Photo: Eric Friedebach · CC BY 3.0Households in Cypress County earn more than those in 86% of Canadian towns
Joblessness at the 2021 census: 6.8% of Cypress County’s labour force, and the middle of Canadian towns sits at 9.9%. Jobs located in Cypress County: 2,635, for 2,195 residents with a usual workplace. Of Cypress County’s residents aged 15 to 64, 77% were employed when the 2021 census was taken; the middle of Canadian towns is 73%.
The work figures that set Cypress County apart
Less unemployment than most towns
The Labour Force Survey had the area at 6.3% in October 2026; on census day in 2021 the town’s own rate was 6.8%, where the middle of Canadian towns had 9.9%. Unemployment ↓
Higher incomes than most towns
Household income at the median was $100,800 in 2020, before tax; Canadian towns have $85,900 at the middle. Household income ↓
A local job centre
With 2,635 jobs based in Cypress County and 2,195 working residents, the ratio compares with 0.8 in the middle of Canadian towns. The daily tide ↓
Written from the data on this page: Statistics Canada’s 2021 Census, its commuting tables, Employment Insurance and the Labour Force Survey.
The Jobs & income grade for Cypress County: A−
Better than 82% of Canadian towns on three measures together, #67 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.
Work for 77% of 15-to-64s in Cypress County
All 3 other places of 2,500 people or more in Census Division No. 1 have a smaller share of 15-to-64s in work.
The participation rate, everyone 15 and over working or looking for work, was 69%. By October 2026, the Labour Force Survey had 59% of the wider area’s adults in work. 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.
Household income in Cypress County: $100,800 at the median
Cypress County’s median is 9% above the middle of Alberta’s towns ($92,250). No other place of 2,500 or more in Census Division No. 1 has a higher median. 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, Cypress County’s workforce swells by 14%
The job is inside the municipality for 25% of its commuters (70% in the middle of Canadian towns).
People with no fixed workplace are in neither count.
2,091 people come into Cypress County to work, most from Medicine Hat and Redcliff
- Medicine Hat1,460
- Redcliff80
- Fort McMurray30
- Bow Island20
- Richmound10
- Lethbridge10
- Brooks10
- Calgary10
- Grande Prairie10
79% of the people who work in Cypress County live outside it, 1,265 of them in Medicine Hat, 5 km away. The main destination the other way is Medicine Hat, with 1,460.
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census (98-10-0459): commuting flows between municipalities (census subdivisions), rounded to 5; linked names have their own pages.
Leaving the car at home: 4.3% of commuters in Cypress County
24% of everyone in work worked at home on census day, against 21% in the middle of Canadian towns. Transit takes 0.4% of commuters, against 3.5% in the middle of Canadian towns. Nearly everyone drives: 95% of commuters go by car, truck or van.
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census: main mode of commuting; average durations by mode from table 98-10-0458 (whole municipalities only).
Cypress County has a quicker trip to work than the middle of Canadian towns: 23.9 minutes
Statistics Canada’s own average, timed exactly rather than by band, is 22.1 minutes. The middle of Alberta’s towns averages 25.8 minutes. Trips under 15 minutes: 35%, fewer than the 39% in the middle of Alberta’s towns. Long trips, an hour or more, are about as common as in the middle of Alberta’s towns: 6.7%.
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.
EI claims in Census Division No. 1 run 16% above their 2019 level
Cypress County doesn’t get its own EI beneficiaries figures; the ones here come from Census Division No. 1.
That works out to around 3.3 beneficiaries per 100 people aged 15 to 64 across the division. Compared with a year earlier, the count in August 2026 fell by 5%. The count topped out in January 2021 at 4,760 people, 3.1 times the 2019 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 of Cypress County: C
Better than 35% of Canadian towns on two measures together, #430 of 474 in Alberta.
OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL); active commuting from the 2021 Census.
Among Canadian towns of 5,500 to 10,600, Cypress County ranks 120th of 686 for 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+ |
| … | ||||||
| 9 | Altadore Alberta | 7,675 | 80% | 8.1% | $155K | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 11 | Parkview Alberta | 5,729 | 80% | 9% | $155K | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 21 | West Hillhurst Alberta | 10,319 | 78% | 9.3% | $126K | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 118 | Taber Alberta | 10,175 | 74% | 6.5% | $82K | A− |
| 119 | Blackburn Hamlet Ontario | 7,606 | 76% | 8.7% | $100K | A− |
| 120 | Cypress County Alberta | 7,855 | 77% | 6.8% | $101K | A− |
| 121 | Coaldale Alberta | 9,644 | 76% | 7.9% | $91K | A− |
| 122 | Huron South Ontario | 5,555 | 80% | 9% | $120K | A− |
| … | ||||||
| 686 | Chertsey Quebec | 5,678 | 64% | 8.6% | $58K | D− |
Ordered by Jobs & income Grade: the top three, the places either side of Cypress County, and others among Alberta’s towns.
Jobs near Cypress County: the places around it
| Place | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Household income | Average trip | Jobs | Walk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cypress County | 77% | 6.8% | $101K | 23.9 min | A− | C |
| Medicine Hat 4.8 km | 71% | 12% | $78K | 18.1 min | B | B+ |
| Redcliff 12 km | 71% | 12% | $83K | 22.3 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 Cypress County, where it comes from, and what it leaves out.
- 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. 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. Why 15 to 64? Otherwise retirees would pull the rate down in older towns. The census can’t say how old a neighbourhood’s workers are, so the count of people in work takes every age.
- Unemployment. Unemployed people over the labour force (in work or looking), aged 15 and over, on census day.
- 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. 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. 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. 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 Cypress County
What is the average household income in Cypress County?
Before tax, half the households in Cypress County had more than $100,800 in 2020; the middle of Canadian towns is $85,900.
How do people in Cypress County get to work?
By car: 95% of commuters, 0.4% take public transit, 3.4% walk and 0.5% cycle; on census day 24% of those in work worked from home.
How long is the commute from Cypress County?
23.9 minutes is the average trip, with 35% of commuters there in under 15 minutes and 6.7% taking an hour or more.
Where do people in Cypress County work?
25% work in Cypress County itself. Of those who leave, the most go to Medicine Hat (1,460), then Redcliff (80).
How many jobs are there in Cypress County?
The 2021 census counted about 2,635 people working in Cypress County: 1.2 jobs for every resident who commutes to a fixed workplace. Statistics Canada counted 318 businesses with employees in June 2026.
What is the unemployment rate in Cypress County?
At the 2021 census 6.8% of the labour force had no job and was looking (9.9% in the middle of Canadian towns). The latest monthly survey, for the Lethbridge-Medicine Hat economic region, gives 6.3% in October 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).