Photo: The Heliotype Co. Ltd.: Publisher · Public domainHousehold incomes in Lacombe top those of 73% of Canadian towns
The average trip to work from Lacombe is 21.7 minutes; 5.2% of commuters spend an hour or more getting there. Jobs were held by 72% of people aged 15 to 64 in Lacombe in 2021, against 73% in the middle of Canadian towns. Out of work in May 2021: 12% of Lacombe’s labour force, next to 9.9% for the middle of Canadian towns.
The work numbers behind Lacombe
Work near the middle
With 72% of its 15-to-64s in work in 2021, against 73% in the middle of Canadian towns, it has 57% of all adults employed. In work ↓
Shorter trips than most towns
The average trip to work is 21.7 minutes (26 in the middle of Canadian towns), and 5.2% 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.
Lacombe grades B for jobs and income
Better than 65% of Canadian towns on three measures together, #153 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.
Time on the road to work from Lacombe
In the middle of Alberta’s towns, the average commute is 25.8 minutes. A quarter-hour or less for 45% of commuters, against 39% in the middle of Alberta’s towns. Statistics Canada’s own average, timed exactly rather than by band, is 20 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.
Commuting time at the 2021 Census, to work only, for people who travel to a usual workplace or have none fixed.
The daily tide in Lacombe runs outward
4,135 residents of Lacombe had a usual place of work at the 2021 census, and 3,785 people had theirs in Lacombe, wherever they lived.
The job is inside the municipality for 49% of its commuters (70% in the middle of Canadian towns).
People with no fixed workplace are in neither count.
52% of Lacombe’s residents in work leave it to work; Red Deer takes the most
- Red Deer480
- Lacombe County400
- Blackfalds290
- Ponoka County180
- Clive65
- Ponoka65
- Red Deer County60
- Sylvan Lake55
- Gull Lake30
- Edmonton30
- Red Deer840
- Ponoka330
- Lacombe County315
- Blackfalds140
- Red Deer County120
- Rimbey60
- Fort McMurray45
- Bentley40
- Sylvan Lake30
- Edmonton30
Coming the other way, Red Deer sends the most (480).
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census (98-10-0459): commuting flows between municipalities (census subdivisions), rounded to 5; linked names have their own pages.
2021 Census, people with a usual place of work: where residents of Lacombe work and where people who work there live, the ten largest each way.
How many in Lacombe were working in 2021
Of the 10 other places of 2,500 people or more in Census Division No. 8, 4 have a smaller share of 15-to-64s in work.
Across all ages 15 and over the share in work falls to 57%: many residents are past working age. In October 2026, 66% of the wider area’s adults had a job, on the Labour Force Survey’s count. Working or looking, 65% of everyone 15 and over was in the labour force. Census day was 11 May 2021, in the pandemic’s third wave: unemployment ran high and many worked from home, so these figures describe that spring rather than today.
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.
Median household income in Lacombe: $88,900 in 2020
Lacombe’s median is 4% below the middle of Alberta’s towns ($92,250). Of the 10 other places of 2,500 or more in Census Division No. 8, 6 have a higher median. CERB and the other emergency payments of 2020 are counted in these incomes, which lifted the lower ones 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, 5.1% of Lacombe’s commuters get to work
Transit takes 0.5% of commuters, against 3.5% in the middle of Canadian towns. The car is the way to work for 93% of commuters. Fewer worked at home than in the middle of Canadian towns: 14% against 21%.
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census: main mode of commuting; average durations by mode from table 98-10-0458 (whole municipalities only).
How residents who commute got to work, 2021 Census; working at home is counted apart.
In Census Division No. 8, 5% more people receive EI than in 2019
Roughly 3.4 in every 100 people aged 15 to 64 in the division draw EI. Set against the same month a year before, the count in August 2026 fell by 6%. At its peak, in February 2021, 13,700 people were on EI, 3.1 times the 2019 average.
Statistics Canada, Employment Insurance beneficiaries by census division (14-10-0323): all income benefits, not seasonally adjusted. Data for EI beneficiaries covers Census Division No. 8. EI counts are context, not part of any grade.
People receiving Employment Insurance each month, as a share of the 2019 average (100).
Getting around Lacombe on foot earns B+
Better than 67% of Canadian towns on two measures together, #347 of 474 in Alberta.
OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL); active commuting from the 2021 Census.
Out of 562 Canadian towns of 10,300 to 19,900, Lacombe comes 177th on jobs and income
| # | Place | People | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Household income | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | North Saanich British Columbia | 12,986 | 85% | 5.9% | $121K | A+ |
| 2 | Sillery Quebec | 13,950 | 81% | 6.2% | $120K | A+ |
| 3 | Central Saanich British Columbia | 18,184 | 85% | 4.9% | $103K | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 13 | Canmore Alberta | 17,341 | 79% | 9.7% | $107K | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 15 | West Hillhurst Alberta | 10,319 | 78% | 9.3% | $126K | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 32 | Lakeview Alberta | 12,799 | 75% | 11% | $125K | A |
| … | ||||||
| 175 | Westmount Ontario | 19,591 | 71% | 13% | $91K | B |
| 176 | Chappelle Alberta | 14,815 | 77% | 9.9% | $117K | B |
| 177 | Lacombe Alberta | 14,733 | 72% | 12% | $89K | B |
| 178 | Leduc County Alberta | 16,400 | 80% | 9.5% | $107K | B |
| 179 | Erin Ontario | 12,924 | 80% | 8.2% | $127K | B |
| … | ||||||
| 562 | René-Goupil Quebec | 11,663 | 58% | 15% | $54K | D− |
Ordered by Jobs & income Grade: the top three, the places either side of Lacombe, and others among Alberta’s towns.
Work in the places around Lacombe
| Place | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Household income | Average trip | Jobs | Walk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lacombe | 72% | 12% | $89K | 21.7 min | B | B+ |
| Lacombe County 4.2 km | 78% | 8.8% | $89K | 27.9 min | B | C+ |
| Blackfalds 10.6 km | 72% | 13% | $104K | 25.5 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 Lacombe, where it comes from, and what it leaves out.
- 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.
- 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. Built from the census table that pairs each worker’s home municipality with their workplace municipality. A job here means someone who usually works in the municipality, local or not.
- Employment Insurance. Statistics Canada counts EI beneficiaries each month by census division. Seasonal work makes it swing, so read it as a trend, not a jobless 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. Of everyone 15 or older who was working or job-hunting in the census week, the part still looking. Someone not seeking work isn’t in it at all.
- 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 Lacombe
How do people in Lacombe get to work?
By car: 93% of commuters, 0.5% take public transit, 4.1% walk and 0.5% cycle; on census day 14% of those in work worked from home.
How long is the commute from Lacombe?
21.7 minutes is the average trip, with 45% of commuters there in under 15 minutes and 5.2% taking an hour or more.
Where do people in Lacombe work?
49% work in Lacombe itself. Of those who leave, the most go to Red Deer (840), then Ponoka (330).
How many jobs are there in Lacombe?
The 2021 census counted about 3,785 people working in Lacombe: 0.9 jobs for every resident who commutes to a fixed workplace. Statistics Canada counted 753 businesses with employees in June 2026.
What is the unemployment rate in Lacombe?
The census put unemployment at 12% in May 2021, where the middle of Canadian towns was 9.9%. More recently, in October 2026, the Labour Force Survey had the Red Deer economic region at 5.3%.
What is the average household income in Lacombe?
At $88,900 before tax in 2020, the median household in Lacombe compares with $85,900 in the middle of Canadian towns.
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).