Photo: Quintin Soloviev · CC BY 4.0The share of 15-to-64s with a job in Mount Pearl trails that of 64% of Canadian towns
Getting to work from Mount Pearl takes 18 minutes on average, an hour or more for 2.8%. Before tax, the typical household in Mount Pearl brought in $81,000 in 2020, next to $85,900 for the middle of Canadian towns. In May 2021, unemployment in Mount Pearl reached 10%; the middle of Canadian towns is 9.9%.
The short version on work in Mount Pearl
A local job centre
9,115 people work in Mount Pearl and 7,700 residents commute to a fixed workplace; the middle of Canadian towns has 0.8 jobs per working resident. The daily tide ↓
Shorter trips than most towns
Commutes take 18 minutes on average, against 26 in the middle of Canadian towns; 2.8% 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, Mount Pearl grades B+
Better than 68% of Canadian towns on three measures together, #7 of 32 in Newfoundland and Labrador.
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.
A working day adds 15% to the people at work in Mount Pearl
7,700 residents of Mount Pearl had a usual place of work at the 2021 census, and 9,115 people had theirs in Mount Pearl, wherever they lived.
Of those who commute, 32% stay within the municipality; the middle of Canadian towns is 70%.
People with no fixed workplace are in neither count.
At 18 minutes, commutes from Mount Pearl are shorter than in the middle of Canadian towns
Only 46% get to work within a quarter-hour, against 56% in the middle of Newfoundland and Labrador’s towns. Statistics Canada’s own average, timed exactly rather than by band, is 15.9 minutes.
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.
6,659 people come into Mount Pearl to work, most from St. John's and Paradise
- St. John's4,470
- Paradise420
- Conception Bay South110
- Long Harbour-Mount Arlington Heights40
- Portugal Cove-St. Philip's30
- Torbay25
- Division No. 10, Subd. E (SNO)20
- Carbonear15
- Holyrood15
- Wabana15
Of everyone working in Mount Pearl, 73% come in from elsewhere; 2,860 make the 7 km trip from St. John's. Outbound, St. John's takes the most: 4,470 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 Mount Pearl work and where people who work there live, the ten largest each way.
In Mount Pearl, 72% of the working-age population has a job
Of the 13 other places of 2,500 people or more in Census Division No. 1, 9 have a smaller share of 15-to-64s in work.
By October 2026, the Labour Force Survey had 62% of the wider area’s adults in work. 61% of residents aged 15 and over were in the labour force, in work or seeking it. Across all ages 15 and over the share in work falls to 55%: many residents are past working age. Census day was 11 May 2021, in the pandemic’s third wave: unemployment ran high and many worked from home, so these figures describe that spring rather than today.
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.
Household income in Mount Pearl
Before tax, 2020: higher than in 58% of Canadian towns.
6 of the 13 other places of 2,500+ in Census Division No. 1 have a higher median. The middle of Newfoundland and Labrador’s towns is $63,700, and Mount Pearl is 27% above it. Incomes here are 2020’s and include the pandemic payments, CERB among them, that propped up the lower end.
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census: median total income of households in 2020, before tax (a neighbourhood’s estimated from its dissemination areas’ income groups).
Without a car, 4.4% of Mount Pearl’s commuters get to work
The car is the way to work for 93% of commuters. Only 16% worked at home on census day, against 21% in the middle of Canadian towns. Transit takes 1.4% of commuters, 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).
How residents who commute got to work, 2021 Census; working at home is counted apart.
4% fewer people are on EI in Census Division No. 1 than in 2019
Set against the same month a year before, the count in August 2026 fell by 11%. At its peak, in February 2021, 31,470 people were on EI, 2.2 times the 2019 average. Per 100 residents aged 15 to 64, about 7.3 receive EI.
Statistics Canada, Employment Insurance beneficiaries by census division (14-10-0323): all income benefits, not seasonally adjusted. Area behind the EI beneficiaries figures: Census Division No. 1. EI counts are context, not part of any grade.
People receiving Employment Insurance each month, as a share of the 2019 average (100).
The walkability of Mount Pearl: B
Better than 61% of Canadian towns on two measures together, #10 of 32 in Newfoundland and Labrador.
OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL); active commuting from the 2021 Census.
