Photo: Diablo2003 · Public domainBathurst has lower household incomes than 96% of Canadian towns
The 2021 census put unemployment in Bathurst at 12%, and the middle of Canadian towns sits at 9.9%. Getting to work from Bathurst takes 15.6 minutes on average, an hour or more for 4.4%. At the 2021 census, 65% of Bathurst’s 15-to-64s were in work; the middle of Canadian towns is 73%.
Where Bathurst stands out on work
Fewer people in work than most towns
At the 2021 census 65% of the 15-to-64s were in work (73% in the middle of Canadian towns); across all ages 15 and over, 44%. In work ↓
Lower incomes than most towns
Household income at the median was $54,900 in 2020, before tax; Canadian towns have $85,900 at the middle. Household income ↓
A local job centre
6,835 people work in Bathurst and 3,395 residents commute to a fixed workplace; the middle of Canadian towns has 0.8 jobs per working resident. The daily tide ↓
Shorter trips than most towns
Commutes take 15.6 minutes on average, against 26 in the middle of Canadian towns; 4.4% 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.
On jobs and income, Bathurst grades C−
Better than 23% of Canadian towns on three measures together, #52 of 60 in New Brunswick.
Its strongest measure is trip times; 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.
Who in Bathurst has a job
Of the 7 other places of 2,500 people or more in the Gloucester census division, one has a smaller share of 15-to-64s in work.
Participation, the share of residents 15 and over working or looking for work, came to 50%. Across all ages 15 and over the share in work falls to 44%: many residents are past working age. The monthly Labour Force Survey, which covers the wider area, put its employment rate at 48% in October 2026. 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.
Before tax, the median household in Bathurst had $54,900
That puts Bathurst 25% below the median of New Brunswick’s towns, $73,200. Every other place of 2,500 or more in the Gloucester census division has a higher median. 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 a working day Bathurst gains 88% in workers
Bathurst takes in some 6 workers for every resident it sends out. Of those who commute, 81% stay within the municipality; the middle of Canadian towns is 70%.
People with no fixed workplace are in neither count.
The length of the trip to work in Bathurst
Statistics Canada’s own average, timed exactly rather than by band, is 14 minutes. In the middle of New Brunswick’s towns, the average commute is 20.8 minutes. A quarter-hour or less for 69% of commuters, against 44% in the middle of New Brunswick’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.
4,071 people come into Bathurst to work, most from Bathurst (New Brunswick part) and Beresford
- Bathurst (New Brunswick part)1,135
- Beresford905
- Beresford680
- Petit-Rocher260
- Allardville255
- Nigadoo130
- New Bandon105
- Tracadie75
- Pointe-Verte75
- Caraquet45
Of everyone working in Bathurst, 60% come in from elsewhere; 1,135 make the 7 km trip from Bathurst (New Brunswick part). Outbound, Beresford takes the most: 110 people.
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census (98-10-0459): commuting flows between municipalities (census subdivisions), rounded to 5; linked names have their own pages.
On foot, by bike, bus or train: 7.5% of Bathurst’s commuters
The car takes 89% of commuters here, under the 95% in the middle of New Brunswick’s towns. Transit takes 0.4% of commuters, against 3.5% in the middle of Canadian towns. More people walk to work here than in the middle of New Brunswick’s towns: 6.6% against 2.9%.
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census: main mode of commuting; average durations by mode from table 98-10-0458 (whole municipalities only).
8% fewer people are on EI in the Gloucester census division than in 2019
For each 100 residents of working age in the division, about 16.1 are on EI. Set against the same month a year before, the count in August 2026 fell by 7%. At its peak, in February 2021, 15,370 people were on EI, 1.6 times the 2019 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). Bathurst doesn’t get its own EI beneficiaries figures; the ones here come from the Gloucester census division.
Bathurst earns B+ for walkability
Better than 69% of Canadian towns on two measures together, #11 of 60 in New Brunswick.
OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL); active commuting from the 2021 Census.
Ranked on jobs and income, Bathurst is 472nd among 599 Canadian towns of 9,300 to 18,000
| # | Place | People | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Household income | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | North Saanich British Columbia | 12,986 | 85% | 5.9% | $121K | A+ |
| 2 | Sillery Quebec | 13,950 | 81% | 6.2% | $120K | A+ |
| 3 | Walsh Acres/Lakeridge/Garden Ridge Saskatchewan | 9,325 | 80% | 6.7% | $127K | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 23 | Oromocto New Brunswick | 9,451 | 77% | 4.6% | $91K | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 37 | Rothesay New Brunswick | 12,626 | 77% | 8.7% | $100K | A |
| … | ||||||
| 42 | Moncton New Brunswick | 12,238 | 80% | 7.2% | $91K | A |
| … | ||||||
| 470 | Bayview Woods-Steeles Ontario | 12,499 | 68% | 13% | $98K | C− |
| 471 | Sainte-Anne-des-Plaines Quebec | 15,904 | 75% | 6.2% | $80K | C− |
| 472 | Bathurst New Brunswick | 13,331 | 65% | 12% | $55K | C− |
| 473 | Pembroke Ontario | 15,479 | 63% | 12% | $63K | C− |
| 474 | Pelmo Park-Humberlea Ontario | 11,396 | 65% | 14% | $104K | C− |
| … | ||||||
| 599 | René-Goupil Quebec | 11,663 | 58% | 15% | $54K | D− |
Ordered by Jobs & income Grade: the top three, the places either side of Bathurst, and others among New Brunswick’s towns.
The places around Bathurst, side by side
| Place | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Household income | Average trip | Jobs | Walk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bathurst | 65% | 12% | $55K | 15.6 min | C− | B+ |
| Bathurst 7.4 km | 71% | 11% | $73K | 18.8 min | B− | D |
| Beresford 8.7 km | 69% | 12% | $67K | 18.8 min | C+ | B− |
| Nigadoo 13.2 km | 63% | 14% | $69K | 20.1 min | C | C |
| Beresford 15.9 km | 67% | 12% | $70K | 21.7 min | C | D |
| Petit-Rocher 18.2 km | 66% | 11% | $59K | 21.5 min | C− | 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 Bathurst, where it comes from, and what it leaves out.
- Unemployment. Unemployed people over the labour force (in work or looking), aged 15 and over, on census day.
- 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. 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. 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.
- The Labour Force Survey. Sampled each month and released for regions rather than towns, so its rate describes the area around the town.
- 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.
- 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 Bathurst
What is the average household income in Bathurst?
The median household in Bathurst had $54,900 before tax in 2020, against $85,900 in the middle of Canadian towns.
How do people in Bathurst get to work?
By car: 89% of commuters, 0.4% take public transit, 6.6% walk and 0.5% cycle; on census day 12% of those in work worked from home.
How long is the commute from Bathurst?
15.6 minutes is the average trip, with 69% of commuters there in under 15 minutes and 4.4% taking an hour or more.
Where do people in Bathurst work?
Most stay: 81% work in Bathurst. The rest go first to Beresford (110) and Bathurst (New Brunswick part) (90).
How many jobs are there in Bathurst?
The 2021 census counted about 6,835 people working in Bathurst: 2 jobs for every resident who commutes to a fixed workplace. Statistics Canada counted 544 businesses with employees in June 2026.
What is the unemployment rate in Bathurst?
On census day in May 2021, unemployment stood at 12% of the labour force (9.9% in the middle of Canadian towns). For a recent figure, the Labour Force Survey put the Campbellton-Miramichi economic region at 9.6% in October 2026.
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).