Photo: Wilson Hui from Calgary, Canada · CC BY 2.0Household incomes in Mayerthorpe are lower than in 79% of Canadian towns
Mayerthorpe is the usual workplace of 695 people, and 425 of its own residents commute to a job. Of Mayerthorpe’s residents aged 15 to 64, 75% were employed when the 2021 census was taken, against 73% in the middle of Canadian towns. In May 2021, unemployment in Mayerthorpe reached 12%, next to 9.9% for the middle of Canadian towns.
The short version on work in Mayerthorpe
Lower incomes than most towns
Household income at the median was $64,300 in 2020, before tax; Canadian towns have $85,900 at the middle. Household income ↓
A local job centre
With 695 jobs based in Mayerthorpe and 425 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 21 minutes (26 in the middle of Canadian towns), and 6.2% 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.
Jobs and income in Mayerthorpe earn C+
Better than 42% of Canadian towns on three measures together.
Its strongest measure is trip times; its weakest, household income.
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.
Mayerthorpe households: $64,300 a year at the median
That puts Mayerthorpe 30% below the median of Alberta’s towns, $92,250. 9 of the 10 other places of 2,500+ in Census Division No. 13 have a higher median. The year is 2020: emergency benefits like CERB count in these incomes, and they raised the bottom of the range.
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census: median total income of households in 2020, before tax (a neighbourhood’s estimated from its dissemination areas’ income groups).
Mayerthorpe fills up on a working day: 61% more workers
Mayerthorpe takes in some 3 workers for every resident it sends out. Of those who commute, 59% stay within the municipality; the middle of Canadian towns is 70%.
People with no fixed workplace are in neither count.
At 21 minutes, commutes from Mayerthorpe are shorter than in the middle of Canadian towns
Statistics Canada’s own average, timed exactly rather than by band, is 19.9 minutes. The middle of Alberta’s towns averages 25.8 minutes. A quarter-hour or less for 51% of commuters, against 39% in the middle of Alberta’s towns. An hour or more: 6.2% of commuters, close to 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.
446 people come into Mayerthorpe to work, most from Lac Ste. Anne County and Whitecourt
64% of the people who work in Mayerthorpe live outside it, 270 of them in Lac Ste. Anne County, 51 km away. Going the other way, Whitecourt is the biggest single destination (105).
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census (98-10-0459): commuting flows between municipalities (census subdivisions), rounded to 5; linked names have their own pages.
75% of working-age people in Mayerthorpe have jobs
Of the 10 other places of 2,500 people or more in Census Division No. 13, 5 have a smaller share of 15-to-64s in work.
Across all ages 15 and over the share in work falls to 55%: many residents are past working age. In October 2026, 63% of the wider area’s adults had a job, on the Labour Force Survey’s count. Counting those looking for work too, 62% of people aged 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.
Leaving the car at home: 18% of commuters in Mayerthorpe
The car takes 80% of commuters here, under the 88% in the middle of Alberta’s towns. Fewer worked at home than in the middle of Canadian towns: 4% against 21%. 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).
4% more people are on EI in Census Division No. 13 than in 2019
Mayerthorpe doesn’t get its own EI beneficiaries figures; the ones here come from Census Division No. 13.
Compared with a year earlier, the count in August 2026 fell by 5%. The count topped out in January 2021 at 3,910 people, 2.4 times the 2019 average. For each 100 residents of working age in the division, about 4 are on EI.
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, Mayerthorpe grades A+
Better than almost every Canadian town on two measures together.
OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL); active commuting from the 2021 Census.
Mayerthorpe and its neighbours: work and income
The nearest places to Mayerthorpe with figures are 32–46 km away.
| Place | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Household income | Average trip | Jobs | Walk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mayerthorpe | 75% | 12% | $64K | 21 min | C+ | A+ |
| Woodlands County 31.7 km | 77% | 12% | $104K | 25.5 min | A− | C− |
| Whitecourt 40.9 km | 71% | 14% | $100K | 20.2 min | A− | B+ |
| Barrhead County No. 11 45.6 km | 81% | 7.7% | $83K | 27.4 min | B | 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 Mayerthorpe, where it comes from, and what it leaves out.
- 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. Sampled each month and released for regions rather than towns, so its rate describes the area around the town.
- In work. Working residents per resident of working age (15 to 64), from the 2021 Census.
- 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 Mayerthorpe
What is the average household income in Mayerthorpe?
Mayerthorpe’s middle household had $64,300 in 2020, before tax; Canadian towns have $85,900 at their middle.
How do people in Mayerthorpe get to work?
Driving takes 80% of commuters to work, 18% walk, and on census day 4% of those in work were at home.
How long is the commute from Mayerthorpe?
About 21 minutes on average, with 51% under a quarter-hour and 6.2% at an hour or longer.
Where do people in Mayerthorpe work?
59% work in Mayerthorpe itself; of those who leave, the most go to Whitecourt (105), then Woodlands County (35).
How many jobs are there in Mayerthorpe?
Some 695 people worked in Mayerthorpe at the 2021 census: 1.6 jobs per working resident with a fixed workplace. In June 2026, 127 businesses with employees were on Statistics Canada’s count.
What is the unemployment rate in Mayerthorpe?
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).
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).