Photo: Chaughten · CC BY-SA 3.0Nain has a smaller share of its working-age people in jobs than 95% of Canadian towns
Commutes from Nain average 12 minutes, and 5% take an hour or more. The median household in Nain had $87,500 before tax in 2020, against $85,900 in the middle of Canadian towns. Out of work in May 2021: 10% of Nain’s labour force, and the middle of Canadian towns sits at 9.9%.
Work in Nain, in a few figures
Fewer people in work than most towns
57% of people aged 15 to 64 had a job at the 2021 census, against 73% in the middle of Canadian towns; counting everyone 15 and over, retirees included, it was 53%. In work ↓
More jobs than the typical town
With 280 jobs based in Nain and 270 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 12 minutes (26 in the middle of Canadian towns), and 5% 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.
Nain earns B for jobs and income
Better than 63% 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 Nain, 57% of the working-age population has a job
Add those looking for a job to those with one, and 59% of residents 15 and over were in the labour force. In October 2026, 51% of the wider area’s adults had a job, on the Labour Force Survey’s count. 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.
As many come into Nain to work as leave
270 residents of Nain had a usual place of work at the 2021 census, and 280 people had theirs in Nain, wherever they lived.
86% 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.
At 12 minutes, commutes from Nain are shorter than in the middle of Canadian towns
Timed exactly, the average is 14 minutes (Statistics Canada). The middle of Newfoundland and Labrador’s towns averages 19 minutes. A quarter-hour or less for 85% of commuters, against 56% in the middle of Newfoundland and Labrador’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.
49 people come into Nain to work, most from Happy Valley-Goose Bay and St. John's
- Happy Valley-Goose Bay20
- St. John's10
- Postville10
- Happy Valley-Goose Bay10
- Division No. 10, Subd. E (SNO)10
- Makkovik10
18% of the people who work in Nain live outside it, 20 of them in Happy Valley-Goose Bay, 372 km away. The main destination the other way is Happy Valley-Goose Bay, with 10.
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 Nain work and where people who work there live, the ten largest each way.
What households in Nain earn
Before tax, 2020: higher than in 71% of Canadian towns.
Set beside Newfoundland and Labrador’s towns, where the median is $63,700, Nain sits 37% above. 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).
30% of commuters from Nain go without a car
35% drive to work, fewer than the 92% in the middle of Newfoundland and Labrador’s towns. Home was the workplace for 3.2%, under the 21% in the middle of Canadian towns. 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).
How residents who commute got to work, 2021 Census; working at home is counted apart.
In Census Division No. 11, 47% fewer people receive EI than in 2019
Nobody publishes EI beneficiaries for Nain alone, so this card uses the figure for Census Division No. 11.
The highest month was March 2021: 370 people, 1.5 times the 2019 level. Per 100 residents aged 15 to 64, about 6 receive EI. Compared with a year earlier, the count in August 2026 fell by 18%.
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).
Getting around Nain on foot earns B+
Better than 71% of Canadian towns on two measures together.
OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL); active commuting from the 2021 Census.
What this data can and can’t tell you
What each figure measures for Nain, where it comes from, and what it leaves out.
- Household income. Taken from the 2021 Census, which asked about 2020: wages, pensions, investment income and government transfers together, before income tax, for the median household.
- 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.
- 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. 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 surveys households every month; the results come out for metro areas and economic regions, never for single towns, and keep the rate current after 2021.
- 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.
- Which towns we compare. Every town and city neighbourhood with 2,500 residents or more; whole cities and First Nations reserves are left out. Each middle figure is a median.
Questions about work in Nain
How many jobs are there in Nain?
About 280 people had their usual place of work in Nain at the 2021 census, 1 for each working resident with a fixed workplace. Statistics Canada counted 21 businesses with employees in June 2026.
What is the unemployment rate in Nain?
Two figures answer it: 10% on census day in May 2021 (9.9% in the middle of Canadian towns), and 8.4% for the West Coast-Northern Peninsula-Labrador economic region in the Labour Force Survey of October 2026.
What is the average household income in Nain?
Nain’s middle household had $87,500 in 2020, before tax; Canadian towns have $85,900 at their middle.
How do people in Nain get to work?
35% of commuters go by car, 30% walk. On census day 3.2% of everyone in work stayed home to work.
How long is the commute from Nain?
On average 12 minutes; 85% take under 15 minutes and 5% take an hour or longer.
Where do people in Nain work?
86% work in Nain itself; of those who leave, the most go to Happy Valley-Goose Bay (10), then Division No. 10, Subd. E (SNO) (10).
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).