Photo: Qyd · CC BY 2.5A place people come to for work: Drayton Valley has 1.8 jobs per resident in work
The median household in Drayton Valley had $86,800 before tax in 2020; the middle of Canadian towns is $85,900. Most commutes from Drayton Valley take well under an hour: the average is 18.4 minutes, and 9% take 60 minutes or longer. With 73% of its 15-to-64s in work in 2021, Drayton Valley matches the middle of Canadian towns.
What Drayton Valley’s work numbers say
Work near the middle
The 2021 census found 73% of 15-to-64s with a job (73% in the middle of Canadian towns). Count every adult, retirees too, and the figure is 62%. In work ↓
Shorter trips than most towns
The average trip to work is 18.4 minutes (26 in the middle of Canadian towns), and 9% 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.
Jobs and income in Drayton Valley earn A−
Better than 77% of Canadian towns on three measures together, #98 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.
Who comes and goes from Drayton Valley each working day
2,405 residents of Drayton Valley had a usual place of work at the 2021 census, and 4,355 people had theirs in Drayton Valley, wherever they lived.
Each resident commuting out of Drayton Valley is matched by about 9 coming in. The job is inside the municipality for 90% of its commuters (70% in the middle of Canadian towns).
People with no fixed workplace are in neither count.
The length of the trip to work in Drayton Valley
Statistics Canada’s own average, timed exactly rather than by band, is 16.1 minutes. In the middle of Alberta’s towns, the average commute is 25.8 minutes. A quarter-hour or less for 72% of commuters, 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.
Commuting time at the 2021 Census, to work only, for people who travel to a usual workplace or have none fixed.
2,200 people come into Drayton Valley to work, most from Brazeau County and Parkland County
- Brazeau County1,515
- Parkland County200
- Wetaskiwin County No. 1085
- Leduc County80
- Yellowhead County70
- Edmonton55
- Spruce Grove25
- Drumheller15
- Leduc15
- Warburg15
51% of the people who work in Drayton Valley live outside it, 1,515 of them in Brazeau County, 2 km away. Leduc County is where the largest group of commuters out goes, 65 of them.
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 Drayton Valley work and where people who work there live, the ten largest each way.
In and out of work in Drayton Valley
Of the 211 other places of 2,500 people or more in Census Division No. 11, 126 have a smaller share of 15-to-64s in work.
For the wider area, the Labour Force Survey had 63% in work in October 2026. Add those looking for a job to those with one, and 70% of residents 15 and over were in the labour force. The figures are a snapshot of 11 May 2021, when pandemic rules still kept many people out of work or at home.
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 Drayton Valley
Before tax, 2020: higher than in 69% of Canadian towns.
Against the middle of Alberta’s towns ($92,250), Drayton Valley’s median is 6% below. Of the 211 other places of 2,500 or more in Census Division No. 11, 130 have a higher median. 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).
Walk, cycle or ride transit: the choice of 5.7% of Drayton Valley’s commuters
The middle of Alberta’s towns has 2.5% walking; here, 5.1% do. The car is the way to work for 93% of commuters. Home was the workplace for 8.1%, under the 21% in the middle of Canadian towns. Transit takes 0.3% of commuters, against 3.5% 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).
How residents who commute got to work, 2021 Census; working at home is counted apart.
In Census Division No. 11, 30% more people receive EI than in 2019
Per 100 residents aged 15 to 64, about 4.2 receive EI. In the twelve months to August 2026 the number fell by 5%. In January 2021 it reached 97,990, the most in the series and 3.1 times the 2019 average.
Statistics Canada, Employment Insurance beneficiaries by census division (14-10-0323): all income benefits, not seasonally adjusted. EI beneficiaries: one figure for all of Census Division No. 11. 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 Drayton Valley on foot earns B+
Better than 74% of Canadian towns on two measures together, #316 of 474 in Alberta.
OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL); active commuting from the 2021 Census.
Out of 697 Canadian towns of 5,600 to 10,900, Drayton Valley comes 161st 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+ |
| … | ||||||
| 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+ |
| … | ||||||
| 159 | Lucan Biddulph Ontario | 6,827 | 82% | 7.2% | $105K | A− |
| 160 | Greely Ontario | 10,359 | 77% | 7.7% | $157K | A− |
| 161 | Drayton Valley Alberta | 8,047 | 73% | 11% | $87K | A− |
| 162 | Canterbury Park Manitoba | 8,744 | 78% | 7.5% | $114K | A− |
| 163 | Elizabethtown-Kitley Ontario | 9,886 | 78% | 8.3% | $92K | A− |
| … | ||||||
| 697 | Chertsey Quebec | 5,678 | 64% | 8.6% | $58K | D− |
Ordered by Jobs & income Grade: the top three, the places either side of Drayton Valley, and others among Alberta’s towns.
Work in and around Drayton Valley
Drayton Valley has few close neighbours with figures, so the list reaches 2–74 km out.
| Place | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Household income | Average trip | Jobs | Walk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Drayton Valley | 73% | 11% | $87K | 18.4 min | A− | B+ |
| Brazeau County 2 km | 74% | 11% | $94K | 25.6 min | B | D |
| Wabamun 133A 48.9 km | 30% | 33% | $69K | 19.9 min | C− | — |
| Parkland County 67.6 km | 75% | 9.8% | $116K | 32.8 min | B− | C− |
| Stony Plain 73.5 km | 72% | 11% | $91K | 28.4 min | C+ | B+ |
| Lac Ste. Anne County 74.3 km | 74% | 10% | $87K | 38.8 min | C− | 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 Drayton Valley, where it comes from, and what it leaves out.
- 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. Monthly EI recipients across the census division: a pulse of the local job market rather than a measure of who is out of work.
- 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. 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. A census-day figure: people without a job who were looking, divided by all those working or looking, ages 15 and up.
- Household income. Before-tax total income of the middle household for 2020, from the census. Neighbourhood medians are worked out from bracket counts, since Statistics Canada publishes none of their own.
- 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.
- 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 Drayton Valley
Where do people in Drayton Valley work?
Most stay: 90% work in Drayton Valley. The rest go first to Leduc County (65) and Brazeau County (50).
How many jobs are there in Drayton Valley?
Statistics Canada counted 739 businesses with employees in June 2026.
What is the unemployment rate in Drayton Valley?
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 Edmonton economic region at 7.3% in October 2026.
What is the average household income in Drayton Valley?
At $86,800 before tax in 2020, the median household in Drayton Valley compares with $85,900 in the middle of Canadian towns.
How do people in Drayton Valley get to work?
Driving takes 93% of commuters to work, 0.3% take public transit, 5.1% walk and 0.3% cycle, and on census day 8.1% of those in work were at home.
How long is the commute from Drayton Valley?
About 18.4 minutes on average, with 72% under a quarter-hour and 9% at an hour or longer.
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).