Photo: WinterE229 WinterforceMedia · CC0Households in Sturgeon County earn more than those in 97% of Canadian towns
Jobs were held by 75% of people aged 15 to 64 in Sturgeon County in 2021; the middle of Canadian towns is 73%. From Sturgeon County, the drive or ride to work averages 30.8 minutes, with 6.4% going an hour or longer. Of everyone in Sturgeon County working or looking for work in May 2021, 8.3% were unemployed, and the middle of Canadian towns sits at 9.9%.
What the numbers say about work in Sturgeon County
Higher incomes than most towns
Household income at the median was $124,200 in 2020, before tax; Canadian towns have $85,900 at the middle. Household income ↓
More jobs than the typical town
With 6,070 jobs based in Sturgeon County and 5,825 working residents, the ratio compares with 0.8 in the middle of Canadian towns. The daily tide ↓
Longer trips than most towns
The average trip to work is 30.8 minutes (26 in the middle of Canadian towns), and 6.4% 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.
The Jobs & income grade for Sturgeon County: B
Better than 57% of Canadian towns on three measures together, #221 of 474 in Alberta.
Its strongest measure is household income; its weakest, trip times.
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.
Before tax, the median household in Sturgeon County had $124,200
26 of the 211 other places of 2,500+ in Census Division No. 11 have a higher median. Set beside Alberta’s towns, where the median is $92,250, Sturgeon County sits 35% above. 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).
The commute in and out of Sturgeon County balances out
5,825 residents of Sturgeon County had a usual place of work at the 2021 census, and 6,070 people had theirs in Sturgeon County, wherever they lived.
The job is inside the municipality for 21% of its commuters (70% in the middle of Canadian towns).
People with no fixed workplace are in neither count.
Time on the road to work from Sturgeon County
Statistics Canada’s own average, timed exactly rather than by band, is 27.7 minutes. In the middle of Alberta’s towns, the average commute is 25.8 minutes. Trips under 15 minutes: 21%, fewer 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.
4,853 people come into Sturgeon County to work, most from Edmonton and St. Albert
80% of the people who work in Sturgeon County live outside it, 2,445 of them in Edmonton, 27 km away. Edmonton is where the largest group of commuters out goes, 2,160 of them.
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 Sturgeon County work and where people who work there live, the ten largest each way.
Work and the working-age population of Sturgeon County
Of the 211 other places of 2,500 people or more in Census Division No. 11, 162 have a smaller share of 15-to-64s in work.
Counting retirees, 62% of everyone aged 15 and over was working. The Labour Force Survey’s employment rate for the wider area was 64% in October 2026. The participation rate, everyone 15 and over working or looking for work, was 68%. The figures are a snapshot of 11 May 2021, when pandemic rules still kept many people out of work or at 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.
Without a car, 4.6% of Sturgeon County’s commuters get to work
22% worked at home on census day, about the same as in the middle of Canadian towns. Transit takes 0.7% of commuters, against 3.5% in the middle of Canadian towns. The car is the way to work for 93% of commuters.
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. 11 run 30% above their 2019 level
Nobody publishes EI beneficiaries for Sturgeon County alone, so this card uses the figure for Census Division No. 11.
The count topped out in January 2021 at 97,990 people, 3.1 times the 2019 average. That works out to around 4.2 beneficiaries per 100 people aged 15 to 64 across the division. In the twelve months to August 2026 the number fell by 5%.
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).
Sturgeon County earns C+ for walkability
Better than 38% of Canadian towns on two measures together, #417 of 474 in Alberta.
OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL); active commuting from the 2021 Census.
Ranked on jobs and income, Sturgeon County is 149th among 430 Canadian towns of 14,800 to 28,500
| # | Place | People | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Household income | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Yellowknife Northwest Territories | 22,858 | 80% | 5.8% | $148K | A+ |
| 2 | Central Saanich British Columbia | 18,184 | 85% | 4.9% | $103K | A+ |
| 3 | Cap-Rouge Quebec | 17,139 | 81% | 4.3% | $126K | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 7 | Canmore Alberta | 17,341 | 79% | 9.7% | $107K | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 17 | Lloydminster (Part) Alberta | 21,267 | 75% | 11% | $98K | A |
| … | ||||||
| 32 | Cold Lake Alberta | 17,798 | 75% | 7.8% | $105K | A |
| … | ||||||
| 147 | Westmount Nova Scotia | 23,207 | 73% | 13% | $77K | B |
| 148 | Hanover Manitoba | 19,950 | 75% | 5.1% | $88K | B |
| 149 | Sturgeon County Alberta | 21,144 | 75% | 8.3% | $124K | B |
| 150 | Ile-des-Soeurs Quebec | 21,568 | 78% | 9.3% | $95K | B |
| 151 | Tuscany Alberta | 19,986 | 73% | 10% | $147K | B |
| … | ||||||
| 430 | South Parkdale Ontario | 21,663 | 64% | 17% | $57K | D− |
Ordered by Jobs & income Grade: the top three, the places either side of Sturgeon County, and others among Alberta’s towns.
Work in and around Sturgeon County
| Place | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Household income | Average trip | Jobs | Walk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sturgeon County | 75% | 8.3% | $124K | 30.8 min | B | C+ |
| Morinville 7.5 km | 75% | 10% | $109K | 29.4 min | B | B |
| Bon Accord 12.8 km | 70% | 13% | $103K | 33.6 min | C | B |
| Elsinore 13.6 km | 68% | 13% | $119K | 23.9 min | B | B− |
| St. Albert 13.8 km | 77% | 9.1% | $118K | 23.9 min | A | B+ |
| Canossa 13.9 km | 71% | 9.8% | $125K | 26.8 min | B | C+ |
| Rapperswill 14 km | 74% | 11% | $131K | 27.3 min | B+ | 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 Sturgeon County, where it comes from, and what it leaves out.
- 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.
- 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. 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. Who travels where, from the census: workers with a regular workplace, sorted by the municipality they live in and the one they work in.
- 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. 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.
- 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 Sturgeon County
How do people in Sturgeon County get to work?
By car: 93% of commuters, 0.7% take public transit, 3.5% walk and 0.4% cycle; on census day 22% of those in work worked from home.
How long is the commute from Sturgeon County?
30.8 minutes is the average trip, with 21% of commuters there in under 15 minutes and 6.4% taking an hour or more.
Where do people in Sturgeon County work?
21% work in Sturgeon County itself. Of those who leave, the most go to Edmonton (2,160), then St. Albert (685).
How many jobs are there in Sturgeon County?
The 2021 census counted about 6,070 people working in Sturgeon County: 1 jobs for every resident who commutes to a fixed workplace. In June 2026, 793 businesses with employees were on Statistics Canada’s count.
What is the unemployment rate in Sturgeon County?
The census put unemployment at 8.3% in May 2021, where the middle of Canadian towns was 9.9%. More recently, in October 2026, the Labour Force Survey had the Edmonton metro area at 7.1%.
What is the average household income in Sturgeon County?
The census puts Sturgeon County at $124,200 for 2020, before tax and at the median, against $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).