Photo: Verne Equinox · CC BY 3.0Berwick draws workers in: 2.3 jobs for every resident in work
From Berwick, the drive or ride to work averages 18.4 minutes, with 4.9% going an hour or longer. Jobs were held by 64% of people aged 15 to 64 in Berwick in 2021, against 73% in the middle of Canadian towns. Median household income in Berwick was $61,100 in 2020; the middle of Canadian towns is $85,900.
The work numbers behind Berwick
Fewer people in work than most towns
In work at the 2021 census: 64% of people aged 15 to 64, against 73% in the middle of Canadian towns, and 43% of everyone 15 and over. In work ↓
Lower incomes than most towns
The middle of Canadian towns is $85,900, and the median household here had $61,100 before tax in 2020. Household income ↓
Shorter trips than most towns
The average trip to work is 18.4 minutes (26 in the middle of Canadian towns), and 4.9% 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.
Berwick earns C− for jobs and income
Better than 22% of Canadian towns on three measures together, #59 of 88 in Nova Scotia.
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.
Who in Berwick has a job
Of the 6 other places of 2,500 people or more in the Kings census division, one has a smaller share of 15-to-64s in work.
An older population pulls the all-ages rate down: 43% of residents 15 and over were in work. In October 2026, 56% of the wider area’s adults had a job, on the Labour Force Survey’s count. Counting those looking for work too, 49% of people aged 15 and over were in the labour force. 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.
Earnings at home in Berwick: households
Before tax, 2020: lower than in 86% of Canadian towns.
5 of the 6 other places of 2,500+ in the Kings census division have a higher median. The middle of Nova Scotia’s towns is $69,150, and Berwick is 12% 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).
On a working day, 1,590 people work in Berwick, 2.1 times its working residents
650 residents of Berwick had a usual place of work at the 2021 census, and 1,470 people had theirs in Berwick, wherever they lived.
Berwick takes in some 3 workers for every resident it sends out. The job is inside the municipality for 43% of its commuters (70% in the middle of Canadian towns).
People with no fixed workplace are in neither count.
The length of the trip to work in Berwick
Timed exactly, the average is 16.3 minutes (Statistics Canada). The middle of Nova Scotia’s towns averages 23 minutes. A quarter-hour or less for 51% of commuters, against 46% in the middle of Nova Scotia’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.
1,190 people come into Berwick to work, most from Kingston and Kings County, Subdivision C
- Kingston190
- Kings County, Subdivision C50
- Kentville45
- Kings County, Subdivision B20
- Middleton15
- Wolfville15
- Annapolis Valley First Nation10
- Kings County, Subdivision D10
- Enfield10
- Halifax10
81% of the people who work in Berwick live outside it, 675 of them in Kingston, 8 km away. Going the other way, Kingston is the biggest single destination (190).
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 Berwick work and where people who work there live, the ten largest each way.
Walking, cycling or transit: 11% of Berwick’s commuters
The middle of Nova Scotia’s towns has 3.3% walking; here, 9.2% do. 89% drive to work, fewer than the 92% in the middle of Nova Scotia’s towns. Home was the workplace for 15%, 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.
11% more people are on EI in the Kings census division than in 2019
Roughly 4.6 in every 100 people aged 15 to 64 in the division draw EI. Over the year to August 2026, the count fell by 1%.
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 Kings census division, Berwick included.
Getting around Berwick on foot earns A
Better than 93% of Canadian towns on two measures together, #10 of 88 in Nova Scotia.
OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL); active commuting from the 2021 Census.
Among Canadian towns of 2,500 to 3,600, Berwick ranks 350th of 458 for jobs and income
| # | 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+ |
| … | ||||||
| 152 | Lawrencetown Nova Scotia | 3,509 | 75% | 7% | $110K | B+ |
| … | ||||||
| 287 | Lunenburg Nova Scotia | 2,523 | 71% | 14% | $64K | C+ |
| … | ||||||
| 293 | Head of St Margarets Bay Nova Scotia | 2,885 | 68% | 11% | $101K | C |
| … | ||||||
| 348 | Beverly Heights Alberta | 3,252 | 63% | 14% | $76K | C− |
| 349 | Clearwater British Columbia | 2,500 | 61% | 15% | $67K | C− |
| 350 | Berwick Nova Scotia | 2,631 | 64% | 11% | $61K | C− |
| 351 | Athens Ontario | 3,078 | 70% | 13% | $85K | C− |
| 352 | Lee Ridge Alberta | 2,722 | 67% | 18% | $78K | C− |
| … | ||||||
| 458 | 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 Berwick, and others among Nova Scotia’s towns.
Next to Berwick: how nearby places compare
| Place | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Household income | Average trip | Jobs | Walk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Berwick | 64% | 11% | $61K | 18.4 min | C− | A |
| Kingston 8 km | 70% | 8.9% | $72K | 20 min | C+ | B− |
| Kentville 18.9 km | 72% | 9.4% | $68K | 18.7 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 Berwick, where it comes from, and what it leaves out.
- Employment Insurance. How many people in the census division drew Employment Insurance each month; it moves with layoffs and hiring, yet people who don’t qualify are absent from it.
- 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. The census-week jobless rate for residents 15 and over. Its base is the labour force, those employed plus those actively looking.
- Household income. Half of households had more than this before tax in 2020, half less, counting every source of income. For a neighbourhood we estimate the median from the income brackets of its dissemination areas.
- Trip times. The census asks how long the trip to work usually takes, in bands; our average uses each band’s middle, so it runs a little above Statistics Canada’s timed average.
- 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.
- