Photo: Jd.101 · CC BY-SA 3.0Selkirk has 2.1 jobs for every resident in work
66% of people aged 15 to 64 in Selkirk had a job at the 2021 census, and the middle of Canadian towns sits at 73%. Commutes from Selkirk average 22.1 minutes, and 4.2% take an hour or more. Half the households in Selkirk had more than $68,000 in 2020, before tax, next to $85,900 for the middle of Canadian towns.
The short version on work in Selkirk
Fewer people in work than most towns
With 66% of its 15-to-64s in work in 2021, against 73% in the middle of Canadian towns, it has 50% of all adults employed. In work ↓
Lower incomes than most towns
Household income at the median was $68,000 in 2020, before tax; Canadian towns have $85,900 at the middle. Household income ↓
Shorter trips than most towns
The average trip to work is 22.1 minutes (26 in the middle of Canadian towns), and 4.2% 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.
The Jobs & income grade for Selkirk: C−
Better than 23% of Canadian towns on three measures together, #156 of 185 in Manitoba.
Its strongest measure is trip times; 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.
Work and the working-age population of Selkirk
None of the 4 other places of 2,500 people or more in Census Division No. 13 has a smaller share of 15-to-64s in work.
By October 2026, the Labour Force Survey had 61% of the wider area’s adults in work. Counting those looking for work too, 55% of people aged 15 and over were in the labour force. Across all ages 15 and over the share in work falls to 50%: many residents are past working age. May 2021, when the census was taken, was a pandemic spring; unemployment has come down since, as the Labour Force Survey records.
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 Selkirk earn
Before tax, 2020: lower than in 71% of Canadian towns.
Set beside Manitoba’s towns, where the median is $83,900, Selkirk sits 19% below. Every other place of 2,500 or more in Census Division No. 13 has a higher median. In 2020 emergency benefits topped up many low incomes, and the census counts them here.
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census: median total income of households in 2020, before tax (a neighbourhood’s estimated from its dissemination areas’ income groups).
On a working day Selkirk gains 94% in workers
For every resident who leaves Selkirk for work, about 4 people come in. The job is inside the municipality for 69% of its commuters (70% in the middle of Canadian towns).
People with no fixed workplace are in neither count.
How long the commute from Selkirk takes
Statistics Canada’s own average, timed exactly rather than by band, is 19.6 minutes. The middle of Manitoba’s towns averages 23.6 minutes. Trips under 15 minutes: 55%, more 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.
4,272 people come into Selkirk to work, most from Winnipeg and St. Andrews
- Winnipeg1,320
- St. Andrews975
- St. Clements815
- Oakbank170
- Brokenhead150
- Beausejour110
- Stony Mountain105
- West St. Paul85
- East St. Paul80
- Stonewall70
- Winnipeg625
- St. Andrews85
- Oakbank40
- Rosser35
- Brokenhead 425
- Beausejour20
- St. Clements20
- Stony Mountain20
- Gimli15
- La Salle10
67% of the people who work in Selkirk live outside it, 1,320 of them in Winnipeg, 34 km away. Of residents who leave for work, most head to Winnipeg (625).
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census (98-10-0459): commuting flows between municipalities (census subdivisions), rounded to 5; linked names have their own pages.
Selkirk gets to work without a car for 11% of commuters
Fewer worked at home than in the middle of Canadian towns: 9.8% against 21%. Transit takes 0.9% of commuters, against 3.5% in the middle of Canadian towns. More people walk to work here than in the middle of Manitoba’s towns: 9% against 3.8%. 87% drive to work, about the same as in the middle of Manitoba’s towns.
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census: main mode of commuting; average durations by mode from table 98-10-0458 (whole municipalities only).
EI claims in Census Division No. 13 run 18% above their 2019 level
Selkirk doesn’t get its own EI beneficiaries figures; the ones here come from Census Division No. 13.
