Photo: Krazytea · CC BY-SA 4.0Most of Pembina works elsewhere: the town has 0.6 jobs for each resident in work
5.8% of the labour force in Pembina was out of work at the 2021 census, next to 9.9% for the middle of Canadian towns. Before tax, the typical household in Pembina brought in $71,000 in 2020; the middle of Canadian towns is $85,900. At the 2021 census, 79% of Pembina’s 15-to-64s were in work, against 73% in the middle of Canadian towns.
What Pembina’s work numbers say
More people in work than most towns
Counting everyone 15 and over, 62% were in work at the 2021 census; among those aged 15 to 64 it was 79%, against 73% in the middle of Canadian towns. In work ↓
Less unemployment than most towns
Unemployment, 5.8% at the 2021 census, compares with 9.9% in the middle of Canadian towns. Unemployment ↓
Lower incomes than most towns
At $71,000 before tax in 2020, the median household compares with $85,900 in the middle of Canadian towns. Household income ↓
Written from the data on this page: Statistics Canada’s 2021 Census, its commuting tables, Employment Insurance and the Labour Force Survey.
The Jobs & income grade for Pembina: C+
Better than 43% of Canadian towns on three measures together, #128 of 185 in Manitoba.
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.
Work and the working-age population of Pembina
A larger share in work than in 71% of Canadian towns.
Take in all adults, retirees with them, and only 62% were working. Counting those looking for work too, 66% of people aged 15 and over were in the labour force. 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.
Earnings at home in Pembina: households
Before tax, 2020: lower than in 64% of Canadian towns.
Against the middle of Manitoba’s towns ($83,900), Pembina’s median is 15% below. 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).
A commuter town: Pembina sends out more workers than it takes in
About 3 residents leave for work for each person who comes in. 39% 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.
61% of Pembina’s residents in work leave it to work; Winkler takes the most
Inbound, the leader is Morden (40).
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census (98-10-0459): commuting flows between municipalities (census subdivisions), rounded to 5; linked names have their own pages.
Leaving the car at home: 5.3% of commuters in Pembina
Home was the workplace for 24%, where the middle of Canadian towns has 21%. Hardly anyone takes transit to work, where the middle of Canadian towns has 3.5%. The car is the way to work for 91% of commuters.
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census: main mode of commuting; average durations by mode from table 98-10-0458 (whole municipalities only).
Close to the middle of Canadian towns: commutes from Pembina average 26.2 minutes
In the middle of Manitoba’s towns, the average commute is 23.6 minutes. Trips under 15 minutes: 31%, fewer than the 46% in the middle of Manitoba’s towns. An hour or more: 4.7% of commuters, close to the middle of Manitoba’s towns. Timed exactly, the average is 23.4 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.
EI claims in Census Division No. 4 run 33% above their 2019 level
Roughly 4.4 in every 100 people aged 15 to 64 in the division draw EI. Set against the same month a year before, the count in August 2026 rose by 9%. February 2021 was the busiest month, with 400 people on EI, 2.3 times 2019’s average.
Statistics Canada, Employment Insurance beneficiaries by census division (14-10-0323): all income benefits, not seasonally adjusted. Data for EI beneficiaries covers Census Division No. 4. EI counts are context, not part of any grade.
People receiving Employment Insurance each month, as a share of the 2019 average (100).
The walkability of Pembina: B
Better than 63% of Canadian towns on two measures together, #135 of 185 in Manitoba.
OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL); active commuting from the 2021 Census.
Pembina next to Canadian towns of 2,500 to 3,400: 218th of 390 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+ |
| … | ||||||
| 7 | South River Heights Manitoba | 2,632 | 84% | 5.3% | $112K | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 216 | Munroe West Manitoba | 2,532 | 74% | 9.2% | $76K | C+ |
| 217 | Saint-Basile Quebec | 2,918 | 79% | 6.2% | $70K | C+ |
| 218 | Pembina Manitoba | 2,502 | 79% | 5.8% | $71K | C+ |
| 219 | Tumbler Ridge British Columbia | 2,663 | 73% | 7.7% | $100K | C+ |
| 220 | Grey Manitoba | 2,655 | 79% | 5.2% | $73K | C+ |
| … | ||||||
| 390 | 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 Pembina, and others among Manitoba’s towns.
How Pembina compares with the places nearby
Distances here run 22–27 km: that is how far the nearest places with figures are from Pembina.
| Place | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Household income | Average trip | Jobs | Walk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pembina | 79% | 5.8% | $71K | 26.2 min | C+ | B |
| Lorne 21.7 km | 84% | 5.1% | $69K | 21.7 min | A− | A− |
| Thompson 22.7 km | 66% | 2.5% | $74K | 22.3 min | C | B− |
| Louise 26.5 km | 78% | 4.1% | $68K | 19.8 min | B | 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 Pembina, where it comes from, and what it leaves out.
- Household income. Taken from the 2021 Census, which asked about 2020: wages, pensions, investment income and government transfers together, before income tax, for the median household.
- 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. 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. Monthly EI recipients across the census division: a pulse of the local job market rather than a measure of who is out of work.
- 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. The share of people 15 and over in the labour force, working or looking for work, who had no job on census day in May 2021.
- Which towns we compare. Comparisons are with the median of Canadian towns and city neighbourhoods counting 2,500 people or more, reserves and entire cities excluded.
Questions about work in Pembina
How do people in Pembina get to work?
91% of commuters go by car, 5.3% walk. On census day 24% of everyone in work stayed home to work.
How long is the commute from Pembina?
On average 26.2 minutes; 31% take under 15 minutes and 4.7% take an hour or longer.
Where do people in Pembina work?
Only 39% work in Pembina itself; the rest go first to Winkler (135) and Morden (135).
How many jobs are there in Pembina?
About 385 people had their usual place of work in Pembina at the 2021 census, 0.6 for each working resident with a fixed workplace. Statistics Canada counted 118 businesses with employees in June 2026.
What is the unemployment rate in Pembina?
At the 2021 census, unemployment stood at 5.8%; the middle of Canadian towns is 9.9%.
What is the average household income in Pembina?
The census puts Pembina at $71,000 for 2020, before tax and at the median, against $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, 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).