Photo: Hero122 · CC BY-SA 3.0Stirling has fewer jobs than residents in work: 0.3 for each
Of Stirling’s residents aged 15 to 64, 68% were employed when the 2021 census was taken, and the middle of Canadian towns sits at 73%. Most commutes from Stirling take well under an hour: the average is 28.6 minutes, and 3.6% take 60 minutes or longer. In 2020, a household at the middle of Stirling had $86,400 before tax, next to $85,900 for the middle of Canadian towns.
The work figures that set Stirling apart
Fewer people in work than most towns
Among residents aged 15 to 64, 68% were in work at the 2021 census, against 73% in the middle of Canadian towns; take everyone 15 and over and it falls to 59%. In work ↓
Unemployment near the middle
The Labour Force Survey had the area at 6.3% in October 2026; on census day in 2021 the town’s own rate was 8.9%, where the middle of Canadian towns had 9.9%. Unemployment ↓
Written from the data on this page: Statistics Canada’s 2021 Census, its commuting tables, Employment Insurance and the Labour Force Survey.
The Jobs & income grade for Stirling: C
Better than 26% of Canadian towns on three measures together.
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.
How many in Stirling have a job: 68% of 15-to-64s
Of the 10 other places of 2,500 people or more in Census Division No. 2, one has a smaller share of 15-to-64s in work.
A more recent figure, for the wider area: 59% in work in October 2026, by the Labour Force Survey. The labour force, people 15 and over with a job or seeking one, took in 64% of residents that age. Pandemic rules were in force on census day, 11 May 2021; the Labour Force Survey shows how jobs have moved since.
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.
Each working day, more people leave Stirling for work than come in
Outbound commuters outnumber inbound ones about 4 to 1. The job is inside the municipality for 8.1% of its commuters (70% in the middle of Canadian towns).
People with no fixed workplace are in neither count.
92% of Stirling’s residents in work leave it to work; Lethbridge takes the most
- Lethbridge175
- Raymond35
- Coaldale20
- Taber15
- Milk River10
- Improvement District No. 4 Waterton10
Warner County No. 5 sends the largest group the other way, 25 people.
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census (98-10-0459): commuting flows between municipalities (census subdivisions), rounded to 5; linked names have their own pages.
Earnings at home in Stirling: households
Before tax, 2020: higher than in 68% of Canadian towns.
7 of the 10 other places of 2,500+ in Census Division No. 2 have a higher median. Stirling’s median is 6% below the middle of Alberta’s towns ($92,250). Read the incomes as 2020’s, before tax: pandemic benefits such as CERB are in them, and they raised many low incomes for 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).
Stirling gets to work without a car for 2.4% of commuters
Fewer worked at home than in the middle of Canadian towns: 8.7% against 21%. Transit barely figures here, against 3.5% in the middle of Canadian towns. Nearly everyone drives: 98% 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).
The length of the trip to work in Stirling
The middle of Alberta’s towns averages 25.8 minutes. Trips under 15 minutes: 15%, fewer than the 39% in the middle of Alberta’s towns. Timed exactly, the average is 26 minutes (Statistics Canada).
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.
27% more people are on EI in Census Division No. 2 than in 2019
That is about 3.3 people on EI for every 100 aged 15 to 64 in the division. Over the year to August 2026, the count rose by 1%. The highest month was January 2021: 8,020 people, 2.7 times the 2019 level.
Statistics Canada, Employment Insurance beneficiaries by census division (14-10-0323): all income benefits, not seasonally adjusted. Not measured by town: EI beneficiaries (Census Division No. 2). 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, Stirling grades B−
Better than 52% of Canadian towns on two measures together.
OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL); active commuting from the 2021 Census.
Around Stirling: jobs, pay and the commute
| Place | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Household income | Average trip | Jobs | Walk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stirling | 68% | 8.9% | $86K | 28.6 min | C | B− |
| Raymond 10.5 km | 69% | 8.1% | $86K | 23.6 min | B− | B+ |
| Warner County No. 5 12.5 km | 50% | 3% | $90K | 22.7 min | C+ | 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 Stirling, where it comes from, and what it leaves out.
- In work. We divide the number of employed residents by the number aged 15 to 64. Workers past 64 still count on top, because the 2021 Census crosses work with age only for whole municipalities; in return, a retirement town’s pensioners don’t drag the rate down.
- 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. Taken from the 2021 Census, which asked about 2020: wages, pensions, investment income and government transfers together, before income tax, for the median household.
- Trip times. One way, on a usual day, from the census’s travel-time bands. Band midpoints overstate it a little next to the figure Statistics Canada times.
- Where people commute. Jobs count everyone whose usual workplace lies in the municipality, residents or commuters from elsewhere, from Statistics Canada’s home-by-workplace table.
- 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. Monthly, and only for metro areas and economic regions. It is the up-to-date rate we set beside the census’s 2021 snapshot.
- Which towns we compare. Comparisons are with the median of Canadian towns and city neighbourhoods counting 2,500 people or more, reserves and entire cities excluded.
Questions about work in Stirling
What is the unemployment rate in Stirling?
The 2021 census found 8.9% unemployed, against 9.9% in the middle of Canadian towns; the Labour Force Survey’s latest, for the Lethbridge-Medicine Hat economic region, is 6.3% (October 2026).
What is the average household income in Stirling?
The census puts Stirling at $86,400 for 2020, before tax and at the median, against $85,900 in the middle of Canadian towns.
How do people in Stirling get to work?
98% of commuters drive, 2.4% walk; 8.7% of everyone in work worked at home on census day.
How long is the commute from Stirling?
The average commute is 28.6 minutes; 15% of trips take under 15 minutes and 3.6% an hour or more.
Where do people in Stirling work?
Only 8.1% work in Stirling itself; the rest go first to Lethbridge (175) and Raymond (35).
How many jobs are there in Stirling?
The 2021 census found about 90 people with their usual workplace in Stirling, or 0.3 for each resident who travels to a fixed job. In June 2026, 25 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).