Photo: Mack Male from Edmonton, AB, Canada · CC BY-SA 2.0Household incomes in Ambleside top those of 86% of Canadian towns
Workers in Ambleside spend 28.9 minutes on the way to work on average (26 in the middle of Canadian towns). Working at home: 31% of its workers, where the middle of Canadian towns has 21%. The 2021 census found 78% of working-age people in Ambleside employed; the middle of Canadian towns is 73%.
What stands out about work in Ambleside
More people in work than most towns
78% of people aged 15 to 64 had a job at the 2021 census, against 73% in the middle of Canadian towns; counting everyone 15 and over, retirees included, it was 69%. In work ↓
Higher incomes than most towns
The middle of Canadian towns is $85,900, and the median household here had $99,900 before tax in 2020. Household income ↓
Written from the data on this page: Statistics Canada’s 2021 Census, its commuting tables, Employment Insurance and the Labour Force Survey.
Jobs & income in Ambleside: graded B+
Better than 67% of Canadian towns on three measures together, #137 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 and the working-age population of Ambleside
Of the 211 other places of 2,500 people or more in Census Division No. 11, 192 have a smaller share of 15-to-64s in work.
The monthly Labour Force Survey, which covers the wider area, put its employment rate at 64% in October 2026. Counting those looking for work too, 77% of people aged 15 and over were in the labour force. The census was taken on 11 May 2021, mid-pandemic, when lockdowns had pushed unemployment up and sent many to work from 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.
Before tax, the median household in Ambleside had $99,900
89 of the 211 other places of 2,500+ in Census Division No. 11 have a higher median. Ambleside’s median is 8% above the middle of Alberta’s towns ($92,250). Incomes here are 2020’s and include the pandemic payments, CERB among them, that propped up the lower end.
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census: median total income of households in 2020, before tax (a neighbourhood’s estimated from its dissemination areas’ income groups).
On foot, by bike, bus or train: 7.4% of Ambleside’s commuters
Transit takes 4.5% of commuters, above the 3.5% in the middle of Canadian towns. Nearly everyone drives: 91% 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).
30% more people are on EI in Census Division No. 11 than in 2019
Ambleside doesn’t get its own EI beneficiaries figures; the ones here come from Census Division No. 11.
Over the year to August 2026, the count fell by 5%. The count topped out in January 2021 at 97,990 people, 3.1 times the 2019 average. For each 100 residents of working age in the division, about 4.2 are on EI.
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).
Ambleside grades A− for walkability
Better than 79% of Canadian towns on two measures together, #278 of 474 in Alberta.
OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL); active commuting from the 2021 Census.
How Ambleside ranks: 232nd of 690 Canadian towns of 5,400 to 10,400
| # | 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+ |
| … | ||||||
| 10 | Altadore Alberta | 7,675 | 80% | 8.1% | $155K | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 12 | Parkview Alberta | 5,729 | 80% | 9% | $155K | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 22 | West Hillhurst Alberta | 10,319 | 78% | 9.3% | $126K | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 230 | Glastonbury Alberta | 9,745 | 74% | 11% | $112K | B+ |
| 231 | Fort Frances Ontario | 7,607 | 74% | 8.1% | $78K | B+ |
| 232 | Ambleside Alberta | 7,733 | 78% | 10% | $100K | B+ |
| 233 | Uplands Ontario | 8,819 | 68% | 11% | $114K | B+ |
| 234 | North Huron Ontario | 5,411 | 80% | 8.1% | $77K | B+ |
| … | ||||||
| 690 | Chertsey Quebec | 5,678 | 64% | 8.6% | $58K | D− |
Ordered by Jobs & income Grade: the top three, the places either side of Ambleside, and others among Alberta’s towns.
Jobs and income in the places around Ambleside
| Place | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Household income | Average trip | Jobs | Walk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ambleside | 78% | 10% | $100K | 28.9 min | B+ | A− |
| Glenridding Heights 1 km | 76% | 8.9% | $119K | 29.6 min | B | A− |
| Windermere 1.2 km | 79% | 9.2% | $126K | 28.5 min | A− | B− |
| Keswick 1.8 km | 82% | 6.3% | $120K | 29.6 min | A− | B− |
| South Terwillegar 1.9 km | 73% | 12% | $111K | 28.5 min | B− | B+ |
| Terwillegar Towne 2.7 km | 77% | 9.1% | $131K | 27.4 min | B+ | A− |
| Haddow 2.8 km | 72% | 12% | $147K | 26.7 min | B | 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 Ambleside, where it comes from, and what it leaves out.
- 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. 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.
- 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. Statistics Canada surveys households every month; the results come out for metro areas and economic regions, never for single towns, and keep the rate current after 2021.
- 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.
- 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.
- Neighbourhood figures. The census reaches a neighbourhood only through its dissemination areas, and Ambleside’s figures add those up. Edmonton’s page has the commuting flows, which exist only for the whole municipality.
Questions about work in Ambleside
How many jobs are there in Ambleside?
Jobs are counted by municipality, not neighbourhood: the page for Edmonton has the jobs based there and where its commuters go.
What is the unemployment rate in Ambleside?
At the 2021 census 10% of the labour force had no job and was looking (9.9% in the middle of Canadian towns). The latest monthly survey, for the Edmonton metro area, gives 7.1% in October 2026.
What is the average household income in Ambleside?
Before tax, half the households in Ambleside had more than $99,900 in 2020; the middle of Canadian towns is $85,900.
How do people in Ambleside get to work?
91% of commuters go by car, 4.5% take public transit, 2.6% walk and 0.3% cycle. On census day 31% of everyone in work stayed home to work.
Sources: Statistics Canada, 2021 Census of Population (Census Profile) · 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).