Photo: Voldeg and Bolton · Public domainFewer of Redcliff’s 15-to-64s are in work than in 70% of Canadian towns
Unemployment in Redcliff stood at 12% on census day 2021; the middle of Canadian towns is 9.9%. Redcliff is the usual workplace of 1,525 people, and 1,850 of its own residents commute to a job. Half the households in Redcliff had more than $82,500 in 2020, before tax, next to $85,900 for the middle of Canadian towns.
Work in Redcliff: the figures worth knowing
Work near the middle
With 71% 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 22.3 minutes (26 in the middle of Canadian towns), and 6.5% 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 Redcliff earn B−
Better than 51% of Canadian towns on three measures together, #268 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.
A shorter commute than the middle of Canadian towns: 22.3 minutes from Redcliff
Statistics Canada’s own average, timed exactly rather than by band, is 20.9 minutes. The middle of Alberta’s towns averages 25.8 minutes. Trips under 15 minutes: 37%, fewer than the 39% in the middle of Alberta’s towns. An hour or more: 6.5% 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.
Commuting time at the 2021 Census, to work only, for people who travel to a usual workplace or have none fixed.
More workers leave Redcliff each day than arrive
People with no fixed workplace are in neither count.
76% of Redcliff’s residents in work leave it to work; Medicine Hat takes the most
- Medicine Hat1,080
- Cypress County250
- Calgary20
- Bow Island15
- Brooks15
- Coaldale10
In the other direction the biggest source is Medicine Hat, with 985.
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 Redcliff work and where people who work there live, the ten largest each way.
71% of working-age people in Redcliff have jobs
Of the 3 other places of 2,500 people or more in Census Division No. 1, one has a smaller share of 15-to-64s in work.
The participation rate, everyone 15 and over working or looking for work, was 65%. Counting retirees, 57% of everyone aged 15 and over was working. The Labour Force Survey’s employment rate for the wider area was 59% in October 2026. 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.
Household income in Redcliff
Before tax, 2020: higher than in 62% of Canadian towns.
2 of the 3 other places of 2,500+ in Census Division No. 1 have a higher median. Against the middle of Alberta’s towns ($92,250), Redcliff’s median is 11% below. These are 2020 incomes, before tax, and they include pandemic benefits such as CERB, which lifted many lower incomes 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).
3% of commuters in Redcliff walk, cycle or take transit
Only 7.2% worked at home on census day, against 21% in the middle of Canadian towns. Transit barely figures here, against 3.5% in the middle of Canadian towns. Nearly everyone drives: 95% 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.
16% more people are on EI in Census Division No. 1 than in 2019
The count topped out in January 2021 at 4,760 people, 3.1 times the 2019 average. For each 100 residents of working age in the division, about 3.3 are on EI. Compared with a year earlier, the count in August 2026 fell by 5%.
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. 1. EI counts are context, not part of any grade.
People receiving Employment Insurance each month, as a share of the 2019 average (100).
How walkable Redcliff is: B−
Better than 47% of Canadian towns on two measures together, #403 of 474 in Alberta.
OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL); active commuting from the 2021 Census.
Redcliff next to Canadian towns of 4,100 to 8,000: 352nd of 712 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 | Cornwallis Manitoba | 4,705 | 85% | 2.1% | $99K | A+ |
| 3 | New Maryland New Brunswick | 4,455 | 81% | 6.5% | $118K | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 13 | Altadore Alberta | 7,675 | 80% | 8.1% | $155K | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 16 | Parkview Alberta | 5,729 | 80% | 9% | $155K | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 18 | Wainwright No. 61 Alberta | 4,576 | 84% | 5.5% | $108K | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 350 | MacEwan Alberta | 6,102 | 75% | 10% | $94K | B− |
| 351 | Sandstone Valley Alberta | 5,816 | 68% | 14% | $105K | B− |
| 352 | Redcliff Alberta | 5,916 | 71% | 12% | $83K | B− |
| 353 | St. Boniface Industrial Park Manitoba | 5,252 | 72% | 7.5% | $88K | B− |
| 354 | Nipawin Saskatchewan | 5,033 | 72% | 9% | $67K | B− |
| … | ||||||
| 712 | Chertsey Quebec | 5,678 | 64% | 8.6% | $58K | D− |
Ordered by Jobs & income Grade: the top three, the places either side of Redcliff, and others among Alberta’s towns.
Next to Redcliff: how nearby places compare
| Place | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Household income | Average trip | Jobs | Walk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Redcliff | 71% | 12% | $83K | 22.3 min | B− | B− |
| Medicine Hat 10 km | 71% | 12% | $78K | 18.1 min | B | B+ |
| Cypress County 12 km | 77% | 6.8% | $101K | 23.9 min | A− | 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 Redcliff, where it comes from, and what it leaves out.
- 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. A monthly count of Employment Insurance beneficiaries for the whole census division. It tracks the local job market, but it is not 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. 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. The census-week jobless rate for residents 15 and over. Its base is the labour force, those employed plus those actively looking.
- 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.
- Which towns we compare. Medians over towns and neighbourhoods of at least 2,500 residents. Whole cities would swamp them and reserves sit outside the rankings, so neither is in.
Questions about work in Redcliff
What is the unemployment rate in Redcliff?
At the 2021 census 12% of the labour force had no job and was looking (9.9% in the middle of Canadian towns). The latest monthly survey, for the Lethbridge-Medicine Hat economic region, gives 6.3% in October 2026.
What is the average household income in Redcliff?
Redcliff’s middle household had $82,500 in 2020, before tax; Canadian towns have $85,900 at their middle.
How do people in Redcliff get to work?
By car: 95% of commuters, 3% walk; on census day 7.2% of those in work worked from home.
How long is the commute from Redcliff?
22.3 minutes is the average trip, with 37% of commuters there in under 15 minutes and 6.5% taking an hour or more.
Where do people in Redcliff work?
24% work in Redcliff itself. Of those who leave, the most go to Medicine Hat (1,080), then Cypress County (250).
How many jobs are there in Redcliff?
The 2021 census counted about 1,525 people working in Redcliff: 0.8 jobs for every resident who commutes to a fixed workplace. In June 2026, 230 businesses with employees were on Statistics Canada’s count.
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).