In work ↓
Shorter trips than most towns
The average trip to work is 21.7 minutes (26 in the middle of Canadian towns), and 3.8% 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.
Coaldale grades A− for jobs and income
Better than 82% of Canadian towns on three measures together, #67 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.
Time on the road to work from Coaldale
Timed exactly, the average is 18.9 minutes (Statistics Canada). The middle of Alberta’s towns averages 25.8 minutes. Only 35% get to work within a quarter-hour, against 39% in 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.
More workers leave Coaldale each day than arrive
29% 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.
72% of Coaldale’s residents in work leave it to work; Lethbridge takes the most
- Lethbridge1,370
- Lethbridge County260
- Taber185
- Picture Butte35
- Taber25
- Calgary25
- Elkford20
- Nobleford15
- Fort Macleod15
- Blood 14815
Lethbridge sends the largest group the other way, 645 people.
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census (98-10-0459): commuting flows between municipalities (census subdivisions), rounded to 5; linked names have their own pages.
How many in Coaldale were working in 2021
All 9 other places of 2,500 people or more in Census Division No. 2 have a smaller share of 15-to-64s in work.
Counting retirees, 60% of everyone aged 15 and over was working. By October 2026, the Labour Force Survey had 60% of the wider area’s adults in work. Counting those looking for work too, 65% of people aged 15 and over were in the labour force. Statistics Canada counted on 11 May 2021, with much of the country under pandemic rules: more people were out of work or at home than usual.
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.
Coaldale households: $90,700 a year at the median
Of the 9 other places of 2,500 or more in Census Division No. 2, 4 have a higher median. The middle of Alberta’s towns is $92,250, and Coaldale is 2% below it. Because 2020 was the first year of the pandemic, emergency benefits make up part of these before-tax incomes.
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census: median total income of households in 2020, before tax (a neighbourhood’s estimated from its dissemination areas’ income groups).
Leaving the car at home: 3.5% of commuters in Coaldale
Nearly everyone drives: 95% of commuters go by car, truck or van. Home was the workplace for 12%, under the 21% in the middle of Canadian towns.
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census: main mode of commuting; average durations by mode from table 98-10-0458 (whole municipalities only).
In Census Division No. 2, 27% more people receive EI than in 2019
Figures for EI beneficiaries are published for Census Division No. 2 as a whole, not for Coaldale alone.
For each 100 residents of working age in the division, about 3.3 are on EI. Compared with a year earlier, 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. 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 grade for Coaldale: B−
Better than 54% of Canadian towns on two measures together, #389 of 474 in Alberta.
OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL); active commuting from the 2021 Census.
Coaldale next to Canadian towns of 6,800 to 13,000: 117th of 640 on jobs and income
| # | Place | People | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Household income | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Labrador City Newfoundland and Labrador | 7,965 | 79% | 5.5% | $146K | A+ |
| 2 | Silverwood Heights Saskatchewan | 8,153 | 81% | 5.8% | $118K | A+ |
| 3 | North River Heights Manitoba | 7,228 | 82% | 8.4% | $143K | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 7 | Altadore Alberta | 7,675 | 80% | 8.1% | $155K | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 19 | West Hillhurst Alberta | 10,319 | 78% | 9.3% | $126K | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 27 | Peace River Alberta | 7,220 | 76% | 7.9% | $99K | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 115 | Blackburn Hamlet Ontario | 7,606 | 76% | 8.7% | $100K | A− |
| 116 | Cypress County Alberta | 7,855 | 77% | 6.8% | $101K | A− |
| 117 | Coaldale Alberta | 9,644 | 76% | 7.9% | $91K | A− |
| 118 | Peguis Manitoba | 11,177 | 80% | 8.3% | $95K | A− |
| 119 | Shefford Quebec | 7,704 | 82% | 4.1% | $96K | A− |
| … | ||||||
| 640 | René-Goupil Quebec | 11,663 | 58% | 15% | $54K | D− |
Ordered by Jobs & income Grade: the top three, the places either side of Coaldale, and others among Alberta’s towns.
Work in the places around Coaldale
| Place | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Household income | Average trip | Jobs | Walk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coaldale | 76% | 7.9% | $91K | 21.7 min | A− | B− |
| Lethbridge 16.4 km | 74% | 9.4% | $82K | 18 min | A− | B+ |
| Lethbridge County 17.9 km | 73% | 4.6% | $100K | 22.3 min | A− | C |
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 Coaldale, where it comes from, and what it leaves out.
- Employment Insurance. How many people in the census division drew Employment Insurance each month; it moves with layoffs and hiring, yet people who don’t qualify are absent from it.
- The Labour Force Survey. Statistics Canada’s monthly survey, published for metro areas and economic regions rather than towns: it gives a current rate beside the census’s 2021 one.
- In work. We divide the number of employed residents by the number aged 15 to 64. Workers past 64 still count on top, because the 2021 Census crosses work with age only for whole municipalities; in return, a retirement town’s pensioners don’t drag the rate down.
- Unemployment. The share of people 15 and over in the labour force, working or looking for work, who had no job on census day in May 2021.
- Household income. Taken from the 2021 Census, which asked about 2020: wages, pensions, investment income and government transfers together, before income tax, for the median household.
- Trip times. The census asks how long the trip to work usually takes, in bands; our average uses each band’s middle, so it runs a little above Statistics Canada’s timed average.
- Where people commute. Counts of workers with a fixed workplace, by where they live and where they work, both taken as whole municipalities; the jobs figure takes everyone who works here, wherever home is.
- Which towns we compare. Medians over towns and neighbourhoods of at least 2,500 residents. Whole cities would swamp them and reserves sit outside the rankings, so neither is in.
Questions about work in Coaldale
What is the unemployment rate in Coaldale?
Two figures answer it: 7.9% on census day in May 2021 (9.9% in the middle of Canadian towns), and 5.2% for the Lethbridge metro area in the Labour Force Survey of October 2026.
What is the average household income in Coaldale?
The median household in Coaldale had $90,700 before tax in 2020, against $85,900 in the middle of Canadian towns.
How do people in Coaldale get to work?
95% of commuters drive, 0.4% take public transit, 2.3% walk and 0.8% cycle; 12% of everyone in work worked at home on census day.
How long is the commute from Coaldale?
The average commute is 21.7 minutes; 35% of trips take under 15 minutes and 3.8% an hour or more.
Where do people in Coaldale work?
29% work in Coaldale itself. Of those who leave, the most go to Lethbridge (1,370), then Lethbridge County (260).
How many jobs are there in Coaldale?
The 2021 census found about 2,435 people with their usual workplace in Coaldale, or 0.9 for each resident who travels to a fixed job. Statistics Canada counted 343 businesses with employees in June 2026.
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).