Photo: Leonora Enking · CC BY-SA 2.0Most of Kingston works elsewhere: the town has 0.2 jobs for each resident in work
Of everyone in Kingston working or looking for work in May 2021, 8.3% were unemployed, against 9.9% in the middle of Canadian towns. An hour or more each way is the commute for 6.9% of workers in Kingston; the average is 37.6 minutes. Half the households in Kingston had more than $78,900 in 2020, before tax, and the middle of Canadian towns sits at $85,900.
What the numbers say about work in Kingston
Work near the middle
In work at the 2021 census: 73% of people aged 15 to 64, against 73% in the middle of Canadian towns, and 54% of everyone 15 and over. In work ↓
Longer trips than most towns
Commutes take 37.6 minutes on average, against 26 in the middle of Canadian towns; 6.9% 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.
Jobs and income in Kingston earn C−
Better than 17% of Canadian towns on three measures together, #57 of 60 in New Brunswick.
Its strongest measure is household income; its weakest, trip times.
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.
The length of the trip to work in Kingston
The middle of New Brunswick’s towns averages 20.8 minutes. Only 13% get to work within a quarter-hour, against 44% in the middle of New Brunswick’s towns. Timed exactly, the average is 34.1 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.
Kingston empties a little on a working day
940 residents of Kingston had a usual place of work at the 2021 census, and 195 people had theirs in Kingston, wherever they lived.
Each person commuting in is matched by about 12 residents going out. Of those who commute, 14% stay within the municipality; the middle of Canadian towns is 70%.
People with no fixed workplace are in neither count.
86% of Kingston’s residents in work leave it to work; Saint John takes the most
In the other direction the biggest source is Saint John, with 20.
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 Kingston work and where people who work there live, the ten largest each way.
73% of working-age people in Kingston have jobs
Of the 8 other places of 2,500 people or more in the Kings census division, 3 have a smaller share of 15-to-64s in work.
A more recent figure, for the wider area: 59% in work in October 2026, by the Labour Force Survey. The participation rate, everyone 15 and over working or looking for work, was 60%. Counting retirees, 54% of everyone aged 15 and over was working. 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.
What households in Kingston earn
Before tax, 2020: higher than in 53% of Canadian towns.
5 of the 8 other places of 2,500+ in the Kings census division have a higher median. That puts Kingston 8% above the median of New Brunswick’s towns, $73,200. That year, 2020, brought emergency benefits that count in these totals, before tax.
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census: median total income of households in 2020, before tax (a neighbourhood’s estimated from its dissemination areas’ income groups).
Walk, cycle or ride transit: the choice of 2.8% of Kingston’s commuters
Transit barely figures here, against 3.5% in the middle of Canadian towns. Nearly everyone drives: 94% of commuters go by car, truck or van. Only 17% worked at home on census day, against 21% in the middle of Canadian towns.
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.
3% more people are on EI in the Kings census division than in 2019
That works out to around 5 beneficiaries per 100 people aged 15 to 64 across the division. Over the year to August 2026, the count rose by 1%. In February 2021 it reached 4,910, the most in the series and 2.4 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). Kingston doesn’t get its own EI beneficiaries figures; the ones here come from the Kings census division.
Walkability in Kingston: graded D
Better than 12% of Canadian towns on two measures together, #45 of 60 in New Brunswick.
OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL); active commuting from the 2021 Census.
Kingston next to Canadian towns of 2,500 to 4,800: 651st of 778 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+ |
| … | ||||||
| 6 | New Maryland New Brunswick | 4,455 | 81% | 6.5% | $118K | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 69 | New Maryland New Brunswick | 3,198 | 79% | 4.9% | $105K | A |
| … | ||||||
| 95 | Grand Manan New Brunswick | 2,648 | 78% | 12% | $77K | A |
| … | ||||||
| 649 | North Algona Wilberforce Ontario | 3,290 | 70% | 12% | $82K | C− |
| 650 | Country Hills Village Alberta | 2,731 | 73% | 12% | $69K | C− |
| 651 | Kingston New Brunswick | 3,577 | 73% | 8.3% | $79K | C− |
| 652 | Meyokumin Alberta | 4,069 | 67% | 15% | $75K | C− |
| 653 | East Preston Nova Scotia | 2,573 | 61% | 14% | $75K | C− |
| … | ||||||
| 778 | 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 Kingston, and others among New Brunswick’s towns.
How Kingston compares with the places nearby
| Place | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Household income | Average trip | Jobs | Walk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kingston | 73% | 8.3% | $79K | 37.6 min | C− | D |
| Quispamsis 8.2 km | 78% | 7.2% | $113K | 22.4 min | A | C |
| Greenwich 10.7 km | 61% | 9.7% | $69K | 36.9 min | D− | D |
| Rothesay 11.7 km | 77% | 8.7% | $100K | 20.3 min | A | B− |
| Hampton 14.3 km | 73% | 6.9% | $89K | 27.2 min | C+ | D |
| Hampton 16.3 km | 76% | 9.6% | $86K | 26.9 min | B− | B− |
| Westfield 17.1 km | 73% | 9.1% | $83K | 36.5 min | C− | 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 Kingston, where it comes from, and what it leaves out.
- 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. What the median household took in during 2020 before tax, as the census recorded it; an estimate built from income groups when the place is a neighbourhood.
- 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.
- 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. How many people in the census division drew Employment Insurance each month; it moves with layoffs and hiring, yet people who don’t qualify are absent from it.
- The Labour Force Survey. Statistics Canada’s monthly survey, published for metro areas and economic regions rather than towns: it gives a current rate beside the census’s 2021 one.
- 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.
- Which towns we compare. The comparison pool is places of 2,500 people or more, towns or neighbourhoods inside cities, without whole cities or reserves, and we compare with its median.
Questions about work in Kingston
How long is the commute from Kingston?
The average commute is 37.6 minutes; 13% of trips take under 15 minutes and 6.9% an hour or more.
Where do people in Kingston work?
Only 14% work in Kingston itself; the rest go first to Saint John (565) and Rothesay (80).
How many jobs are there in Kingston?
The 2021 census found about 195 people with their usual workplace in Kingston, or 0.2 for each resident who travels to a fixed job. In June 2026, 77 businesses with employees were on Statistics Canada’s count.
What is the unemployment rate in Kingston?
Two figures answer it: 8.3% on census day in May 2021 (9.9% in the middle of Canadian towns), and 5.7% for the Saint John metro area in the Labour Force Survey of October 2026.
What is the average household income in Kingston?
The median household in Kingston had $78,900 before tax in 2020, against $85,900 in the middle of Canadian towns.
How do people in Kingston get to work?
94% of commuters drive, 2.8% walk; 17% of everyone in work worked at home on census day.
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).