Photo: Quintin Soloviev · CC BY 4.0Households in Crossfield earn more than those in 90% of Canadian towns
The 2021 census found 77% of working-age people in Crossfield employed, against 73% in the middle of Canadian towns. For 7.7% of commuters in Crossfield, the trip to work lasts an hour or more; the average is 32.8 minutes. Of everyone in Crossfield working or looking for work in May 2021, 11% were unemployed, next to 9.9% for the middle of Canadian towns.
What stands out about work in Crossfield
Higher incomes than most towns
The middle of Canadian towns is $85,900, and the median household here had $105,400 before tax in 2020. Household income ↓
Longer trips than most towns
The average trip to work is 32.8 minutes (26 in the middle of Canadian towns), and 7.7% 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.
On jobs and income, Crossfield grades B−
Better than 53% of Canadian towns on three measures together, #250 of 474 in Alberta.
Its strongest measure is household income; its weakest, trip times.
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.
Before tax, the median household in Crossfield had $105,400
Of the 166 other places of 2,500 or more in Census Division No. 6, 73 have a higher median. Against the middle of Alberta’s towns ($92,250), Crossfield’s median is 14% above. In 2020 emergency benefits topped up many low incomes, and the census counts them here.
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census: median total income of households in 2020, before tax (a neighbourhood’s estimated from its dissemination areas’ income groups).
Time on the road to work from Crossfield
Timed exactly, the average is 30.1 minutes (Statistics Canada). In the middle of Alberta’s towns, the average commute is 25.8 minutes. Trips under 15 minutes: 20%, fewer than the 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.
Crossfield is quieter on a working day than at night
Of those who commute, 19% stay within the municipality; the middle of Canadian towns is 70%.
People with no fixed workplace are in neither count.
81% of Crossfield’s residents in work leave it to work; Calgary takes the most
Inbound, the leader is Airdrie (230).
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census (98-10-0459): commuting flows between municipalities (census subdivisions), rounded to 5; linked names have their own pages.
In and out of work in Crossfield
Of the 166 other places of 2,500 people or more in Census Division No. 6, 134 have a smaller share of 15-to-64s in work.
The Labour Force Survey’s employment rate for the wider area was 67% in October 2026. Counting those looking for work too, 72% of people aged 15 and over were in the labour force. Take in all adults, retirees with them, and only 64% were working. The census caught the labour market on 11 May 2021, deep in the pandemic, so unemployment and working from home both ran above normal.
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.
Crossfield gets to work without a car for 2% of commuters
The car is the way to work for 93% of commuters. Only 17% worked at home on census day, against 21% in the middle of Canadian towns. Few ride transit: 0.7%, where the middle of Canadian towns has 3.5%.
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census: main mode of commuting; average durations by mode from table 98-10-0458 (whole municipalities only).
35% more people are on EI in Census Division No. 6 than in 2019
Behind EI beneficiaries sits data gathered across Census Division No. 6, with Crossfield one part of it.
Set against the same month a year before, the count in August 2026 fell by 1%. The highest month was January 2021: 97,600 people, 3.2 times the 2019 level. 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. 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 Crossfield: C+
Better than 43% of Canadian towns on two measures together, #408 of 474 in Alberta.
OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL); active commuting from the 2021 Census.
For jobs and income, Crossfield is 344th of 734 Canadian towns of 2,900 to 5,500
| # | Place | People | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Household income | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Crescentwood Manitoba | 3,060 | 87% | 5% | $123K | A+ |
| 2 | Cornwallis Manitoba | 4,705 | 85% | 2.1% | $99K | A+ |
| 3 | New Maryland New Brunswick | 4,455 | 81% | 6.5% | $118K | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 13 | Garrison Woods Alberta | 3,138 | 79% | 10% | $146K | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 16 | Wainwright No. 61 Alberta | 4,576 | 84% | 5.5% | $108K | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 18 | Laurier Heights Alberta | 3,048 | 78% | 6.9% | $163K | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 342 | Bellerive Quebec | 4,393 | 77% | 9.1% | $82K | B− |
| 343 | Coverdale New Brunswick | 5,167 | 74% | 7.6% | $88K | B− |
| 344 | Crossfield Alberta | 4,075 | 77% | 11% | $105K | B− |
| 345 | Opportunity No. 17 Alberta | 3,592 | 58% | 18% | $89K | B− |
| 346 | Riverside Park - Mooneys Bay Ontario | 4,692 | 71% | 14% | $88K | B− |
| … | ||||||
| 734 | Division No. 1, Subdivision E Newfoundland and Labrador | 2,978 | 57% | 22% | $60K | D− |
Ordered by Jobs & income Grade: the top three, the places either side of Crossfield, and others among Alberta’s towns.
Work next door to Crossfield
| Place | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Household income | Average trip | Jobs | Walk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Crossfield | 77% | 11% | $105K | 32.8 min | B− | C+ |
| Carstairs 14.6 km | 76% | 10% | $99K | 33.5 min | C+ | B+ |
| Airdrie 17 km | 75% | 11% | $110K | 27.2 min | B | 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 Crossfield, where it comes from, and what it leaves out.
- 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. 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. Unemployed people over the labour force (in work or looking), aged 15 and over, on census day.
- Household income. Half of households had more than this before tax in 2020, half less, counting every source of income. For a neighbourhood we estimate the median from the income brackets of its dissemination areas.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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 Crossfield
How do people in Crossfield get to work?
93% of commuters go by car, 0.7% take public transit and 1.3% walk. On census day 17% of everyone in work stayed home to work.
How long is the commute from Crossfield?
On average 32.8 minutes; 20% take under 15 minutes and 7.7% take an hour or longer.
Where do people in Crossfield work?
19% work in Crossfield itself. Of those who leave, the most go to Calgary (340), then Airdrie (240).
How many jobs are there in Crossfield?
About 810 people had their usual place of work in Crossfield at the 2021 census, 0.8 for each working resident with a fixed workplace. Statistics Canada counted 197 businesses with employees in June 2026.
What is the unemployment rate in Crossfield?
On census day in May 2021, unemployment stood at 11% of the labour force (9.9% in the middle of Canadian towns). For a recent figure, the Labour Force Survey put the Calgary metro area at 6.6% in October 2026.
What is the average household income in Crossfield?
Before tax, half the households in Crossfield had more than $105,400 in 2020; the middle of Canadian towns is $85,900.
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).