Photo: Earth Science and Remote Sensing Unit, NASA Johnson Space Center · Public domainUpham has 0.1 jobs for every resident in work, so most leave town for work
The 2021 census found 67% of working-age people in Upham employed, against 73% in the middle of Canadian towns. For 6.8% of commuters in Upham, the trip to work lasts an hour or more; the average is 37 minutes. Before tax, the typical household in Upham brought in $71,900 in 2020; the middle of Canadian towns is $85,900.
The short version on work in Upham
Fewer people in work than most towns
Among residents aged 15 to 64, 67% were in work at the 2021 census, against 73% in the middle of Canadian towns; take everyone 15 and over and it falls to 52%. In work ↓
Lower incomes than most towns
The middle of Canadian towns is $85,900, and the median household here had $71,900 before tax in 2020. Household income ↓
Longer trips than most towns
The average trip to work is 37 minutes (26 in the middle of Canadian towns), and 6.8% 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 and income in Upham earn D
Better than 6% of Canadian towns on three measures together.
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.
In and out of work in Upham
None of the 9 other places of 2,500 people or more in the Kings census division has a smaller share of 15-to-64s in work.
An older population pulls the all-ages rate down: 52% of residents 15 and over were in work. In October 2026, 59% of the wider area’s adults had a job, on the Labour Force Survey’s count. Add those looking for a job to those with one, and 59% of residents 15 and over were in the labour force. Statistics Canada counted on 11 May 2021, with much of the country under pandemic rules: more people were out of work or at home than usual.
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 Upham earn
Before tax, 2020: lower than in 61% of Canadian towns.
Of the 9 other places of 2,500 or more in the Kings census division, 8 have a higher median. The middle of New Brunswick’s towns is $73,200, and Upham is 2% below it. Read the incomes as 2020’s, before tax: pandemic benefits such as CERB are in them, and they raised many low incomes for that year.
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census: median total income of households in 2020, before tax (a neighbourhood’s estimated from its dissemination areas’ income groups).
A longer commute than the middle of Canadian towns: 37 minutes from Upham
The middle of New Brunswick’s towns averages 20.8 minutes. Trips under 15 minutes: 12%, fewer than the 44% in the middle of New Brunswick’s towns. Timed exactly, the average is 33.4 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.
A commuter town: Upham sends out more workers than it takes in
Outbound commuters outnumber inbound ones about 176 to 1. 6.1% of residents who commute work inside the municipality, against 70% in the middle of Canadian towns.
People with no fixed workplace are in neither count.
94% of Upham’s residents in work leave it to work; Saint John takes the most
No other place sends enough people to work in Upham to be counted.
- Saint John215
- Rothesay30
- Quispamsis30
- Hampton25
- Sussex20
- Hampton10
- Studholm10
- Springfield10
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census (98-10-0459): commuting flows between municipalities (census subdivisions), rounded to 5; linked names have their own pages.
Walk, cycle or ride transit: the choice of 0% of Upham’s commuters
Nearly everyone drives: 97% of commuters go by car, truck or van. Fewer worked at home than in the middle of Canadian towns: 11% against 21%. Transit barely figures here, against 3.5% 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).
EI claims in the Kings census division run 3% above their 2019 level
Compared with a year earlier, the count in August 2026 rose by 1%. The count topped out in February 2021 at 4,910 people, 2.4 times the 2019 average. That works out to around 5 beneficiaries per 100 people aged 15 to 64 across the division.
Statistics Canada, Employment Insurance beneficiaries by census division (14-10-0323): all income benefits, not seasonally adjusted. EI beneficiaries published for the Kings census division, not by town. EI counts are context, not part of any grade.
People receiving Employment Insurance each month, as a share of the 2019 average (100).
Getting around Upham on foot earns D−
Better than 2% of Canadian towns on two measures together.
OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL); active commuting from the 2021 Census.
How Upham compares with the places nearby
| Place | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Household income | Average trip | Jobs | Walk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Upham | 67% | 11% | $72K | 37 min | D | D− |
| Norton 8.4 km | 71% | 9.5% | $78K | 30.2 min | C− | D |
| Hampton 11.6 km | 76% | 9.6% | $86K | 26.9 min | B− | B− |
| Hampton 13.1 km | 73% | 6.9% | $89K | 27.2 min | C+ | D |
| Saint Martins 13.9 km | 70% | 14% | $64K | 39.4 min | D− | D− |
| Norton 16.9 km | 76% | 9.5% | $71K | 29.4 min | C− | C− |
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 Upham, where it comes from, and what it leaves out.
- 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.
- 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. Built from banded answers: each commuter’s usual one-way trip counts as the midpoint of the band they chose, and the result tends to sit slightly higher than Statistics Canada’s average.
- Where people commute. Jobs count everyone whose usual workplace lies in the municipality, residents or commuters from elsewhere, from Statistics Canada’s home-by-workplace table.
- Employment Insurance. Monthly EI recipients across the census division: a pulse of the local job market rather than a measure of who is out of work.
- 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 Upham
How many jobs are there in Upham?
The 2021 census found about 25 people with their usual workplace in Upham, or 0.1 for each resident who travels to a fixed job. Statistics Canada counted 23 businesses with employees in June 2026.
What is the unemployment rate in Upham?
The 2021 census found 11% unemployed, against 9.9% in the middle of Canadian towns; the Labour Force Survey’s latest, for the Saint John metro area, is 5.7% (October 2026).
What is the average household income in Upham?
Before tax, half the households in Upham had more than $71,900 in 2020; the middle of Canadian towns is $85,900.
How do people in Upham get to work?
97% of commuters drive; 11% of everyone in work worked at home on census day.
How long is the commute from Upham?
The average commute is 37 minutes; 12% of trips take under 15 minutes and 6.8% an hour or more.
Where do people in Upham work?
6.1% work in Upham itself. Of those who leave, the most go to Saint John (215), then Rothesay (30).
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).