Photo: Earth Science and Remote Sensing Unit , Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center · Public domainSaint-Jacques has fewer jobs than residents in work: 0.1 for each
Census day 2021 found 5.7% of Saint-Jacques’ labour force without a job, and the middle of Canadian towns sits at 9.9%. For 2.2% of commuters in Saint-Jacques, the trip to work lasts an hour or more; the average is 20.1 minutes. Median household income in Saint-Jacques was $71,200 in 2020, against $85,900 in the middle of Canadian towns.
Jobs and income in Saint-Jacques: what the figures say
Less unemployment than most towns
5.7% of the labour force was out of work at the 2021 census (9.9% in the middle of Canadian towns); the Labour Force Survey had the area at 6.1% in October 2026. Unemployment ↓
Lower incomes than most towns
The median household had $71,200 before tax in 2020; the middle of Canadian towns is $85,900. Household income ↓
Shorter trips than most towns
Commutes take 20.1 minutes on average, against 26 in the middle of Canadian towns; 2.2% 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, Saint-Jacques grades C+
Better than 42% of Canadian towns on three measures together.
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.
In Saint-Jacques, 71% of people aged 15 to 64 have a job
A smaller share in work than in 69% of Canadian towns.
For the wider area, the Labour Force Survey had 56% in work in October 2026. Counting those looking for work too, 57% of people aged 15 and over were in the labour force. An older population pulls the all-ages rate down: 53% of residents 15 and over were in work. 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.
What households in Saint-Jacques earn
Before tax, 2020: lower than in 63% of Canadian towns.
That puts Saint-Jacques 3% below the median of New Brunswick’s towns, $73,200. Pandemic benefits paid in 2020 lifted the incomes at the bottom, and they are counted here.
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census: median total income of households in 2020, before tax (a neighbourhood’s estimated from its dissemination areas’ income groups).
Commuting times in Saint-Jacques
Timed exactly, the average is 17.9 minutes (Statistics Canada). Only 40% get to work within a quarter-hour, 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.
Commuting time at the 2021 Census, to work only, for people who travel to a usual workplace or have none fixed.
The daily tide in Saint-Jacques runs outward
550 residents of Saint-Jacques had a usual place of work at the 2021 census, and 40 people had theirs in Saint-Jacques, wherever they lived.
For every person who comes in to work, about 52 residents travel out. The job is inside the municipality for 5.4% of its commuters (70% in the middle of Canadian towns).
People with no fixed workplace are in neither count.
95% of Saint-Jacques’ residents in work leave it to work; Edmundston takes the most
- Edmundston455
- Saint-Léonard20
- Haut-Madawaska15
- Rivière-Verte10
- St. Basile 1010
- Saint-Joseph10
Edmundston sends the largest group the other way, 10 people.
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 Saint-Jacques work and where people who work there live, the ten largest each way.
0% of commuters from Saint-Jacques go without a car
Hardly anyone takes transit to work, where the middle of Canadian towns has 3.5%. The car is the way to work for 99% of commuters. Home was the workplace for 9.3%, under the 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.
4% fewer people are on EI in the Madawaska census division than in 2019
Roughly 6.9 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 fell by 11%. The highest month was February 2021: 3,590 people, 2.2 times the 2019 level.
Statistics Canada, Employment Insurance beneficiaries by census division (14-10-0323): all income benefits, not seasonally adjusted. Area behind the EI beneficiaries figures: the Madawaska census division. EI counts are context, not part of any grade.
People receiving Employment Insurance each month, as a share of the 2019 average (100).
Saint-Jacques on foot: a D− grade
Better than 2% of Canadian towns on two measures together.
OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL); active commuting from the 2021 Census.
Around Saint-Jacques: jobs, pay and the commute
| Place | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Household income | Average trip | Jobs | Walk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Saint-Jacques | 71% | 5.7% | $71K | 20.1 min | C+ | D− |
| Saint-Joseph 4.3 km | 75% | 10% | $74K | 23.6 min | C+ | C− |
| Edmundston 8.1 km | 72% | 7.9% | $59K | 13.9 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 Saint-Jacques, where it comes from, and what it leaves out.
- Where people commute. Only people with a usual place of work are in it: those who work from home or have no fixed site are not. Home and work are both counted by municipality.
- 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. The census-week jobless rate for residents 15 and over. Its base is the labour force, those employed plus those actively looking.
- 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. 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.
- 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 Saint-Jacques
How long is the commute from Saint-Jacques?
The average commute is 20.1 minutes; 40% of trips take under 15 minutes and 2.2% an hour or more.
Where do people in Saint-Jacques work?
Only 5.4% work in Saint-Jacques itself; the rest go first to Edmundston (455) and Saint-Léonard (20).
How many jobs are there in Saint-Jacques?
The 2021 census found about 40 people with their usual workplace in Saint-Jacques, or 0.1 for each resident who travels to a fixed job. In June 2026, 47 businesses with employees were on Statistics Canada’s count.
What is the unemployment rate in Saint-Jacques?
On census day in May 2021, unemployment stood at 5.7% of the labour force (9.9% in the middle of Canadian towns). For a recent figure, the Labour Force Survey put the Edmundston-Woodstock economic region at 6.1% in October 2026.
What is the average household income in Saint-Jacques?
Saint-Jacques’s middle household had $71,200 in 2020, before tax; Canadian towns have $85,900 at their middle.
How do people in Saint-Jacques get to work?
99% of commuters drive; 9.3% 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).