Out of 357 Canadian towns of 17,000 to 32,800, Mount Pearl comes 80th on jobs and income
| # | Place | People | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Household income | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Yellowknife Northwest Territories | 22,858 | 80% | 5.8% | $148K | A+ |
| 2 | Central Saanich British Columbia | 18,184 | 85% | 4.9% | $103K | A+ |
| 3 | Woolwich Ontario | 31,382 | 82% | 6.2% | $115K | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 15 | Paradise Newfoundland and Labrador | 26,155 | 77% | 8.5% | $111K | A |
| … | ||||||
| 78 | Pitt Meadows British Columbia | 20,892 | 81% | 6.4% | $104K | B+ |
| 79 | Beaumont Alberta | 26,305 | 76% | 8.7% | $130K | B+ |
| 80 | Mount Pearl Newfoundland and Labrador | 24,266 | 72% | 10% | $81K | B+ |
| 81 | Steinbach Manitoba | 21,671 | 78% | 5.7% | $72K | B+ |
| 82 | Kirkland Quebec | 19,696 | 75% | 8% | $128K | B+ |
| … | ||||||
| 87 | Conception Bay South Newfoundland and Labrador | 29,725 | 72% | 11% | $94K | B+ |
| … | ||||||
| 202 | Corner Brook Newfoundland and Labrador | 20,549 | 65% | 14% | $64K | C |
| … | ||||||
| 357 | Parc-Extension Quebec | 29,066 | 61% | 16% | $48K | D− |
Ordered by Jobs & income Grade: the top three, the places either side of Mount Pearl, and others among Newfoundland and Labrador’s towns.
Neighbouring places to Mount Pearl, compared
| Place | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Household income | Average trip | Jobs | Walk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mount Pearl | 72% | 10% | $81K | 18 min | B+ | B |
| Paradise 5 km | 77% | 8.5% | $111K | 20.9 min | A | B− |
| St. John's 6.6 km | 68% | 12% | $75K | 17.1 min | B− | A |
| Petty Harbour-Maddox Cove 9.4 km | 78% | 12% | $87K | 22.3 min | A− | C |
| Portugal Cove-St. Philip's 10 km | 76% | 7.9% | $114K | 22.9 min | A | C |
| Conception Bay South 13.2 km | 72% | 11% | $94K | 22.4 min | B+ | C+ |
| Logy Bay-Middle Cove-Outer Cove 16.1 km | 78% | 9.5% | $130K | 18.6 min | A+ | 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 Mount Pearl, where it comes from, and what it leaves out.
- Where people commute. Built from the census table that pairs each worker’s home municipality with their workplace municipality. A job here means someone who usually works in the municipality, local or not.
- 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.
- The Labour Force Survey. A monthly household survey by Statistics Canada, reported for metro areas and economic regions only. It supplies a recent rate next to the 2021 census figure.
- In work. Working residents per resident of working age (15 to 64), from the 2021 Census.
- Unemployment. The share of people 15 and over in the labour force, working or looking for work, who had no job on census day in May 2021.
- Household income. Before-tax total income of the middle household for 2020, from the census. Neighbourhood medians are worked out from bracket counts, since Statistics Canada publishes none of their own.
- Trip times. Commuters picked a band for their usual trip (under 15 minutes, 15 to 29, and so on). We place each person at the middle of their band, which lands a little above Statistics Canada’s own timed average.
- 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 Mount Pearl
How do people in Mount Pearl get to work?
By car: 93% of commuters, 1.4% take public transit, 2.8% walk and 0.2% cycle; on census day 16% of those in work worked from home.
How long is the commute from Mount Pearl?
18 minutes is the average trip, with 46% of commuters there in under 15 minutes and 2.8% taking an hour or more.
Where do people in Mount Pearl work?
Only 32% work in Mount Pearl itself; the rest go first to St. John's (4,470) and Paradise (420).
How many jobs are there in Mount Pearl?
The 2021 census counted about 9,115 people working in Mount Pearl: 1.2 jobs for every resident who commutes to a fixed workplace. In June 2026, 1,004 businesses with employees were on Statistics Canada’s count.
What is the unemployment rate in Mount Pearl?
In October 2026 the Labour Force Survey put the St. John's metro area at 6.5%; the 2021 census, which counts the town itself, found 10%, against 9.9% in the middle of Canadian towns.
What is the average household income in Mount Pearl?
At $81,000 before tax in 2020, the median household in Mount Pearl compares with $85,900 in the middle of Canadian towns.
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).