Photo: Rural Health Professions Action Plan from Canada · CC BY 2.0Household incomes in Rimbey trail those of 92% of Canadian towns
16% of the labour force in Rimbey was out of work at the 2021 census, and the middle of Canadian towns sits at 9.9%. The census counted 1,485 people working in Rimbey and 515 residents commuting to a fixed workplace. Jobs were held by 63% of people aged 15 to 64 in Rimbey in 2021; the middle of Canadian towns is 73%.
Rimbey at work: what stands out
Fewer people in work than most towns
The 2021 census found 63% of 15-to-64s with a job (73% in the middle of Canadian towns). Count every adult, retirees too, and the figure is 41%. In work ↓
More unemployment than most towns
The Labour Force Survey had the area at 5.3% in October 2026; on census day in 2021 the town’s own rate was 16%, where the middle of Canadian towns had 9.9%. Unemployment ↓
Lower incomes than most towns
Half of households had more than $57,900 before tax in 2020, where the middle of Canadian towns is $85,900. Household income ↓
A local job centre
With 1,485 jobs based in Rimbey and 515 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 18.9 minutes (26 in the middle of Canadian towns), and 7.5% 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.
On jobs and income, Rimbey grades C−
Better than 18% of Canadian towns on three measures together, #429 of 474 in Alberta.
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.
Who in Rimbey has a job
None of the 10 other places of 2,500 people or more in Census Division No. 8 has a smaller share of 15-to-64s in work.
Working or looking, 49% of everyone 15 and over was in the labour force. Take in all adults, retirees with them, and only 41% were working. For the wider area, the Labour Force Survey had 66% in work in October 2026. 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.
$57,900 a year: the median household in Rimbey
Every other place of 2,500 or more in Census Division No. 8 has a higher median. The middle of Alberta’s towns is $92,250, and Rimbey is 37% below it. That year, 2020, brought emergency benefits that count in these totals, before tax.
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census: median total income of households in 2020, before tax (a neighbourhood’s estimated from its dissemination areas’ income groups).
On a working day, 1,545 people work in Rimbey, 2.7 times its working residents
Each resident commuting out of Rimbey is matched by about 10 coming in. 80% of residents who commute work inside the municipality, against 70% in the middle of Canadian towns.
People with no fixed workplace are in neither count.
Shorter than the middle of Canadian towns: commutes from Rimbey average 18.9 minutes
Trips under 15 minutes: 65%, more than the 39% in the middle of Alberta’s towns. An hour or more: 7.5% of commuters, close to the middle of Alberta’s towns. Statistics Canada’s own average, timed exactly rather than by band, is 17.6 minutes. In the middle of Alberta’s towns, the average commute is 25.8 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.
1,074 people come into Rimbey to work, most from Ponoka County and Sylvan Lake
72% of the people who work in Rimbey live outside it, 620 of them in Ponoka County, 22 km away. Outbound, Red Deer takes the most: 25 people.
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census (98-10-0459): commuting flows between municipalities (census subdivisions), rounded to 5; linked names have their own pages.
Without a car, 14% of Rimbey’s commuters get to work
Home was the workplace for 7.5%, under the 21% in the middle of Canadian towns. Hardly anyone takes transit to work, where the middle of Canadian towns has 3.5%. On foot: 12% of commuters, well above the 2.5% in the middle of Alberta’s towns. The car takes 85% of commuters here, under the 88% in the middle of Alberta’s towns.
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census: main mode of commuting; average durations by mode from table 98-10-0458 (whole municipalities only).
5% more people are on EI in Census Division No. 8 than in 2019
For EI beneficiaries, the only official count covers all of Census Division No. 8, Rimbey included.
At its peak, in February 2021, 13,700 people were on EI, 3.1 times the 2019 average. That works out to around 3.4 beneficiaries per 100 people aged 15 to 64 across the division. Set against the same month a year before, 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 counts are context, not part of any grade.
People receiving Employment Insurance each month, as a share of the 2019 average (100).
