Photo: Joningham · CC BY-SA 4.0Fewer of Innisfail’s 15-to-64s are in work than in 60% of Canadian towns
When the 2021 census was taken, 11% of people in Innisfail who wanted a job had none, and the middle of Canadian towns sits at 9.9%. 3,485 people have their usual place of work in Innisfail, against 2,420 residents who travel to a job. Before tax, the typical household in Innisfail brought in $76,000 in 2020, against $85,900 in the middle of Canadian towns.
What sets Innisfail apart on jobs and income
A local job centre
With 3,485 jobs based in Innisfail and 2,420 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 20.8 minutes (26 in the middle of Canadian towns), and 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.
On jobs and income, Innisfail grades B−
Better than 54% of Canadian towns on three measures together, #245 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.
On a working day Innisfail gains 38% in workers
Innisfail takes in some 2 workers for every resident it sends out. 64% of residents who commute work inside the municipality, against 70% in the middle of Canadian towns.
People with no fixed workplace are in neither count.
Shorter than the middle of Canadian towns: commutes from Innisfail average 20.8 minutes
A quarter-hour or less for 54% of commuters, against 39% in the middle of Alberta’s towns. An hour or more: 6% of commuters, under the 7% in the middle of Alberta’s towns. Timed exactly, the average is 18.9 minutes (Statistics Canada). In the middle of Alberta’s towns, the average commute is 25.8 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.
1,943 people come into Innisfail to work, most from Red Deer County and Red Deer
- Red Deer County675
- Red Deer455
- Penhold125
- Bowden105
- Sylvan Lake95
- Calgary80
- Olds65
- Airdrie60
- Mountain View County55
- Blackfalds45
- Red Deer385
- Red Deer County165
- Olds125
- Bowden35
- Calgary20
- Penhold20
- Lacombe County20
- Sylvan Lake15
- Lacombe15
- Fort McMurray15
56% of the people who work in Innisfail live outside it, 675 of them in Red Deer County, 18 km away. Of residents who leave for work, most head to Red Deer (385).
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census (98-10-0459): commuting flows between municipalities (census subdivisions), rounded to 5; linked names have their own pages.
73% of working-age people in Innisfail have jobs
Of the 10 other places of 2,500 people or more in Census Division No. 8, 5 have a smaller share of 15-to-64s in work.
Take in all adults, retirees with them, and only 53% were working. The Labour Force Survey’s employment rate for the wider area was 66% in October 2026. These are census figures from May 2021, during COVID’s third wave; jobs have recovered since, which the Labour Force Survey shows.
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.
What households in Innisfail earn
Before tax, 2020: lower than in 52% of Canadian towns.
Of the 10 other places of 2,500 or more in Census Division No. 8, 9 have a higher median. That puts Innisfail 18% below the median of Alberta’s towns, $92,250. Because 2020 was the first year of the pandemic, emergency benefits make up part of these before-tax incomes.
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, 6.8% of Innisfail’s commuters get to work
Hardly anyone takes transit to work, where the middle of Canadian towns has 3.5%. On foot: 5.5% of commuters, well above the 2.5% in the middle of Alberta’s towns. The car is the way to work for 90% of commuters.
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census: main mode of commuting; average durations by mode from table 98-10-0458 (whole municipalities only).
5% more people are on EI in Census Division No. 8 than in 2019
Nobody publishes EI beneficiaries for Innisfail alone, so this card uses the figure for Census Division No. 8.
That works out to around 3.4 beneficiaries per 100 people aged 15 to 64 across the division. In the twelve months to August 2026 the number fell by 6%. February 2021 was the busiest month, with 13,700 people on EI, 3.1 times 2019’s average.
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 Innisfail: B+
Better than 74% of Canadian towns on two measures together, #318 of 474 in Alberta.
OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL); active commuting from the 2021 Census.
Innisfail next to Canadian towns of 6,100 to 11,800: 321st of 680 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+ |
| … | ||||||
| 319 | North London Ontario | 9,584 | 68% | 11% | $82K | B− |
| 320 | Crescent Heights Alberta | 6,411 | 78% | 12% | $74K | B− |
| 321 | Innisfail Alberta | 8,736 | 73% | 11% | $76K | B− |
| 322 | Bridle Path-Sunnybrook-York Mills Ontario | 9,909 | 71% | 8.3% | $200K | B− |
| 323 | Glenbrook Alberta | 10,185 | 71% | 11% | $89K | B− |
| … | ||||||
| 680 | René-Goupil Quebec | 11,663 | 58% | 15% | $54K | D− |
Ordered by Jobs & income Grade: the top three, the places either side of Innisfail, and others among Alberta’s towns.
Next to Innisfail: how nearby places compare
| Place | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Household income | Average trip | Jobs | Walk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Innisfail | 73% | 11% | $76K | 20.8 min | B− | B+ |
| Bowden 11.1 km | 62% | 23% | $69K | 29.5 min | D | B |
| Penhold 14.3 km | 74% | 11% | $99K | 24.9 min | B+ | B |
| Red Deer County 18.3 km | 77% | 8.5% | $94K | 27.5 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 Innisfail, where it comes from, and what it leaves out.
- 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. How many residents held a job in May 2021, set against how many were 15 to 64. It reads a little high where many people work past 65, since below the municipality the census gives no breakdown of workers by age.
- 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. What the median household took in during 2020 before tax, as the census recorded it; an estimate built from income groups when the place is a neighbourhood.
- Trip times. Built from banded answers: each commuter’s usual one-way trip counts as the midpoint of the band they chose, and the result tends to sit slightly higher than Statistics Canada’s average.
- Where people commute. Only people with a usual place of work are in it: those who work from home or have no fixed site are not. Home and work are both counted by municipality.
- 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.
Questions about work in Innisfail
How many jobs are there in Innisfail?
About 3,485 people had their usual place of work in Innisfail at the 2021 census, 1.4 for each working resident with a fixed workplace. Statistics Canada counted 281 businesses with employees in June 2026.
What is the unemployment rate in Innisfail?
In October 2026 the Labour Force Survey put the Red Deer economic region at 5.3%; the 2021 census, which counts the town itself, found 11%, against 9.9% in the middle of Canadian towns.
What is the average household income in Innisfail?
The median household in Innisfail had $76,000 before tax in 2020, against $85,900 in the middle of Canadian towns.
How do people in Innisfail get to work?
90% of commuters go by car, 5.5% walk and 1.3% cycle. On census day 11% of everyone in work stayed home to work.
How long is the commute from Innisfail?
On average 20.8 minutes; 54% take under 15 minutes and 6% take an hour or longer.
Where do people in Innisfail work?
Most stay: 64% work in Innisfail. The rest go first to Red Deer (385) and Red Deer County (165).
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).