Photo: Ken Eckert · CC BY-SA 4.0Drumheller has a smaller share of its working-age people in jobs than 83% of Canadian towns
In 2020, a household at the middle of Drumheller had $73,900 before tax, and the middle of Canadian towns sits at $85,900. Most commutes from Drumheller take well under an hour: the average is 16.2 minutes, and 5.9% take 60 minutes or longer. The 2021 census put unemployment in Drumheller at 8.8%, against 9.9% in the middle of Canadian towns.
Work in Drumheller, in a few figures
Fewer people in work than most towns
The 2021 census found 66% of 15-to-64s with a job (73% in the middle of Canadian towns). Count every adult, retirees too, and the figure is 58%. In work ↓
A local job centre
With 3,160 jobs based in Drumheller and 2,580 working residents, the ratio compares with 0.8 in the middle of Canadian towns. The daily tide ↓
Shorter trips than most towns
The average trip to work is 16.2 minutes (26 in the middle of Canadian towns), and 5.9% 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.
Drumheller earns B− for jobs and income
Better than 47% of Canadian towns on three measures together, #287 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.
In Drumheller, 66% of people aged 15 to 64 have a job
Of the 5 other places of 2,500 people or more in Census Division No. 5, one has a smaller share of 15-to-64s in work.
By October 2026, the Labour Force Survey had 57% of the wider area’s adults in work. Working or looking, 64% of everyone 15 and over was in the labour force. 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.
Every working day, Drumheller’s workforce grows by 20%
Drumheller takes in some 3 workers for every resident it sends out. Of those who commute, 90% stay within the municipality; the middle of Canadian towns is 70%.
People with no fixed workplace are in neither count.
How long the commute from Drumheller takes
Statistics Canada’s own average, timed exactly rather than by band, is 15.2 minutes. The middle of Alberta’s towns averages 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.
828 people come into Drumheller to work, most from Starland County and Kneehill County
- Starland County140
- Kneehill County110
- Calgary95
- Wheatland County85
- Munson60
- Airdrie55
- Carbon40
- Strathmore30
- Three Hills30
- Morrin25
- Morrin25
- Fort McMurray25
- Hanna20
- Delia20
- Drayton Valley15
- Whiska Creek No. 10610
- Humboldt10
- Special Area No. 210
- Wheatland County10
- Carbon10
26% of the people who work in Drumheller live outside it, 140 of them in Starland County, 36 km away. Outbound, Morrin takes the most: 25 people.
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census (98-10-0459): commuting flows between municipalities (census subdivisions), rounded to 5; linked names have their own pages.
Earnings at home in Drumheller: households
Before tax, 2020: lower than in 57% of Canadian towns.
Against the middle of Alberta’s towns ($92,250), Drumheller’s median is 20% below. Every other place of 2,500 or more in Census Division No. 5 has a higher median. Read the incomes as 2020’s, before tax: pandemic benefits such as CERB are in them, and they raised many low incomes for that year.
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 7.5% of Drumheller’s commuters
On foot: 6.4% of commuters, well above the 2.5% in the middle of Alberta’s towns. Nearly everyone drives: 91% of commuters go by car, truck or van. Fewer worked at home than in the middle of Canadian towns: 8% against 21%. Transit takes 0.5% 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).
23% more people are on EI in Census Division No. 5 than in 2019
Nobody publishes EI beneficiaries for Drumheller alone, so this card uses the figure for Census Division No. 5.
Compared with a year earlier, the count in August 2026 rose by 5%. The count topped out in February 2021 at 2,480 people, 2.7 times the 2019 average. That works out to around 3.4 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).
Drumheller earns B+ for walkability
Better than 72% of Canadian towns on two measures together, #328 of 474 in Alberta.
OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL); active commuting from the 2021 Census.
Drumheller next to Canadian towns of 5,900 to 11,400: 369th of 686 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+ |
| … | ||||||
| 8 | Altadore Alberta | 7,675 | 80% | 8.1% | $155K | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 19 | West Hillhurst Alberta | 10,319 | 78% | 9.3% | $126K | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 23 | Glenora Alberta | 6,197 | 78% | 9.1% | $123K | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 367 | Wild Rose Alberta | 8,534 | 68% | 13% | $120K | B− |
| 368 | Dauphin Manitoba | 8,587 | 73% | 6.6% | $61K | B− |
| 369 | Drumheller Alberta | 8,439 | 66% | 8.8% | $74K | B− |
| 370 | Churchville Ontario | 9,043 | 71% | 13% | $142K | B− |
| 371 | Ellerslie Alberta | 5,963 | 70% | 11% | $103K | B− |
| … | ||||||
| 686 | Beasley Ontario | 6,338 | 49% | 17% | $47K | D− |
Ordered by Jobs & income Grade: the top three, the places either side of Drumheller, and others among Alberta’s towns.
Work in the places around Drumheller
Distances here run 36–48 km: that is how far the nearest places with figures are from Drumheller.
| Place | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Household income | Average trip | Jobs | Walk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Drumheller | 66% | 8.8% | $74K | 16.2 min | B− | B+ |
| Starland County 36 km | 63% | 7.8% | $79K | 30.2 min | D | C |
| Kneehill County 46.9 km | 77% | 7.7% | $92K | 27.4 min | B | C+ |
| Three Hills 47.6 km | 75% | 12% | $76K | 16.6 min | B+ | A+ |
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 Drumheller, where it comes from, and what it leaves out.
- Unemployment. Of everyone 15 or older who was working or job-hunting in the census week, the part still looking. Someone not seeking work isn’t in it at all.
- Household income. The census median total income of households in 2020, before tax; a neighbourhood’s is estimated from its dissemination areas’ income groups.
- 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. Statistics Canada’s place-of-work table counts people with a usual place of work by the municipality they live in and the one they work in. Jobs here are people whose usual workplace is in the municipality, wherever they live.
- Employment Insurance. Statistics Canada counts EI beneficiaries each month by census division. Seasonal work makes it swing, so read it as a trend, not a jobless 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. 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.
- 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 Drumheller
How do people in Drumheller get to work?
Driving takes 91% of commuters to work, 0.5% take public transit, 6.4% walk and 0.6% cycle, and on census day 8% of those in work were at home.
How long is the commute from Drumheller?
About 16.2 minutes on average, with 72% under a quarter-hour and 5.9% at an hour or longer.
Where do people in Drumheller work?
90% work in Drumheller itself; of those who leave, the most go to Morrin (25), then Fort McMurray (25).
How many jobs are there in Drumheller?
Some 3,160 people worked in Drumheller at the 2021 census: 1.2 jobs per working resident with a fixed workplace. Statistics Canada counted 413 businesses with employees in June 2026.
What is the unemployment rate in Drumheller?
Two figures answer it: 8.8% on census day in May 2021 (9.9% in the middle of Canadian towns), and 8.8% for the Camrose-Drumheller economic region in the Labour Force Survey of October 2026.
What is the average household income in Drumheller?
At $73,900 before tax in 2020, the median household in Drumheller compares with $85,900 in the middle of Canadian towns.
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).