Photo: Wilson Hui from Calgary, Canada · CC BY 2.0Grimshaw’s household incomes are higher than in 69% of Canadian towns
For 6.6% of commuters in Grimshaw, the trip to work lasts an hour or more; the average is 22.1 minutes. At the 2021 census, Grimshaw sat at the middle of Canadian towns on work: 73% of 15-to-64s had a job. Out of work in May 2021: 12% of Grimshaw’s labour force, against 9.9% in the middle of Canadian towns.
Work in Grimshaw: the figures worth knowing
More jobs than the typical town
With 915 jobs based in Grimshaw and 845 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 22.1 minutes (26 in the middle of Canadian towns), and 6.6% 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.
Grimshaw grades B for jobs and income
Better than 62% of Canadian towns on three measures together, #175 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.
A working day adds 7% to the people at work in Grimshaw
Of those who commute, 52% stay within the municipality; the middle of Canadian towns is 70%.
People with no fixed workplace are in neither count.
The length of the trip to work in Grimshaw
The middle of Alberta’s towns averages 25.8 minutes. Trips under 15 minutes: 47%, more than the 39% in the middle of Alberta’s towns. Statistics Canada’s own average, timed exactly rather than by band, is 20.2 minutes.
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.
476 people come into Grimshaw to work, most from Northern Lights County and Peace River
- Peace River340
- Northern Sunrise County25
- Peace No. 13515
- Berwyn15
52% of the people who work in Grimshaw live outside it, 105 of them in Northern Lights County, 70 km away. Going the other way, Peace River is the biggest single destination (340).
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census (98-10-0459): commuting flows between municipalities (census subdivisions), rounded to 5; linked names have their own pages.
Work and the working-age population of Grimshaw
Of the 5 other places of 2,500 people or more in Census Division No. 19, one has a smaller share of 15-to-64s in work.
Across all ages 15 and over the share in work falls to 59%: many residents are past working age. The monthly Labour Force Survey, which covers the wider area, put its employment rate at 63% in October 2026. Add those looking for a job to those with one, and 67% of residents 15 and over were 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.
Household income in Grimshaw: $86,800 at the median
Against the middle of Alberta’s towns ($92,250), Grimshaw’s median is 6% below. Of the 5 other places of 2,500 or more in Census Division No. 19, 4 have a higher median. Pandemic benefits paid in 2020 lifted the incomes at the bottom, and they are counted here.
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census: median total income of households in 2020, before tax (a neighbourhood’s estimated from its dissemination areas’ income groups).
Leaving the car at home: 5.6% of commuters in Grimshaw
Nearly everyone drives: 92% of commuters go by car, truck or van. Only 10% worked at home on census day, against 21% in the middle of Canadian towns. Transit barely figures here, 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).
In Census Division No. 19, 5% more people receive EI than in 2019
Grimshaw shares its EI beneficiaries numbers with the rest of Census Division No. 19.
In January 2021 it reached 8,300, the most in the series and 3.1 times the 2019 average. For each 100 residents of working age in the division, about 3.8 are on EI. Compared with a year earlier, the count in August 2026 fell by 7%.
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).
On getting around on foot, Grimshaw grades A−
Better than 75% of Canadian towns on two measures together, #304 of 474 in Alberta.
OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL); active commuting from the 2021 Census.
How Grimshaw ranks: 205th of 527 Canadian towns of 2,500 to 3,800
| # | Place | People | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Household income | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Upper Mount Royal Alberta | 2,758 | 83% | 12% | $188K | A+ |
| 2 | Central River Heights Manitoba | 2,736 | 84% | 5.4% | $137K | A+ |
| 3 | Crescentwood Manitoba | 3,060 | 87% | 5% | $123K | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 13 | Garrison Woods Alberta | 3,138 | 79% | 10% | $146K | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 20 | Laurier Heights Alberta | 3,048 | 78% | 6.9% | $163K | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 203 | Killarney - Turtle Mountain Manitoba | 3,708 | 74% | 8.1% | $72K | B |
| 204 | Laurentian Hills Ontario | 3,147 | 71% | 5.5% | $94K | B |
| 205 | Grimshaw Alberta | 2,799 | 73% | 12% | $87K | B |
| 206 | Cochrane, Unorganized, North Part Ontario | 2,770 | 65% | 11% | $98K | B |
| 207 | Eastdale Ontario | 2,703 | 74% | 9.8% | $95K | B |
| … | ||||||
| 527 | Division No. 8, Subdivision L Newfoundland and Labrador | 2,724 | 43% | 30% | $51K | D− |
Ordered by Jobs & income Grade: the top three, the places either side of Grimshaw, and others among Alberta’s towns.
Work in and around Grimshaw
Grimshaw has few close neighbours with figures, so the list reaches 9–27 km out.
| Place | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Household income | Average trip | Jobs | Walk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grimshaw | 73% | 12% | $87K | 22.1 min | B | A− |
| Peace No. 135 9.5 km | 69% | 9.4% | $96K | 24.9 min | B− | C |
| Peace River 20.8 km | 76% | 7.9% | $99K | 16.5 min | A+ | B |
| Northern Sunrise County 27.4 km | 80% | 6.2% | $100K | 25.7 min | A− | D− |
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 Grimshaw, where it comes from, and what it leaves out.
- 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.
- 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. 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. It counts only people who wanted work and had none in May 2021, as a share of those working or searching; students and retirees who weren’t looking stay out of both sides.
- 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.
- 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 Grimshaw
What is the unemployment rate in Grimshaw?
Two figures answer it: 12% on census day in May 2021 (9.9% in the middle of Canadian towns), and 5.6% for the Banff-Jasper-Rocky Mountain House and Athabasca-Grande Prairie-Peace River economic region in the Labour Force Survey of October 2026.
What is the average household income in Grimshaw?
Before tax, half the households in Grimshaw had more than $86,800 in 2020; the middle of Canadian towns is $85,900.
How do people in Grimshaw get to work?
Driving takes 92% of commuters to work, 5.6% walk, and on census day 10% of those in work were at home.
How long is the commute from Grimshaw?
About 22.1 minutes on average, with 47% under a quarter-hour and 6.6% at an hour or longer.
Where do people in Grimshaw work?
Most stay: 52% work in Grimshaw. The rest go first to Peace River (340) and Northern Sunrise County (25).
How many jobs are there in Grimshaw?
Some 915 people worked in Grimshaw at the 2021 census: 1.1 jobs per working resident with a fixed workplace. Statistics Canada counted 176 businesses with employees in June 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).