Photo: Rural Health Professions Action Plan from Edmonton, Alberta, Canada · CC BY 2.0How Three Hills works: jobs, income and commuting
Unemployment in Three Hills stood at 12% on census day 2021, and the middle of Canadian towns sits at 9.9%. From Three Hills, the drive or ride to work averages 16.6 minutes, with 5.5% going an hour or longer. Three Hills is the usual workplace of 1,250 people, and 870 of its own residents commute to a job.
Jobs and income in Three Hills: what the figures say
A local job centre
With 1,250 jobs based in Three Hills and 870 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 16.6 minutes (26 in the middle of Canadian towns), and 5.5% 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 Three Hills earn B+
Better than 75% of Canadian towns on three measures together, #110 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.
Three Hills fills up on a working day: 37% more workers
For every resident who leaves Three Hills for work, about 3 people come in. The job is inside the municipality for 81% of its commuters (70% in the middle of Canadian towns).
People with no fixed workplace are in neither count.
Commuting times in Three Hills
Statistics Canada’s own average, timed exactly rather than by band, is 13.2 minutes. The middle of Alberta’s towns averages 25.8 minutes. Trips under 15 minutes: 71%, 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.
547 people come into Three Hills to work, most from Kneehill County and Trochu
- Kneehill County265
- Trochu55
- Red Deer25
- Wheatland County20
- Carbon20
- Calgary15
- Didsbury15
- Drumheller10
- Starland County10
- Acme10
- Trochu50
- Drumheller30
- Linden25
- Acme10
- Calgary10
- Airdrie10
44% of the people who work in Three Hills live outside it, 265 of them in Kneehill County, 2 km away. Of residents who leave for work, most head to Trochu (50).
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 Three Hills work and where people who work there live, the ten largest each way.
Three Hills at work: 75% of people aged 15 to 64
Of the 5 other places of 2,500 people or more in Census Division No. 5, 4 have a smaller share of 15-to-64s in work.
Across all ages 15 and over the share in work falls to 54%: many residents are past working age. By October 2026, the Labour Force Survey had 57% of the wider area’s adults in work. Working or looking, 61% of everyone 15 and over was in the labour force. 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.
Three Hills households: $76,300 a year at the median
Before tax, 2020: lower than in 52% of Canadian towns.
Set beside Alberta’s towns, where the median is $92,250, Three Hills sits 17% below. Of the 5 other places of 2,500 or more in Census Division No. 5, 4 have a higher median. In 2020 emergency benefits topped up many low incomes, and the census counts them here.
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census: median total income of households in 2020, before tax (a neighbourhood’s estimated from its dissemination areas’ income groups).
Three Hills gets to work without a car for 16% of commuters
Only 13% 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. On foot: 14% of commuters, well above the 2.5% in the middle of Alberta’s towns. 81% drive to work, fewer than 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).
How residents who commute got to work, 2021 Census; working at home is counted apart.
EI claims in Census Division No. 5 run 23% above their 2019 level
Three Hills doesn’t get its own EI beneficiaries figures; the ones here come from Census Division No. 5.
At its peak, in February 2021, 2,480 people were on EI, 2.7 times the 2019 average. Per 100 residents aged 15 to 64, about 3.4 receive EI. Compared with a year earlier, the count in August 2026 rose 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).
How walkable Three Hills is: A+
Better than 97% of Canadian towns on two measures together, #87 of 474 in Alberta.
OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL); active commuting from the 2021 Census.
Three Hills next to Canadian towns of 2,500 to 4,700: 211th of 757 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+ |
| … | ||||||
| 17 | Garrison Woods Alberta | 3,138 | 79% | 10% | $146K | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 23 | Wainwright No. 61 Alberta | 4,576 | 84% | 5.5% | $108K | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 209 | Westgate Alberta | 3,139 | 74% | 9.9% | $101K | A− |
| 210 | Sainte-Claire Quebec | 3,724 | 82% | 3.5% | $72K | B+ |
| 211 | Three Hills Alberta | 3,502 | 75% | 12% | $76K | B+ |
| 212 | Mont-Saint-Grégoire Quebec | 3,158 | 79% | 4% | $96K | B+ |
| 213 | Saint-Jean-Port-Joli Quebec | 3,330 | 83% | 7.6% | $63K | B+ |
| … | ||||||
| 757 | 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 Three Hills, and others among Alberta’s towns.
Three Hills and its neighbours: work and income
| Place | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Household income | Average trip | Jobs | Walk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Three Hills | 75% | 12% | $76K | 16.6 min | B+ | A+ |
| Kneehill County 2.1 km | 77% | 7.7% | $92K | 27.4 min | B | C+ |
| Trochu 14.3 km | 85% | 11% | $73K | 18 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 Three Hills, where it comes from, and what it leaves out.
- 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. People receiving EI benefits each month, counted for the census division. It follows the local job market; it isn’t an unemployment rate.
- The Labour Force Survey. Sampled each month and released for regions rather than towns, so its rate describes the area around 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. Unemployed people over the labour force (in work or looking), aged 15 and over, on census day.
- 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.
- 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 Three Hills
What is the unemployment rate in Three Hills?
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 Camrose-Drumheller economic region, gives 8.8% in October 2026.
What is the average household income in Three Hills?
At $76,300 before tax in 2020, the median household in Three Hills compares with $85,900 in the middle of Canadian towns.
How do people in Three Hills get to work?
By car: 81% of commuters, 14% walk and 1.4% cycle; on census day 13% of those in work worked from home.
How long is the commute from Three Hills?
16.6 minutes is the average trip, with 71% of commuters there in under 15 minutes and 5.5% taking an hour or more.
Where do people in Three Hills work?
Most stay: 81% work in Three Hills. The rest go first to Trochu (50) and Drumheller (30).
How many jobs are there in Three Hills?
The 2021 census counted about 1,250 people working in Three Hills: 1.4 jobs for every resident who commutes to a fixed workplace. Statistics Canada counted 197 businesses with employees in June 2026.
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).