Rimbey on foot: a A+ grade
Better than 96% of Canadian towns on two measures together, #89 of 474 in Alberta.
OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL); active commuting from the 2021 Census.
Rimbey next to Canadian towns of 2,500 to 3,400: 314th of 390 on jobs and income
| # | Place | People | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Household income | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Upper Mount Royal Alberta | 2,758 | 83% | 12% | $188K | A+ |
| 2 | Central River Heights Manitoba | 2,736 | 84% | 5.4% | $137K | A+ |
| 3 | Crescentwood Manitoba | 3,060 | 87% | 5% | $123K | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 12 | Garrison Woods Alberta | 3,138 | 79% | 10% | $146K | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 19 | Laurier Heights Alberta | 3,048 | 78% | 6.9% | $163K | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 312 | Emerson-Franklin Manitoba | 2,686 | 77% | 5.3% | $67K | C− |
| 313 | Victoria County, Subdivision A Nova Scotia | 2,746 | 61% | 29% | $65K | C− |
| 314 | Rimbey Alberta | 2,502 | 63% | 16% | $58K | C− |
| 315 | Springdale Newfoundland and Labrador | 2,893 | 54% | 15% | $58K | C− |
| 316 | Electoral Area H, Fraser Valley British Columbia | 2,773 | 73% | 11% | $79K | C− |
| … | ||||||
| 390 | Division No. 8, Subdivision L Newfoundland and Labrador | 2,724 | 43% | 30% | $51K | D− |
Ordered by Jobs & income Grade: the top three, the places either side of Rimbey, and others among Alberta’s towns.
Work in the places around Rimbey
The nearest places to Rimbey with figures are 22–39 km away.
| Place | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Household income | Average trip | Jobs | Walk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rimbey | 63% | 16% | $58K | 18.9 min | C− | A+ |
| Ponoka County 22.2 km | 79% | 8.5% | $92K | 29.4 min | B | D |
| Bentley 23.6 km | 69% | 17% | $78K | 26.2 min | C− | B |
| Eckville 32.6 km | 65% | 18% | $75K | 31.2 min | D | A |
| Lacombe County 37.5 km | 78% | 8.8% | $89K | 27.9 min | B | C+ |
| Sylvan Lake 39 km | 70% | 15% | $92K | 27.2 min | C+ | B |
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 Rimbey, where it comes from, and what it leaves out.
- Household income. The 2020 income of the household at the midpoint, all sources and before tax. Inside a city we rebuild it from the dissemination areas’ income bands, so there it is an estimate.
- Trip times. The census asks how long the trip to work usually takes, in bands; our average uses each band’s middle, so it runs a little above Statistics Canada’s timed average.
- Where people commute. Only people with a usual place of work are in it: those who work from home or have no fixed site are not. Home and work are both counted by municipality.
- Employment Insurance. Monthly EI recipients across the census division: a pulse of the local job market rather than a measure of who is out of work.
- 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. A census-day figure: people without a job who were looking, divided by all those working or looking, ages 15 and up.
- 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 Rimbey
How long is the commute from Rimbey?
About 18.9 minutes on average, with 65% under a quarter-hour and 7.5% at an hour or longer.
Where do people in Rimbey work?
80% work in Rimbey itself; of those who leave, the most go to Red Deer (25), then Ponoka (15).
How many jobs are there in Rimbey?
Some 1,485 people worked in Rimbey at the 2021 census: 2.9 jobs per working resident with a fixed workplace. In June 2026, 234 businesses with employees were on Statistics Canada’s count.
What is the unemployment rate in Rimbey?
In October 2026 the Labour Force Survey put the Red Deer economic region at 5.3%; the 2021 census, which counts the town itself, found 16%, against 9.9% in the middle of Canadian towns.
What is the average household income in Rimbey?
The census puts Rimbey at $57,900 for 2020, before tax and at the median, against $85,900 in the middle of Canadian towns.
How do people in Rimbey get to work?
Driving takes 85% of commuters to work, 12% walk and 1.4% cycle, and on census day 7.5% of those in work were at home.
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).