Photo: Marinadeshippagan · Public domainHouseholds in Shippagan earn less than those in 89% of Canadian towns
Joblessness at the 2021 census: 11% of Shippagan’s labour force; the middle of Canadian towns is 9.9%. The average trip to work from Shippagan is 16.8 minutes; 1% of commuters spend an hour or more getting there. With 73% of its 15-to-64s in work in 2021, Shippagan matches the middle of Canadian towns.
What the numbers say about work in Shippagan
Lower incomes than most towns
At $59,600 before tax in 2020, the median household compares with $85,900 in the middle of Canadian towns. Household income ↓
A local job centre
With 1,390 jobs based in Shippagan and 885 working residents, the ratio compares with 0.8 in the middle of Canadian towns. The daily tide ↓
Shorter trips than most towns
The average trip to work is 16.8 minutes (26 in the middle of Canadian towns), and 1% 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.
Jobs & income in Shippagan: graded C+
Better than 39% of Canadian towns on three measures together, #37 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.
Half the households in Shippagan had more than $59,600 in 2020
Of the 7 other places of 2,500 or more in the Gloucester census division, 6 have a higher median. The middle of New Brunswick’s towns is $73,200, and Shippagan is 19% below it. The year is 2020: emergency benefits like CERB count in these incomes, and they raised the bottom of the range.
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census: median total income of households in 2020, before tax (a neighbourhood’s estimated from its dissemination areas’ income groups).
Workers pour into Shippagan: 51% more on a working day
Inbound commuters outnumber outbound ones about 2 to 1 in Shippagan. Of those who commute, 56% stay within the municipality; the middle of Canadian towns is 70%.
People with no fixed workplace are in neither count.
Time on the road to work from Shippagan
Timed exactly, the average is 13.3 minutes (Statistics Canada). The middle of New Brunswick’s towns averages 20.8 minutes. A quarter-hour or less for 58% 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.
891 people come into Shippagan to work, most from Shippagan (New Brunswick part) and Tracadie
- Shippagan (New Brunswick part)275
- Tracadie125
- Le Goulet100
- Inkerman80
- Caraquet75
- Lamèque70
- Caraquet45
- Sainte-Marie-Saint-Raphaël30
- Bas-Caraquet25
- Alnwick15
- Lamèque110
- Caraquet55
- Tracadie50
- Inkerman40
- Sainte-Marie-Saint-Raphaël40
- Shippagan (New Brunswick part)25
- Caraquet15
- Bas-Caraquet15
- Fredericton10
- Bathurst10
64% of the people who work in Shippagan live outside it, 275 of them in Shippagan (New Brunswick part), 9 km away. Going the other way, Lamèque is the biggest single destination (110).
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census (98-10-0459): commuting flows between municipalities (census subdivisions), rounded to 5; linked names have their own pages.
Work and the working-age population of Shippagan
Of the 7 other places of 2,500 people or more in the Gloucester census division, 6 have a smaller share of 15-to-64s in work.
Counting retirees, 54% of everyone aged 15 and over was working. The Labour Force Survey’s employment rate for the wider area was 48% in October 2026. The labour force, people 15 and over with a job or seeking one, took in 61% of residents that 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.
8.8% of commuters from Shippagan go without a car
Fewer worked at home than in the middle of Canadian towns: 10% against 21%. Transit barely figures here, against 3.5% in the middle of Canadian towns. More people walk to work here than in the middle of New Brunswick’s towns: 7.8% against 2.9%. Nearly everyone drives: 90% of commuters go by car, truck or van.
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census: main mode of commuting; average durations by mode from table 98-10-0458 (whole municipalities only).
EI claims in the Gloucester census division run 8% below their 2019 level
Over the year to August 2026, the count fell by 7%. February 2021 was the busiest month, with 15,370 people on EI, 1.6 times 2019’s average. Per 100 residents aged 15 to 64, about 16.1 receive EI.
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). For EI beneficiaries, the only official count covers all of the Gloucester census division, Shippagan included.
