Photo: Quintin Soloviev · CC BY 4.0Most of Kelsey works elsewhere: the town has 0.3 jobs for each resident in work
Unemployment in Kelsey stood at 5.3% on census day 2021, against 9.9% in the middle of Canadian towns. For 6.6% of commuters in Kelsey, the trip to work lasts an hour or more; the average is 20.7 minutes. Before tax, the typical household in Kelsey brought in $101,200 in 2020, and the middle of Canadian towns sits at $85,900.
Kelsey and work: the main findings
Less unemployment than most towns
Unemployment stood at 5.3% on census day in 2021 (9.9% in the middle of Canadian towns). Unemployment ↓
Higher incomes than most towns
At $101,200 before tax in 2020, the median household compares with $85,900 in the middle of Canadian towns. Household income ↓
Shorter trips than most towns
The average trip to work is 20.7 minutes (26 in the middle of Canadian towns), and 6.6% 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 Kelsey: graded A
Better than 94% of Canadian towns on three measures together.
Its strongest measure is household income; its weakest, the share of 15-to-64s in work.
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 Kelsey, 78% of people aged 15 to 64 have a job
A larger share in work than in 64% of Canadian towns.
Many residents are past working age, so among everyone 15 and over the share in work drops to 60%. Participation, the share of residents 15 and over working or looking for work, came to 64%. The census caught the labour market on 11 May 2021, deep in the pandemic, so unemployment and working from home both ran above normal.
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 Kelsey earn
Before tax, 2020: higher than in 87% of Canadian towns.
The middle of Manitoba’s towns is $83,900, and Kelsey is 21% above it. Incomes are for 2020, the first pandemic year, so CERB and other emergency payments are part of them.
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census: median total income of households in 2020, before tax (a neighbourhood’s estimated from its dissemination areas’ income groups).
The length of the trip to work in Kelsey
In the middle of Manitoba’s towns, the average commute is 23.6 minutes. Trips under 15 minutes: 53%, more than the 46% in the middle of Manitoba’s towns. Timed exactly, the average is 18.6 minutes (Statistics Canada).
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.
On a working day, Kelsey loses more workers than it gains
785 residents of Kelsey had a usual place of work at the 2021 census, and 205 people had theirs in Kelsey, wherever they lived.
For every person who comes in to work, about 12 residents travel out. The job is inside the municipality for 20% of its commuters (70% in the middle of Canadian towns).
People with no fixed workplace are in neither count.
80% of Kelsey’s residents in work leave it to work; The Pas takes the most
Of those coming in, Division No. 21, Unorganized supplies the most: 25.
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 Kelsey work and where people who work there live, the ten largest each way.
10% of commuters from Kelsey go without a car
The car takes 85% of commuters here, under the 87% in the middle of Manitoba’s towns. Home was the workplace for 14%, under the 21% in the middle of Canadian towns. 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).
How residents who commute got to work, 2021 Census; working at home is counted apart.
In Census Division No. 21, 16% fewer people receive EI than in 2019
Figures for EI beneficiaries are published for Census Division No. 21 as a whole, not for Kelsey alone.
Set against the same month a year before, the count in August 2026 fell by 35%. At its peak, in August 2021, 1,520 people were on EI, 1.8 times the 2019 average. Per 100 residents aged 15 to 64, about 5.6 receive EI.
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).
Getting around Kelsey on foot earns B
Better than 64% of Canadian towns on two measures together.
OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL); active commuting from the 2021 Census.
Jobs and income in the places around Kelsey
The nearest places to Kelsey with figures are 28–41 km away.
| Place | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Household income | Average trip | Jobs | Walk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kelsey | 78% | 5.3% | $101K | 20.7 min | A | B |
| Division No. 21, Unorganized 28.1 km | 60% | 14% | $98K | 26.4 min | C | D− |
| Opaskwayak Cree Nation 21E 38.6 km | 45% | 28% | $70K | 13.1 min | C | B |
| The Pas 41.3 km | 68% | 9.8% | $86K | 12.9 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 Kelsey, where it comes from, and what it leaves out.
- Household income. Half of households had more than this before tax in 2020, half less, counting every source of income. For a neighbourhood we estimate the median from the income brackets of its dissemination areas.
- 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.
- 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. Beneficiaries of Employment Insurance, month by month, for the census division rather than the town. Many jobless people don’t qualify, so it isn’t an unemployment rate.
- In work. People in work of any age over residents aged 15 to 64 (2021 Census). The census doesn’t cross work with age below the municipality, so this is the one rate every town and neighbourhood has; retirees don’t weigh on it.
- Unemployment. Unemployed people over the labour force (in work or looking), aged 15 and over, on census day.
- Which towns we compare. Any town of 2,500 or more counts, and so does any city neighbourhood that size; the city as a whole and First Nations reserves don’t. The middle is the median.
Questions about work in Kelsey
How many jobs are there in Kelsey?
About 205 people had their usual place of work in Kelsey at the 2021 census, 0.3 for each working resident with a fixed workplace. In June 2026, 22 businesses with employees were on Statistics Canada’s count.
What is the unemployment rate in Kelsey?
About 5.3%, by the census of May 2021, against 9.9% in the middle of Canadian towns.
What is the average household income in Kelsey?
At $101,200 before tax in 2020, the median household in Kelsey compares with $85,900 in the middle of Canadian towns.
How do people in Kelsey get to work?
85% of commuters go by car, 10% walk. On census day 14% of everyone in work stayed home to work.
How long is the commute from Kelsey?
On average 20.7 minutes; 53% take under 15 minutes and 6.6% take an hour or longer.
Where do people in Kelsey work?
20% work in Kelsey itself. Of those who leave, the most go to The Pas (495), then Opaskwayak Cree Nation 21E (50).
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).