Photo: P199 · CC BY-SA 4.0With 0.1 jobs for each resident in work, most of Brokenhead commutes out
Workers in Brokenhead spend 37.5 minutes on the way to work on average, and 14% need an hour or more. Half the households in Brokenhead had more than $93,800 in 2020, before tax, next to $85,900 for the middle of Canadian towns. 76% of people aged 15 to 64 in Brokenhead had a job at the 2021 census, and the middle of Canadian towns sits at 73%.
What stands out about work in Brokenhead
Work near the middle
Of residents aged 15 to 64, 76% held a job in 2021; the middle of Canadian towns is 73%, and over all adults the share is 62%. In work ↓
Longer trips than most towns
Commutes take 37.5 minutes on average, against 26 in the middle of Canadian towns; 14% take an hour or more. 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.
Brokenhead earns C+ for jobs and income
Better than 39% of Canadian towns on three measures together, #139 of 185 in Manitoba.
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.
Time on the road to work from Brokenhead
In the middle of Manitoba’s towns, the average commute is 23.6 minutes. Only 19% get to work within a quarter-hour, against 46% in the middle of Manitoba’s towns. Statistics Canada’s own average, timed exactly rather than by band, is 34.3 minutes.
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.
More go out than come in: the working day in Brokenhead
For every person who comes in to work, about 20 residents travel out. Of those who commute, 6.9% stay within the municipality; the middle of Canadian towns is 70%.
People with no fixed workplace are in neither count.
93% of Brokenhead’s residents in work leave it to work; Winnipeg takes the most
- Winnipeg575
- Beausejour430
- Selkirk150
- Oakbank120
- St. Andrews40
- Rosser35
- Pinawa30
- East St. Paul25
- Reynolds15
- Lac du Bonnet15
In the other direction the biggest source is Oakbank, with 30.
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census (98-10-0459): commuting flows between municipalities (census subdivisions), rounded to 5; linked names have their own pages.
Who in Brokenhead has a job
A larger share in work than in 56% of Canadian towns.
Across all ages 15 and over the share in work falls to 62%: many residents are past working age. The Labour Force Survey’s employment rate for the wider area was 66% in October 2026. The labour force, people 15 and over with a job or seeking one, took in 67% of residents that age. 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.
What households in Brokenhead earn
Before tax, 2020: higher than in 79% of Canadian towns.
That puts Brokenhead 12% above the median of Manitoba’s towns, $83,900. Incomes here are 2020’s and include the pandemic payments, CERB among them, that propped up the lower end.
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census: median total income of households in 2020, before tax (a neighbourhood’s estimated from its dissemination areas’ income groups).
On foot, by bike, bus or train: 2.8% of Brokenhead’s commuters
The car is the way to work for 96% of commuters. Fewer worked at home than in the middle of Canadian towns: 19% against 21%. Hardly anyone takes transit to work, where the middle of Canadian towns has 3.5%.
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census: main mode of commuting; average durations by mode from table 98-10-0458 (whole municipalities only).
In Census Division No. 12, 13% more people receive EI than in 2019
Set against the same month a year before, the count in August 2026 rose by 6%. At its peak, in January 2021, 1,200 people were on EI, 2.1 times the 2019 average. Per 100 residents aged 15 to 64, about 4.4 receive EI.
Statistics Canada, Employment Insurance beneficiaries by census division (14-10-0323): all income benefits, not seasonally adjusted. EI beneficiaries: Census Division No. 12. EI counts are context, not part of any grade.
People receiving Employment Insurance each month, as a share of the 2019 average (100).
Walking in Brokenhead earns C−
Better than 24% of Canadian towns on two measures together, #170 of 185 in Manitoba.
OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL); active commuting from the 2021 Census.
Brokenhead is 428th of 682 Canadian towns of 4,200 to 8,000 people for jobs and income
| # | Place | People | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Household income | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Labrador City Newfoundland and Labrador | 7,965 | 79% | 5.5% | $146K | A+ |
| 2 | Cornwallis Manitoba | 4,705 | 85% | 2.1% | $99K | A+ |
| 3 | New Maryland New Brunswick | 4,455 | 81% | 6.5% | $118K | A+ |
| 4 | North River Heights Manitoba | 7,228 | 82% | 8.4% | $143K | A+ |
| 5 | Neepawa Manitoba | 6,328 | 85% | 2.9% | $84K | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 426 | Rivers Edge / Castlemore Crossing Ontario | 6,577 | 70% | 12% | $146K | C+ |
| 427 | Bonnie Doon Alberta | 6,697 | 73% | 11% | $74K | C+ |
| 428 | Brokenhead Manitoba | 5,931 | 76% | 7.8% | $94K | C+ |
| 429 | Warner County No. 5 Alberta | 4,533 | 50% | 3% | $90K | C+ |
| 430 | Antigonish County, Subdivision B Nova Scotia | 6,486 | 73% | 13% | $75K | C+ |
| … | ||||||
| 682 | Chertsey Quebec | 5,678 | 64% | 8.6% | $58K | D− |
Ordered by Jobs & income Grade: the top three, the places either side of Brokenhead, and others among Manitoba’s towns.
Neighbouring places to Brokenhead, compared
| Place | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Household income | Average trip | Jobs | Walk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brokenhead | 76% | 7.8% | $94K | 37.5 min | C+ | C− |
| Beausejour 10.4 km | 79% | 10% | $71K | 29.6 min | C | A− |
| St. Clements 16 km | 78% | 7.1% | $96K | 31.5 min | B− | D |
| Selkirk 17.6 km | 66% | 10% | $68K | 22.1 min | C− | 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 Brokenhead, where it comes from, and what it leaves out.
- 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. 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. 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.
- Employment Insurance. Monthly EI recipients across the census division: a pulse of the local job market rather than a measure of who is out of work.
- 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.
- Which towns we compare. The comparison pool is places of 2,500 people or more, towns or neighbourhoods inside cities, without whole cities or reserves, and we compare with its median.
Questions about work in Brokenhead
What is the average household income in Brokenhead?
The census puts Brokenhead at $93,800 for 2020, before tax and at the median, against $85,900 in the middle of Canadian towns.
How do people in Brokenhead get to work?
Driving takes 96% of commuters to work, 2.8% walk, and on census day 19% of those in work were at home.
How long is the commute from Brokenhead?
About 37.5 minutes on average, with 19% under a quarter-hour and 14% at an hour or longer.
Where do people in Brokenhead work?
Only 6.9% work in Brokenhead itself; the rest go first to Winnipeg (575) and Beausejour (430).
How many jobs are there in Brokenhead?
Statistics Canada counted 33 businesses with employees in June 2026.
What is the unemployment rate in Brokenhead?
The census put unemployment at 7.8% in May 2021, where the middle of Canadian towns was 9.9%. More recently, in October 2026, the Labour Force Survey had the Southeast economic region at 4.1%.
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).