That is about 4.6 people on EI for every 100 aged 15 to 64 in the division. Compared with a year earlier, the count in August 2026 rose by 2%. January 2021 was the busiest month, with 2,700 people on EI, 2.4 times 2019’s average.
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).
Selkirk earns A for walkability
Better than 92% of Canadian towns on two measures together, #61 of 185 in Manitoba.
OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL); active commuting from the 2021 Census.
Selkirk is 534th of 649 Canadian towns of 8,100 to 15,600 people for jobs and income
| # | Place | People | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Household income | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Silverwood Heights Saskatchewan | 8,153 | 81% | 5.8% | $118K | A+ |
| 2 | North Saanich British Columbia | 12,986 | 85% | 5.9% | $121K | A+ |
| 3 | Sillery Quebec | 13,950 | 81% | 6.2% | $120K | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 54 | Linden Woods Manitoba | 11,134 | 75% | 6.1% | $126K | A |
| 55 | Springfield North Manitoba | 8,327 | 78% | 7.3% | $113K | A |
| … | ||||||
| 65 | West St. Paul Manitoba | 10,796 | 80% | 6.5% | $124K | A |
| … | ||||||
| 532 | Pembroke Ontario | 15,479 | 63% | 12% | $63K | C− |
| 533 | Pelmo Park-Humberlea Ontario | 11,396 | 65% | 14% | $104K | C− |
| 534 | Selkirk Manitoba | 11,570 | 66% | 10% | $68K | C− |
| 535 | Pictou County, Subdivision C Nova Scotia | 8,847 | 67% | 14% | $72K | C− |
| 536 | Norquay Village British Columbia | 11,287 | 69% | 11% | $87K | C− |
| … | ||||||
| 649 | René-Goupil Quebec | 11,663 | 58% | 15% | $54K | D− |
Ordered by Jobs & income Grade: the top three, the places either side of Selkirk, and others among Manitoba’s towns.
Work next door to Selkirk
| Place | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Household income | Average trip | Jobs | Walk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Selkirk | 66% | 10% | $68K | 22.1 min | C− | A |
| St. Clements 3.7 km | 78% | 7.1% | $96K | 31.5 min | B− | D |
| St. Andrews 8.1 km | 78% | 6.2% | $107K | 30.3 min | B+ | C− |
| Brokenhead 17.6 km | 76% | 7.8% | $94K | 37.5 min | C+ | C− |
| West St. Paul 19 km | 80% | 6.5% | $124K | 26.2 min | A | D |
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 Selkirk, where it comes from, and what it leaves out.
- Trip times. The census asks how long the trip to work usually takes, in bands; our average uses each band’s middle, so it runs a little above Statistics Canada’s timed average.
- Where people commute. Jobs count everyone whose usual workplace lies in the municipality, residents or commuters from elsewhere, from Statistics Canada’s home-by-workplace table.
- 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. 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.
- Household income. The census median total income of households in 2020, before tax; a neighbourhood’s is estimated from its dissemination areas’ income groups.
- 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 Selkirk
How long is the commute from Selkirk?
22.1 minutes is the average trip, with 55% of commuters there in under 15 minutes and 4.2% taking an hour or more.
Where do people in Selkirk work?
Most stay: 69% work in Selkirk. The rest go first to Winnipeg (625) and St. Andrews (85).
How many jobs are there in Selkirk?
In June 2026, 392 businesses with employees were on Statistics Canada’s count.
What is the unemployment rate in Selkirk?
The 2021 census found 10% unemployed, against 9.9% in the middle of Canadian towns; the Labour Force Survey’s latest, for the Interlake economic region, is 2.9% (October 2026).
What is the average household income in Selkirk?
At $68,000 before tax in 2020, the median household in Selkirk compares with $85,900 in the middle of Canadian towns.
How do people in Selkirk get to work?
By car: 87% of commuters, 0.9% take public transit, 9% walk and 1.3% cycle; on census day 9.8% of those in work worked from home.
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).