Photo: Cherry2207 · CC BY 4.0Working-age people in Pollard Meadows are less likely to have a job than in 90% of Canadian towns
Pollard Meadows had an unemployment rate of 14% at the 2021 census; the middle of Canadian towns is 9.9%. A typical one-way commute from Pollard Meadows lasts 28.1 minutes, against 26 in the middle of Canadian towns. In 2020, a household at the middle of Pollard Meadows had $80,200 before tax, next to $85,900 for the middle of Canadian towns.
What Pollard Meadows’ work numbers say
Fewer people in work than most towns
With 63% of its 15-to-64s in work in 2021, against 73% in the middle of Canadian towns, it has 54% of all adults employed. In work ↓
More unemployment than most towns
Census day in 2021 put 14% out of work (9.9% in the middle of Canadian towns), and the area’s monthly survey gave 7.1% in October 2026. Unemployment ↓
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 Pollard Meadows: C−
Better than 17% of Canadian towns on three measures together, #438 of 474 in Alberta.
Its strongest measure is household income; 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.
The share of 15-to-64s in work in Pollard Meadows: 63%
Of the 211 other places of 2,500 people or more in Census Division No. 11, 35 have a smaller share of 15-to-64s in work.
In October 2026, 64% of the wider area’s adults had a job, on the Labour Force Survey’s count. Statistics Canada counted on 11 May 2021, with much of the country under pandemic rules: more people were out of work or at home than usual.
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 Pollard Meadows
Before tax, 2020: higher than in 56% of Canadian towns.
Of the 211 other places of 2,500 or more in Census Division No. 11, 156 have a higher median. That puts Pollard Meadows 13% below the median of Alberta’s towns, $92,250. 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).
Walking, cycling or transit: 13% of Pollard Meadows’ commuters
The middle of Alberta’s towns has 5.7% on transit; here it is 11%. The car takes 85% of commuters here, under the 88% in the middle of Alberta’s towns.
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census: main mode of commuting; average durations by mode from table 98-10-0458 (whole municipalities only).
In Census Division No. 11, 30% more people receive EI than in 2019
Pollard Meadows shares its EI beneficiaries numbers with the rest of Census Division No. 11.
At its peak, in January 2021, 97,990 people were on EI, 3.1 times the 2019 average. That works out to around 4.2 beneficiaries per 100 people aged 15 to 64 across the division. Compared with a year earlier, the count in August 2026 fell by 5%.
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 Pollard Meadows: A+
Better than 96% of Canadian towns on two measures together, #98 of 474 in Alberta.
OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL); active commuting from the 2021 Census.
Pollard Meadows is 605th of 719 Canadian towns of 3,100 to 5,900 people for jobs and income
| # | Place | People | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Household income | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cornwallis Manitoba | 4,705 | 85% | 2.1% | $99K | A+ |
| 2 | New Maryland New Brunswick | 4,455 | 81% | 6.5% | $118K | A+ |
| 3 | Hay River Northwest Territories | 3,317 | 78% | 6.5% | $129K | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 13 | Garrison Woods Alberta | 3,138 | 79% | 10% | $146K | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 15 | Parkview Alberta | 5,729 | 80% | 9% | $155K | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 17 | Wainwright No. 61 Alberta | 4,576 | 84% | 5.5% | $108K | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 603 | Electoral Area D, Columbia-Shuswap British Columbia | 4,829 | 74% | 7.2% | $70K | C− |
| 604 | Meyokumin Alberta | 4,069 | 67% | 15% | $75K | C− |
| 605 | Pollard Meadows Alberta | 4,361 | 63% | 14% | $80K | C− |
| 606 | Dalhousie New Brunswick | 3,255 | 55% | 12% | $54K | C− |
| 607 | Bannerman Alberta | 5,187 | 59% | 15% | $80K | C− |
| … | ||||||
| 719 | Saint-Alexis-des-Monts Quebec | 3,190 | 61% | 11% | $50K | D− |
Ordered by Jobs & income Grade: the top three, the places either side of Pollard Meadows, and others among Alberta’s towns.
Work next door to Pollard Meadows
| Place | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Household income | Average trip | Jobs | Walk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pollard Meadows | 63% | 14% | $80K | 28.1 min | C− | A+ |
| Daly Grove 0.8 km | 64% | 13% | $95K | 27.6 min | C | B+ |
| Meyokumin 0.9 km | 67% | 15% | $75K | 27.3 min | C− | A |
| Bisset 1 km | 77% | 10% | $92K | 27.9 min | B | A+ |
| Weinlos 1.1 km | 63% | 16% | $89K | 26.1 min | C | A |
| Crawford Plains 1.2 km | 76% | 13% | $101K | 27 min | B | B− |
| Sakaw 1.4 km | 68% | 13% | $82K | 27.3 min | C− | 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 Pollard Meadows, where it comes from, and what it leaves out.
- Trip times. How long getting to work normally takes, averaged from the census’s time bands at their middles; expect it to read slightly high against the timed figure.
- 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. Sampled each month and released for regions rather than towns, so its rate describes the area around the town.
- 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.
- 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. 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.
- Which towns we compare. Towns and city neighbourhoods of 2,500 people or more, never a whole city and never a First Nations reserve. Middles are medians.
- Neighbourhood figures. Commuting flows and Statistics Canada’s timed averages stop at the municipality, so Edmonton’s page carries them; Pollard Meadows’ own figures sum its dissemination areas.
Questions about work in Pollard Meadows
What is the unemployment rate in Pollard Meadows?
Two figures answer it: 14% on census day in May 2021 (9.9% in the middle of Canadian towns), and 7.1% for the Edmonton metro area in the Labour Force Survey of October 2026.
What is the average household income in Pollard Meadows?
The census puts Pollard Meadows at $80,200 for 2020, before tax and at the median, against $85,900 in the middle of Canadian towns.
How do people in Pollard Meadows get to work?
By car: 85% of commuters, 11% take public transit and 1.3% walk; on census day 13% of those in work worked from home.
How many jobs are there in Pollard Meadows?
The census places jobs by municipality, so the answer is in Edmonton’s figures, with the flows of its commuters.
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).