Photo: Krazytea · CC BY-SA 4.0Working-age people in Grey have jobs more often than in 70% of Canadian towns
Home was the workplace for 30% of its workers in May 2021; the middle of Canadian towns is 21%. Workers in Grey spend 27.2 minutes on the way to work on average, and 7.1% need an hour or more. In 2020, a household at the middle of Grey had $73,200 before tax, and the middle of Canadian towns sits at $85,900.
Grey and work: the main findings
More people in work than most towns
Of residents aged 15 to 64, 79% held a job in 2021; the middle of Canadian towns is 73%, and over all adults the share is 65%. In work ↓
Less unemployment than most towns
The census counted 5.2% unemployed in 2021, against 9.9% in the middle of Canadian towns. Unemployment ↓
Written from the data on this page: Statistics Canada’s 2021 Census, its commuting tables, Employment Insurance and the Labour Force Survey.
On jobs and income, Grey grades C+
Better than 43% of Canadian towns on three measures together, #130 of 185 in Manitoba.
Its strongest measure is the share of 15-to-64s in work; 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.
In Grey, 79% of the working-age population has a job
Counting retirees, 65% of everyone aged 15 and over was working. The participation rate, everyone 15 and over working or looking for work, was 69%. 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.
As many come into Grey to work as leave
675 residents of Grey had a usual place of work at the 2021 census, and 650 people had theirs in Grey, wherever they lived.
People with no fixed workplace are in neither count.
51% of Grey’s residents in work leave it to work; Portage la Prairie takes the most
Of those coming in, Dufferin supplies the most: 70.
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 Grey work and where people who work there live, the ten largest each way.
Household income in Grey
Before tax, 2020: lower than in 58% of Canadian towns.
That puts Grey 13% below the median of Manitoba’s towns, $83,900. 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).
13% of commuters from Grey go without a car
Transit takes 1.2% of commuters, against 3.5% in the middle of Canadian towns. The middle of Manitoba’s towns has 3.8% walking; here, 10% do. Fewer drive than in the middle of Manitoba’s towns: 84% against 87%.
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.
How long the commute from Grey takes
Statistics Canada’s own average, timed exactly rather than by band, is 24 minutes. In the middle of Manitoba’s towns, the average commute is 23.6 minutes. Trips under 15 minutes: 39%, fewer than the 46% in the middle of Manitoba’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.
EI claims in Census Division No. 9 run 17% above their 2019 level
Per 100 residents aged 15 to 64, about 4.1 receive EI. In January 2021 it reached 1,090, the most in the series and 2.4 times the 2019 average.
Statistics Canada, Employment Insurance beneficiaries by census division (14-10-0323): all income benefits, not seasonally adjusted. Area behind the EI beneficiaries figures: Census Division No. 9. 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 Grey: B+
OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL); active commuting from the 2021 Census.
Ranked on jobs and income, Grey is 253rd among 458 Canadian towns of 2,500 to 3,600
| # | 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+ |
| … | ||||||
| 7 | South River Heights Manitoba | 2,632 | 84% | 5.3% | $112K | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 251 | Pembina Manitoba | 2,502 | 79% | 5.8% | $71K | C+ |
| 252 | Tumbler Ridge British Columbia | 2,663 | 73% | 7.7% | $100K | C+ |
| 253 | Grey Manitoba | 2,655 | 79% | 5.2% | $73K | C+ |
| 254 | Hampton New Brunswick | 3,268 | 73% | 6.9% | $89K | C+ |
| 255 | Cocagne New Brunswick | 2,982 | 77% | 15% | $74K | C+ |
| … | ||||||
| 458 | 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 Grey, and others among Manitoba’s towns.
Work in and around Grey
The nearest places to Grey with figures are 16–27 km away.
| Place | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Household income | Average trip | Jobs | Walk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grey | 79% | 5.2% | $73K | 27.2 min | C+ | B+ |
| Dufferin 16.4 km | 85% | 2.4% | $90K | 22.1 min | A+ | C |
| Carman 22.9 km | 80% | 5.2% | $67K | 21.7 min | B | A |
| Long Plain 6 27.4 km | 33% | 21% | $45K | 20.7 min | D | 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 Grey, where it comes from, and what it leaves out.
- Where people commute. Built from the census table that pairs each worker’s home municipality with their workplace municipality. A job here means someone who usually works in the municipality, local or not.
- 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.
- 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. 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. The 2020 income of the household at the midpoint, all sources and before tax. Inside a city we rebuild it from the dissemination areas’ income bands, so there it is an estimate.
- Trip times. Our average assumes everyone in, say, the 15-to-29-minute band takes 22 minutes. Across all the bands that runs a shade above Statistics Canada’s measured 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 Grey
How do people in Grey get to work?
Driving takes 84% of commuters to work, 1.2% take public transit, 10% walk and 1.2% cycle, and on census day 30% of those in work were at home.
How long is the commute from Grey?
About 27.2 minutes on average, with 39% under a quarter-hour and 7.1% at an hour or longer.
Where do people in Grey work?
49% work in Grey itself. Of those who leave, the most go to Portage la Prairie (80), then Winnipeg (60).
How many jobs are there in Grey?
Some 650 people worked in Grey at the 2021 census: 1 jobs per working resident with a fixed workplace. In June 2026, 117 businesses with employees were on Statistics Canada’s count.
What is the unemployment rate in Grey?
The 2021 census found 5.2% of those working or looking without a job; the middle of Canadian towns is 9.9%.
What is the average household income in Grey?
Grey’s middle household had $73,200 in 2020, before tax; Canadian towns have $85,900 at their middle.
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, 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).