Photo: Jason Woodhead · CC BY 2.0The share of 15-to-64s with a job in Provost tops that of 72% of Canadian towns
The median household in Provost had $83,800 before tax in 2020; the middle of Canadian towns is $85,900. Getting to work from Provost takes 15 minutes on average, an hour or more for 4.6%. In May 2021, unemployment in Provost reached 7.7%, against 9.9% in the middle of Canadian towns.
Provost and work: the main findings
More people in work than most towns
Of residents aged 15 to 64, 79% held a job in 2021; the middle of Canadian towns is 73%, and over all adults the share is 66%. In work ↓
A local job centre
1,095 people work in Provost and 665 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 15 minutes on average, against 26 in the middle of Canadian towns; 4.6% 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.
Jobs and income in Provost earn A+
Better than 96% 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.
In Provost, 79% of people aged 15 to 64 have a job
Of the 5 other places of 2,500 people or more in Census Division No. 7, 2 have a smaller share of 15-to-64s in work.
Counting retirees, 66% of everyone aged 15 and over was working. By October 2026, the Labour Force Survey had 57% of the wider area’s adults in work. 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.
Provost fills up on a working day: 57% more workers
665 residents of Provost had a usual place of work at the 2021 census, and 1,095 people had theirs in Provost, wherever they lived.
Provost takes in some 7 workers for every resident it sends out. The job is inside the municipality for 90% of its commuters (70% in the middle of Canadian towns).
People with no fixed workplace are in neither count.
A shorter commute than the middle of Canadian towns: 15 minutes from Provost
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’s own average, timed exactly rather than by band, is 13 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.
498 people come into Provost to work, most from Provost No. 52 and Macklin
- Provost No. 52230
- Macklin90
- Wainwright No. 6135
- Eye Hill No. 38230
- Chauvin20
- Luseland15
- Denzil10
- Calgary10
- Hughenden10
- Wainwright10
Of everyone working in Provost, 45% come in from elsewhere; 230 make the 17 km trip from Provost No. 52. Of residents who leave for work, most head to Macklin (25).
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 Provost work and where people who work there live, the ten largest each way.
How Provost’s household incomes compare
Before tax, 2020: higher than in 64% of Canadian towns.
Provost’s median is 9% below the middle of Alberta’s towns ($92,250). Of the 5 other places of 2,500 or more in Census Division No. 7, 4 have a higher median. Incomes here are 2020’s and include the pandemic payments, CERB among them, that propped up the lower end.
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census: median total income of households in 2020, before tax (a neighbourhood’s estimated from its dissemination areas’ income groups).
Walk, cycle or ride transit: the choice of 8% of Provost’s commuters
Home was the workplace for 9.4%, under the 21% in the middle of Canadian towns. Transit barely figures here, against 3.5% in the middle of Canadian towns. Nearly everyone drives: 92% of commuters go by car, truck or van.
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.
About as many people are on EI in Census Division No. 7 as in 2019
The highest month was January 2021: 2,060 people, 2.9 times the 2019 level. For each 100 residents of working age in the division, about 2.7 are on EI. Compared with a year earlier, the count in August 2026 fell by 6%.
Statistics Canada, Employment Insurance beneficiaries by census division (14-10-0323): all income benefits, not seasonally adjusted. EI beneficiaries: one figure for all of Census Division No. 7. 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 Provost earns B+
Better than 69% of Canadian towns on two measures together.
OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL); active commuting from the 2021 Census.
Neighbouring places to Provost, compared
Distances here run 17–67 km: that is how far the nearest places with figures are from Provost.
| Place | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Household income | Average trip | Jobs | Walk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Provost | 79% | 7.7% | $84K | 15 min | A+ | B+ |
| Provost No. 52 17.3 km | 88% | 4.9% | $88K | 25.9 min | A | C− |
| Macklin 21.4 km | 73% | 15% | $87K | 18.3 min | A− | B+ |
| Special Area No. 4 63.8 km | 88% | 2.8% | $86K | 26.1 min | A | C− |
| Wainwright No. 61 64.3 km | 84% | 5.5% | $108K | 22.5 min | A+ | D |
| Wainwright 67.3 km | 77% | 8.2% | $85K | 14.4 min | A | A− |
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 Provost, where it comes from, and what it leaves out.
- Household income. The census median total income of households in 2020, before tax; a neighbourhood’s is estimated from its dissemination areas’ income groups.
- Trip times. Commuters picked a band for their usual trip (under 15 minutes, 15 to 29, and so on). We place each person at the middle of their band, which lands a little above Statistics Canada’s own timed average.
- Where people commute. Statistics Canada’s place-of-work table counts people with a usual place of work by the municipality they live in and the one they work in. Jobs here are people whose usual workplace is in the municipality, wherever they live.
- Employment Insurance. Beneficiaries of Employment Insurance, month by month, for the census division rather than the town. Many jobless people don’t qualify, so it isn’t an unemployment rate.
- The Labour Force Survey. A monthly household survey by Statistics Canada, reported for metro areas and economic regions only. It supplies a recent rate next to the 2021 census figure.
- 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. Unemployed people over the labour force (in work or looking), aged 15 and over, on census day.
- Which towns we compare. Towns and city neighbourhoods of 2,500 people or more, never a whole city and never a First Nations reserve. Middles are medians.
Questions about work in Provost
How many jobs are there in Provost?
Some 1,095 people worked in Provost at the 2021 census: 1.7 jobs per working resident with a fixed workplace. Statistics Canada counted 248 businesses with employees in June 2026.
What is the unemployment rate in Provost?
At the 2021 census 7.7% of the labour force had no job and was looking (9.9% in the middle of Canadian towns). The latest monthly survey, for the Camrose-Drumheller economic region, gives 8.8% in October 2026.
What is the average household income in Provost?
Before tax, half the households in Provost had more than $83,800 in 2020; the middle of Canadian towns is $85,900.
How do people in Provost get to work?
Driving takes 92% of commuters to work, 8% walk, and on census day 9.4% of those in work were at home.
How long is the commute from Provost?
About 15 minutes on average, with 77% under a quarter-hour and 4.6% at an hour or longer.
Where do people in Provost work?
90% work in Provost itself; of those who leave, the most go to Macklin (25), then Wainwright (15).
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).