Photo: Wilson Hui from Calgary, Canada · CC BY 2.0Trochu has a larger share of its working-age people in jobs than 92% of Canadian towns
Census day 2021 found 11% of Trochu’s labour force without a job, and the middle of Canadian towns sits at 9.9%. An hour or more each way is the commute for 7.9% of workers in Trochu; the average is 18 minutes. In 2020, a household at the middle of Trochu had $73,300 before tax, against $85,900 in the middle of Canadian towns.
Trochu and work: the main findings
More people in work than most towns
At the 2021 census 85% of the 15-to-64s were in work (73% in the middle of Canadian towns); across all ages 15 and over, 60%. In work ↓
A local job centre
With 490 jobs based in Trochu and 330 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 minutes (26 in the middle of Canadian towns), and 7.9% 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 Trochu: graded A
Its strongest measure is the share of 15-to-64s in work; 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.
The share of 15-to-64s in work in Trochu: 85%
All 6 other places of 2,500 people or more in Census Division No. 5 have a smaller share of 15-to-64s in work.
68% of residents aged 15 and over were in the labour force, in work or seeking it. Take in all adults, retirees with them, and only 60% were working. The monthly Labour Force Survey, which covers the wider area, put its employment rate at 57% 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.
Each working day, Trochu’s workforce swells by 42%
330 residents of Trochu had a usual place of work at the 2021 census, and 490 people had theirs in Trochu, wherever they lived.
Each resident commuting out of Trochu is matched by about 3 coming in. 69% 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.
A shorter commute than the middle of Canadian towns: 18 minutes from Trochu
Statistics Canada’s own average, timed exactly rather than by band, is 13.8 minutes. In the middle of Alberta’s towns, the average commute is 25.8 minutes. A quarter-hour or less for 65% of commuters, against 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.
264 people come into Trochu to work, most from Kneehill County and Three Hills
- Kneehill County125
- Three Hills50
- Calgary20
- Elnora20
- Red Deer County15
- Red Deer10
54% of the people who work in Trochu live outside it, 125 of them in Kneehill County, 13 km away. Of residents who leave for work, most head to Three Hills (55).
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 Trochu work and where people who work there live, the ten largest each way.
Earnings at home in Trochu: households
Before tax, 2020: lower than in 58% of Canadian towns.
Set beside Alberta’s towns, where the median is $92,250, Trochu sits 21% below. Every other place of 2,500 or more in Census Division No. 5 has a higher median. CERB and the other emergency payments of 2020 are counted in these incomes, which lifted the lower ones 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).
Leaving the car at home: 9% of commuters in Trochu
Hardly anyone takes transit to work, where the middle of Canadian towns has 3.5%. Driving to work is about as common as in the middle of Alberta’s towns, at 89%.
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.
23% more people are on EI in Census Division No. 5 than in 2019
Set against the same month a year before, the count in August 2026 rose by 5%. The count topped out in February 2021 at 2,480 people, 2.7 times the 2019 average. That is about 3.4 people on EI for every 100 aged 15 to 64 in the division.
Statistics Canada, Employment Insurance beneficiaries by census division (14-10-0323): all income benefits, not seasonally adjusted. EI beneficiaries published for Census Division No. 5, not by town. EI counts are context, not part of any grade.
People receiving Employment Insurance each month, as a share of the 2019 average (100).
Everyday places on foot in Trochu: A
Better than 85% of Canadian towns on two measures together.
OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL); active commuting from the 2021 Census.
Jobs near Trochu: the places around it
| Place | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Household income | Average trip | Jobs | Walk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Trochu | 85% | 11% | $73K | 18 min | A | A |
| Kneehill County 12.9 km | 77% | 7.7% | $92K | 27.4 min | B | C+ |
| Three Hills 14.3 km | 75% | 12% | $76K | 16.6 min | B+ | 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 Trochu, where it comes from, and what it leaves out.
- Employment Insurance. Statistics Canada counts EI beneficiaries each month by census division. Seasonal work makes it swing, so read it as a trend, not a jobless 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. Working residents per resident of working age (15 to 64), from the 2021 Census.
- Unemployment. It counts only people who wanted work and had none in May 2021, as a share of those working or searching; students and retirees who weren’t looking stay out of both sides.
- Household income. Before-tax total income of the middle household for 2020, from the census. Neighbourhood medians are worked out from bracket counts, since Statistics Canada publishes none of their own.
- 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. 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.
- 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 Trochu
How do people in Trochu get to work?
By car: 89% of commuters, 9% walk; on census day 11% of those in work worked from home.
How long is the commute from Trochu?
18 minutes is the average trip, with 65% of commuters there in under 15 minutes and 7.9% taking an hour or more.
Where do people in Trochu work?
69% work in Trochu itself; of those who leave, the most go to Three Hills (55), then Slave Lake (15).
How many jobs are there in Trochu?
The 2021 census counted about 490 people working in Trochu: 1.5 jobs for every resident who commutes to a fixed workplace. In June 2026, 71 businesses with employees were on Statistics Canada’s count.
What is the unemployment rate in Trochu?
On census day in May 2021, unemployment stood at 11% of the labour force (9.9% in the middle of Canadian towns). For a recent figure, the Labour Force Survey put the Camrose-Drumheller economic region at 8.8% in October 2026.
What is the average household income in Trochu?
At $73,300 before tax in 2020, the median household in Trochu 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).