Photo: Fil.Al · CC BY 2.0For 97% of commuters in Jasper, the job is inside the municipality
An hour or more each way is the commute for 1.1% of workers in Jasper; the average is 12.3 minutes. Half the households in Jasper had more than $97,500 in 2020, before tax, next to $85,900 for the middle of Canadian towns. The 2021 census found 67% of working-age people in Jasper employed, and the middle of Canadian towns sits at 73%.
What stands out about work in Jasper
Fewer people in work than most towns
67% 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 70%. In work ↓
More jobs than the typical town
2,070 people work in Jasper and 1,815 residents commute to a fixed workplace; the middle of Canadian towns has 0.8 jobs per working resident. The daily tide ↓
Shorter trips than most towns
Commutes take 12.3 minutes on average, against 26 in the middle of Canadian towns; 1.1% take an hour or more. 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.
Jasper earns A− for jobs and income
Better than 83% of Canadian towns on three measures together, #63 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.
In and out of work in Jasper
Of the 3 other places of 2,500 people or more in Census Division No. 15, one has a smaller share of 15-to-64s in work.
In October 2026, 63% of the wider area’s adults had a job, on the Labour Force Survey’s count. Participation, the share of residents 15 and over working or looking for work, came to 77%. The census caught the labour market on 11 May 2021, deep in the pandemic, so unemployment and working from home both ran above normal.
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.
Every working day, Jasper’s workforce grows by 13%
Each resident commuting out of Jasper is matched by about 6 coming in.
People with no fixed workplace are in neither count.
Commuting times in Jasper
In the middle of Alberta’s towns, the average commute is 25.8 minutes. A quarter-hour or less for 77% of commuters, against 39% in the middle of Alberta’s towns. Timed exactly, the average is 10.4 minutes (Statistics Canada).
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.
309 people come into Jasper to work, most from Hinton and Edmonton
Of everyone working in Jasper, 15% come in from elsewhere; 55 make the 67 km trip from Hinton. Of residents who leave for work, most head to Hinton (10).
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census (98-10-0459): commuting flows between municipalities (census subdivisions), rounded to 5; linked names have their own pages.
Earnings at home in Jasper: households
Before tax, 2020: higher than in 83% of Canadian towns.
Against the middle of Alberta’s towns ($92,250), Jasper’s median is 6% above. One of the 3 other places of 2,500+ in Census Division No. 15 has 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).
On foot, by bike, bus or train: 47% of Jasper’s commuters
Only 6.9% worked at home on census day, against 21% in the middle of Canadian towns. Transit takes 2.8% of commuters, close to the middle of Canadian towns. Cycling to work barely figures in the middle of Alberta’s towns; here, 13% cycle. Fewer drive than in the middle of Alberta’s towns: 52% against 88%.
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census: main mode of commuting; average durations by mode from table 98-10-0458 (whole municipalities only).
In Census Division No. 15, 25% more people receive EI than in 2019
Jasper doesn’t get its own EI beneficiaries figures; the ones here come from Census Division No. 15.
January 2021 was the busiest month, with 3,480 people on EI, 5.5 times 2019’s average. Per 100 residents aged 15 to 64, about 2.7 receive EI. Set against the same month a year before, the count in August 2026 rose by 4%.
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).
Jasper grades A+ for walkability
Better than almost every Canadian town on two measures together, #34 of 474 in Alberta.
OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL); active commuting from the 2021 Census.
Among Canadian towns of 3,200 to 6,200, Jasper ranks 125th of 739 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+ |
| … | ||||||
| 15 | Parkview Alberta | 5,729 | 80% | 9% | $155K | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 17 | Wainwright No. 61 Alberta | 4,576 | 84% | 5.5% | $108K | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 22 | Richmond Alberta | 4,811 | 79% | 9.2% | $114K | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 123 | Ogilvie Ridge Alberta | 5,218 | 79% | 11% | $121K | A− |
| 124 | Metcalfe Ontario | 5,434 | 79% | 6.6% | $133K | A− |
| 125 | Jasper Alberta | 4,627 | 67% | 9.1% | $98K | A− |
| 126 | Roslyn Manitoba | 4,411 | 88% | 7.4% | $70K | A− |
| 127 | Keswick Alberta | 3,957 | 82% | 6.3% | $120K | A− |
| … | ||||||
| 739 | Chertsey Quebec | 5,678 | 64% | 8.6% | $58K | D− |
Ordered by Jobs & income Grade: the top three, the places either side of Jasper, and others among Alberta’s towns.
Around Jasper: jobs, pay and the commute
The nearest places to Jasper with figures are 67–160 km away.
| Place | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Household income | Average trip | Jobs | Walk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jasper | 67% | 9.1% | $98K | 12.3 min | A− | A+ |
| Hinton 67.2 km | 72% | 12% | $105K | 17.4 min | A | A− |
| Valemount 79.5 km | 77% | 4.7% | $62K | 16.7 min | B | A+ |
| Electoral Area H, Fraser-Fort George 132.2 km | 81% | 5.6% | $66K | 21.6 min | B | C+ |
| Edson 134.9 km | 72% | 11% | $98K | 17.1 min | A | A− |
| Yellowhead County 159.8 km | 71% | 12% | $90K | 29 min | C | 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 Jasper, where it comes from, and what it leaves out.
- Where people commute. Who travels where, from the census: workers with a regular workplace, sorted by the municipality they live in and the one they work in.
- Employment Insurance. How many people in the census division drew Employment Insurance each month; it moves with layoffs and hiring, yet people who don’t qualify are absent from it.
- The Labour Force Survey. Statistics Canada’s monthly survey, published for metro areas and economic regions rather than towns: it gives a current rate beside the census’s 2021 one.
- 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. A census-day figure: people without a job who were looking, divided by all those working or looking, ages 15 and up.
- 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. 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.
- Which towns we compare. Comparisons are with the median of Canadian towns and city neighbourhoods counting 2,500 people or more, reserves and entire cities excluded.
Questions about work in Jasper
How do people in Jasper get to work?
52% of commuters go by car, 2.8% take public transit, 32% walk and 13% cycle. On census day 6.9% of everyone in work stayed home to work.
How long is the commute from Jasper?
On average 12.3 minutes; 77% take under 15 minutes and 1.1% take an hour or longer.
Where do people in Jasper work?
Most stay: 97% work in Jasper. The rest go first to Hinton (10) and Banff (10).
How many jobs are there in Jasper?
About 2,070 people had their usual place of work in Jasper at the 2021 census, 1.1 for each working resident with a fixed workplace. Statistics Canada counted 249 businesses with employees in June 2026.
What is the average household income in Jasper?
Before tax, half the households in Jasper had more than $97,500 in 2020; the middle of Canadian towns is $85,900.
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).