Photo: Vic Brincat from Keswick, Ontario, Canada · CC BY 2.0With 0.1 jobs for each resident in work, most of Brighton commutes out
The 2021 census put unemployment in Brighton at 9.8%; the middle of Canadian towns is 9.9%. Half the households in Brighton had more than $62,100 in 2020, before tax, next to $85,900 for the middle of Canadian towns. At the 2021 census, 74% of Brighton’s 15-to-64s were in work, and the middle of Canadian towns sits at 73%.
What the numbers say about work in Brighton
Work near the middle
Among residents aged 15 to 64, 74% were in work at the 2021 census, against 73% in the middle of Canadian towns; take everyone 15 and over and it falls to 56%. In work ↓
Lower incomes than most towns
The middle of Canadian towns is $85,900, and the median household here had $62,100 before tax in 2020. Household income ↓
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 Brighton: graded C−
Better than 21% of Canadian towns on three measures together.
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.
Earnings at home in Brighton: households
Before tax, 2020: lower than in 84% of Canadian towns.
That puts Brighton 15% below the median of New Brunswick’s towns, $73,200. Because 2020 was the first year of the pandemic, emergency benefits make up part of these before-tax incomes.
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census: median total income of households in 2020, before tax (a neighbourhood’s estimated from its dissemination areas’ income groups).
More of Brighton’s workers leave each day than arrive
For every person who comes in to work, about 23 residents travel out. Of those who commute, 9.6% stay within the municipality; the middle of Canadian towns is 70%.
People with no fixed workplace are in neither count.
90% of Brighton’s residents in work leave it to work; Hartland takes the most
In the other direction the biggest source is Wakefield, with 10.
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census (98-10-0459): commuting flows between municipalities (census subdivisions), rounded to 5; linked names have their own pages.
How many in Brighton were working in 2021
A smaller share in work than in 57% of Canadian towns.
In October 2026, 56% of the wider area’s adults had a job, on the Labour Force Survey’s count. The labour force, people 15 and over with a job or seeking one, took in 62% of residents that age. Across all ages 15 and over the share in work falls to 56%: many residents are past working age. Pandemic rules were in force on census day, 11 May 2021; the Labour Force Survey shows how jobs have moved since.
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.
Leaving the car at home: 2.4% of commuters in Brighton
Transit barely figures here, against 3.5% in the middle of Canadian towns. Nearly everyone drives: 96% of commuters go by car, truck or van. Fewer worked at home than in the middle of Canadian towns: 16% against 21%.
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 Brighton average 24.9 minutes
Timed exactly, the average is 22.9 minutes (Statistics Canada). The middle of New Brunswick’s towns averages 20.8 minutes. Trips under 15 minutes: 29%, fewer than the 44% in the middle of New Brunswick’s towns. An hour or more: 4.9% of commuters, above the 2.7% 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.
12% more people are on EI in the Carleton census division than in 2019
That works out to around 6.2 beneficiaries per 100 people aged 15 to 64 across the division. Over the year to August 2026, the count rose by 3%. At its peak, in March 2021, 2,150 people were on EI, 2.2 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). Brighton doesn’t get its own EI beneficiaries figures; the ones here come from the Carleton census division.
Brighton grades D for walkability
Better than 10% of Canadian towns on two measures together.
OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL); active commuting from the 2021 Census.
Work in the places around Brighton
| Place | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Household income | Average trip | Jobs | Walk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brighton | 74% | 9.8% | $62K | 24.9 min | C− | D |
| Hartland 7 km | 78% | 3.4% | $68K | 21.4 min | B | B− |
| Peel 11 km | 64% | 8.3% | $67K | 21.9 min | C− | D |
| Wakefield 14.8 km | 81% | 7.3% | $71K | 18.8 min | A− | C− |
| Wilmot 18.7 km | 72% | 16% | $67K | 21.8 min | C | D |
| Florenceville-Bristol 19.1 km | 77% | 6.7% | $71K | 19.2 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 Brighton, where it comes from, and what it leaves out.
- Where people commute. Counts of workers with a fixed workplace, by where they live and where they work, both taken as whole municipalities; the jobs figure takes everyone who works here, wherever home is.
- Employment Insurance. A monthly count of Employment Insurance beneficiaries for the whole census division. It tracks the local job market, but it is not an unemployment rate.
- The Labour Force Survey. Monthly, and only for metro areas and economic regions. It is the up-to-date rate we set beside the census’s 2021 snapshot.
- In work. We divide the number of employed residents by the number aged 15 to 64. Workers past 64 still count on top, because the 2021 Census crosses work with age only for whole municipalities; in return, a retirement town’s pensioners don’t drag the rate down.
- Unemployment. A census-day figure: people without a job who were looking, divided by all those working or looking, ages 15 and up.
- 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. How long getting to work normally takes, averaged from the census’s time bands at their middles; expect it to read slightly high against the timed figure.
- Which towns we compare. Towns and city neighbourhoods of 2,500 people or more, never a whole city and never a First Nations reserve. Middles are medians.
Questions about work in Brighton
Where do people in Brighton work?
Only 9.6% work in Brighton itself; the rest go first to Hartland (150) and Woodstock (75).
How many jobs are there in Brighton?
The 2021 census found about 55 people with their usual workplace in Brighton, or 0.1 for each resident who travels to a fixed job. In June 2026, 42 businesses with employees were on Statistics Canada’s count.
What is the unemployment rate in Brighton?
At the 2021 census 9.8% of the labour force had no job and was looking (9.9% in the middle of Canadian towns). The latest monthly survey, for the Edmundston-Woodstock economic region, gives 6.1% in October 2026.
What is the average household income in Brighton?
Before tax, half the households in Brighton had more than $62,100 in 2020; the middle of Canadian towns is $85,900.
How do people in Brighton get to work?
96% of commuters drive, 2.4% walk; 16% of everyone in work worked at home on census day.
How long is the commute from Brighton?
The average commute is 24.9 minutes; 29% of trips take under 15 minutes and 4.9% an hour or more.
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).