Walking in Shippagan earns A−
Better than 82% of Canadian towns on two measures together, #8 of 60 in New Brunswick.
OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL); active commuting from the 2021 Census.
363rd of 610: where Shippagan ranks among Canadian towns of 2,500 to 4,100
| # | 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+ |
| … | ||||||
| 53 | New Maryland New Brunswick | 3,198 | 79% | 4.9% | $105K | A |
| … | ||||||
| 72 | Grand Manan New Brunswick | 2,648 | 78% | 12% | $77K | A |
| … | ||||||
| 133 | Wakefield New Brunswick | 2,749 | 81% | 7.3% | $71K | A− |
| … | ||||||
| 361 | Butler Ontario | 2,922 | 66% | 12% | $98K | C+ |
| 362 | Electoral Area L (Grasslands), Thompson-Nicola British Columbia | 3,543 | 80% | 6.8% | $81K | C+ |
| 363 | Shippagan New Brunswick | 3,073 | 73% | 11% | $60K | C+ |
| 364 | Danville Quebec | 3,944 | 80% | 6.5% | $61K | C+ |
| 365 | Saint-Marc-des-Carrières Quebec | 2,961 | 76% | 7.3% | $60K | C+ |
| … | ||||||
| 610 | 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 Shippagan, and others among New Brunswick’s towns.
How Shippagan compares with the places nearby
| Place | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Household income | Average trip | Jobs | Walk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shippagan | 73% | 11% | $60K | 16.8 min | C+ | A− |
| Caraquet 8.3 km | 71% | 19% | $64K | 23.2 min | C− | D− |
| Shippagan 9.4 km | 69% | 11% | $61K | 16.5 min | C | D− |
| Lamèque 10.4 km | 84% | 14% | $62K | 17.2 min | A− | B |
| Bas-Caraquet 11.2 km | 61% | 15% | $60K | 17.7 min | C− | C− |
| Inkerman 14.2 km | 61% | 16% | $64K | 23.2 min | D | C− |
| Caraquet 17.7 km | 74% | 12% | $66K | 16.6 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 Shippagan, where it comes from, and what it leaves out.
- Where people commute. Statistics Canada’s place-of-work table counts people with a usual place of work by the municipality they live in and the one they work in. Jobs here are people whose usual workplace is in the municipality, wherever they live.
- Employment Insurance. Statistics Canada counts EI beneficiaries each month by census division. Seasonal work makes it swing, so read it as a trend, not a jobless rate.
- 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. 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. It counts only people who wanted work and had none in May 2021, as a share of those working or searching; students and retirees who weren’t looking stay out of both sides.
- 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. Our average assumes everyone in, say, the 15-to-29-minute band takes 22 minutes. Across all the bands that runs a shade above Statistics Canada’s measured average.
- Which towns we compare. Any town of 2,500 or more counts, and so does any city neighbourhood that size; the city as a whole and First Nations reserves don’t. The middle is the median.
Questions about work in Shippagan
How do people in Shippagan get to work?
90% of commuters go by car, 7.8% walk and 1% cycle. On census day 10% of everyone in work stayed home to work.
How long is the commute from Shippagan?
On average 16.8 minutes; 58% take under 15 minutes and 1% take an hour or longer.
Where do people in Shippagan work?
Most stay: 56% work in Shippagan. The rest go first to Lamèque (110) and Caraquet (55).
How many jobs are there in Shippagan?
About 1,390 people had their usual place of work in Shippagan at the 2021 census, 1.6 for each working resident with a fixed workplace. Statistics Canada counted 157 businesses with employees in June 2026.
What is the unemployment rate in Shippagan?
The 2021 census found 11% unemployed, against 9.9% in the middle of Canadian towns; the Labour Force Survey’s latest, for the Campbellton-Miramichi economic region, is 9.6% (October 2026).
What is the average household income in Shippagan?
Before tax, half the households in Shippagan had more than $59,600 in 2020; the middle of Canadian towns is $85,900.
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).