High Prairie draws workers in: 1.9 jobs for every resident in work
Half the households in High Prairie had more than $88,200 in 2020, before tax; the middle of Canadian towns is $85,900. Commutes from High Prairie average 14.9 minutes, and 4.8% take an hour or more. The 2021 census found 76% of working-age people in High Prairie employed; the middle of Canadian towns is 73%.
What High Prairie’s work numbers say
Work near the middle
At the 2021 census 76% of the 15-to-64s were in work (73% in the middle of Canadian towns); across all ages 15 and over, 62%. In work ↓
Shorter trips than most towns
The average trip to work is 14.9 minutes (26 in the middle of Canadian towns), and 4.8% 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.
High Prairie earns A for jobs and income
Better than 94% of Canadian towns on three measures together, #21 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.
High Prairie fills up on a working day: 78% more workers
About 7 people arrive to work in High Prairie for each resident who goes out. Of those who commute, 87% 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 High Prairie
Statistics Canada’s own average, timed exactly rather than by band, is 14.3 minutes. The middle of Alberta’s towns averages 25.8 minutes. Trips under 15 minutes: 77%, more than the 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.
948 people come into High Prairie to work, most from Big Lakes County and Edmonton
- Big Lakes County680
- Edmonton55
- McLennan40
- Sucker Creek 150A35
- Smoky River No. 13035
- Grande Cache20
- Slave Lake15
- Lesser Slave River No. 12415
- Drift Pile River 15015
- Calgary10
- Big Lakes County40
- Slave Lake25
- Sucker Creek 150A15
- Peace River15
- McLennan15
54% of the people who work in High Prairie live outside it, 680 of them in Big Lakes County, 22 km away. Big Lakes County is where the largest group of commuters out goes, 40 of them.
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census (98-10-0459): commuting flows between municipalities (census subdivisions), rounded to 5; linked names have their own pages.
Who in High Prairie has a job
Of the 8 other places of 2,500 people or more in Census Division No. 17, 7 have a smaller share of 15-to-64s in work.
Working or looking, 71% of everyone 15 and over was in the labour force. Many residents are past working age, so among everyone 15 and over the share in work drops to 62%. The monthly Labour Force Survey, which covers the wider area, put its employment rate at 63% in October 2026. 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 High Prairie
Before tax, 2020: higher than in 72% of Canadian towns.
Against the middle of Alberta’s towns ($92,250), High Prairie’s median is 4% below. Of the 8 other places of 2,500 or more in Census Division No. 17, 6 have 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).
Without a car, 11% of High Prairie’s commuters get to work
Fewer worked at home than in the middle of Canadian towns: 9.5% against 21%. Transit barely figures here, against 3.5% in the middle of Canadian towns. Driving to work is about as common as in the middle of Alberta’s towns, at 88%.
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census: main mode of commuting; average durations by mode from table 98-10-0458 (whole municipalities only).
About as many people are on EI in Census Division No. 17 as in 2019
Compared with a year earlier, the count in August 2026 fell by 3%. The count topped out in July 2021 at 3,310 people, 2.3 times the 2019 average. That is about 4.3 people on EI for every 100 aged 15 to 64 in the division.
Statistics Canada, Employment Insurance beneficiaries by census division (14-10-0323): all income benefits, not seasonally adjusted. Not measured by town: EI beneficiaries (Census Division No. 17). EI counts are context, not part of any grade.
People receiving Employment Insurance each month, as a share of the 2019 average (100).
Walking in High Prairie earns A+
Better than 95% of Canadian towns on two measures together, #110 of 474 in Alberta.
OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL); active commuting from the 2021 Census.
High Prairie is 41st of 424 Canadian towns of 2,500 to 3,500 people for jobs and income
| # | 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+ |
| … | ||||||
| 12 | Garrison Woods Alberta | 3,138 | 79% | 10% | $146K | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 19 | Laurier Heights Alberta | 3,048 | 78% | 6.9% | $163K | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 39 | Hillcrest Management Area Saskatchewan | 3,004 | 74% | 8.3% | $148K | A |
| 40 | Highlands Alberta | 2,677 | 83% | 9.5% | $105K | A |
| 41 | High Prairie Alberta | 2,607 | 76% | 12% | $88K | A |
| 42 | Queensway Terrace North Ontario | 3,160 | 78% | 6.9% | $107K | A |
| 43 | Rivergrove Manitoba | 2,742 | 87% | 5.2% | $100K | A |
| … | ||||||
| 424 | 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 High Prairie, and others among Alberta’s towns.
The places around High Prairie, side by side
High Prairie has few close neighbours with figures, so the list reaches 22–76 km out.
| Place | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Household income | Average trip | Jobs | Walk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| High Prairie | 76% | 12% | $88K | 14.9 min | A | A+ |
| Big Lakes County 21.6 km | 62% | 13% | $77K | 23.4 min | C | C |
| Falher 55.7 km | 72% | 12% | $71K | 19 min | B− | A+ |
| Smoky River No. 130 58.1 km | 83% | 7% | $89K | 29.1 min | B+ | D |
| Valleyview 64.9 km | 68% | 16% | $84K | 16 min | B+ | A |
| Sturgeon Lake 154 75.7 km | 37% | 31% | $57K | 19 min | D | 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 High Prairie, where it comes from, and what it leaves out.
- 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. A monthly count of Employment Insurance beneficiaries for the whole census division. It tracks the local job market, but it is not 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. 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. 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.
- 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. Every town and city neighbourhood with 2,500 residents or more; whole cities and First Nations reserves are left out. Each middle figure is a median.
Questions about work in High Prairie
What is the unemployment rate in High Prairie?
The 2021 census found 12% unemployed, against 9.9% in the middle of Canadian towns; the Labour Force Survey’s latest, for the Banff-Jasper-Rocky Mountain House and Athabasca-Grande Prairie-Peace River economic region, is 5.6% (October 2026).
What is the average household income in High Prairie?
The median household in High Prairie had $88,200 before tax in 2020, against $85,900 in the middle of Canadian towns.
How do people in High Prairie get to work?
By car: 88% of commuters, 11% walk; on census day 9.5% of those in work worked from home.
How long is the commute from High Prairie?
14.9 minutes is the average trip, with 77% of commuters there in under 15 minutes and 4.8% taking an hour or more.
Where do people in High Prairie work?
Most stay: 87% work in High Prairie. The rest go first to Big Lakes County (40) and Slave Lake (25).
How many jobs are there in High Prairie?
Statistics Canada counted 224 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).