Photo: Glenlarson~commonswiki · Public domainHousehold incomes in Slave Lake top those of 93% of Canadian towns
Of everyone in Slave Lake working or looking for work in May 2021, 9.6% were unemployed, next to 9.9% for the middle of Canadian towns. For 4.9% of commuters in Slave Lake, the trip to work lasts an hour or more; the average is 16.5 minutes. Jobs were held by 74% of people aged 15 to 64 in Slave Lake in 2021, against 73% in the middle of Canadian towns.
Where Slave Lake stands out on work
Higher incomes than most towns
Half the households here had more than $110,400 in 2020, against $85,900 in the middle of Canadian towns. Household income ↓
A local job centre
With 3,525 jobs based in Slave Lake and 2,585 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 16.5 minutes (26 in the middle of Canadian towns), and 4.9% 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 & income in Slave Lake: graded A
Better than 95% of Canadian towns on three measures together, #16 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.
Half the households in Slave Lake had more than $110,400 in 2020
No other place of 2,500 or more in Census Division No. 17 has a higher median. Against the middle of Alberta’s towns ($92,250), Slave Lake’s median is 20% above. Pandemic benefits paid in 2020 lifted the incomes at the bottom, and they are counted here.
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census: median total income of households in 2020, before tax (a neighbourhood’s estimated from its dissemination areas’ income groups).
Slave Lake fills up on a working day: 33% more workers
2,585 residents of Slave Lake had a usual place of work at the 2021 census, and 3,525 people had theirs in Slave Lake, wherever they lived.
For every resident who leaves Slave Lake for work, about 6 people come in.
People with no fixed workplace are in neither count.
Time on the road to work from Slave Lake
Statistics Canada’s own average, timed exactly rather than by band, is 15.3 minutes. The middle of Alberta’s towns averages 25.8 minutes. Trips under 15 minutes: 66%, more than the 39% in 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.
1,116 people come into Slave Lake to work, most from Lesser Slave River No. 124 and Big Lakes County
32% of the people who work in Slave Lake live outside it, 730 of them in Lesser Slave River No. 124, 11 km away. Going the other way, Big Lakes County is the biggest single destination (35).
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 Slave Lake work and where people who work there live, the ten largest each way.
Work and the working-age population of Slave Lake
Of the 8 other places of 2,500 people or more in Census Division No. 17, 5 have a smaller share of 15-to-64s in work.
Working or looking, 75% of everyone 15 and over was in the labour force. A more recent figure, for the wider area: 63% in work in October 2026, by the Labour Force Survey. The census was taken on 11 May 2021, mid-pandemic, when lockdowns had pushed unemployment up and sent many to work from home.
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.
Walk, cycle or ride transit: the choice of 9.7% of Slave Lake’s commuters
More people walk to work here than in the middle of Alberta’s towns: 8.9% against 2.5%. Driving to work is about as common as in the middle of Alberta’s towns, at 89%. Home was the workplace for 7.1%, under the 21% in the middle of Canadian towns. Transit takes 0.3% of commuters, 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).
How residents who commute got to work, 2021 Census; working at home is counted apart.
EI claims in Census Division No. 17 are back near their 2019 level
Nobody publishes EI beneficiaries for Slave Lake alone, so this card uses the figure for Census Division No. 17.
That works out to around 4.3 beneficiaries per 100 people aged 15 to 64 across the division. Over the year to August 2026, the count fell by 3%. At its peak, in July 2021, 3,310 people were on EI, 2.3 times the 2019 average.
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).
Walkability in Slave Lake: graded A
Better than 90% of Canadian towns on two measures together, #169 of 474 in Alberta.
OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL); active commuting from the 2021 Census.
How Slave Lake ranks: 39th of 703 Canadian towns of 5,100 to 9,900
| # | Place | People | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Household income | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Labrador City Newfoundland and Labrador | 7,965 | 79% | 5.5% | $146K | A+ |
| 2 | Silverwood Heights Saskatchewan | 8,153 | 81% | 5.8% | $118K | A+ |
| 3 | North River Heights Manitoba | 7,228 | 82% | 8.4% | $143K | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 10 | Altadore Alberta | 7,675 | 80% | 8.1% | $155K | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 13 | Parkview Alberta | 5,729 | 80% | 9% | $155K | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 27 | Glenora Alberta | 6,197 | 78% | 9.1% | $123K | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 37 | Hautes-Plaines Quebec | 6,353 | 79% | 5.9% | $99K | A |
| 38 | Elmhurst Manitoba | 6,600 | 79% | 7.3% | $117K | A |
| 39 | Slave Lake Alberta | 7,334 | 74% | 9.6% | $110K | A |
| 40 | Lac-Beauport Quebec | 8,524 | 84% | 4.9% | $133K | A |
| 41 | Humboldt Saskatchewan | 6,551 | 82% | 4.8% | $80K | A |
| … | ||||||
| 703 | Chertsey Quebec | 5,678 | 64% | 8.6% | $58K | D− |
Ordered by Jobs & income Grade: the top three, the places either side of Slave Lake, and others among Alberta’s towns.
Neighbouring places to Slave Lake, compared
The nearest places to Slave Lake with figures are 11–109 km away.
| Place | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Household income | Average trip | Jobs | Walk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Slave Lake | 74% | 9.6% | $110K | 16.5 min | A | A |
| Lesser Slave River No. 124 11.2 km | 81% | 8.8% | $100K | 28.8 min | A− | C− |
| Swan Hills 74 km | 66% | 13% | $84K | 24.2 min | C+ | B+ |
| Big Lakes County 93.4 km | 62% | 13% | $77K | 23.4 min | C | C |
| Opportunity No. 17 97.8 km | 58% | 18% | $89K | 19 min | B− | C+ |
| High Prairie 109.2 km | 76% | 12% | $88K | 14.9 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 Slave Lake, where it comes from, and what it leaves out.
- The Labour Force Survey. The most recent unemployment rate on the page comes from this monthly survey, which covers the wider metro area or economic region, not the town.
- 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. A census-day figure: people without a job who were looking, divided by all those working or looking, ages 15 and up.
- 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. 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. 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. 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.
- Which towns we compare. Every town and city neighbourhood with 2,500 residents or more; whole cities and First Nations reserves are left out. Each middle figure is a median.
Questions about work in Slave Lake
How do people in Slave Lake get to work?
By car: 89% of commuters, 0.3% take public transit, 8.9% walk and 0.5% cycle; on census day 7.1% of those in work worked from home.
How long is the commute from Slave Lake?
16.5 minutes is the average trip, with 66% of commuters there in under 15 minutes and 4.9% taking an hour or more.
Where do people in Slave Lake work?
Most stay: 93% work in Slave Lake. The rest go first to Big Lakes County (35) and Lesser Slave River No. 124 (30).
How many jobs are there in Slave Lake?
The 2021 census counted about 3,525 people working in Slave Lake: 1.4 jobs for every resident who commutes to a fixed workplace. Statistics Canada counted 524 businesses with employees in June 2026.
What is the unemployment rate in Slave Lake?
Two figures answer it: 9.6% on census day in May 2021 (9.9% in the middle of Canadian towns), and 5.6% for the Banff-Jasper-Rocky Mountain House and Athabasca-Grande Prairie-Peace River economic region in the Labour Force Survey of October 2026.
What is the average household income in Slave Lake?
At $110,400 before tax in 2020, the median household in Slave Lake 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).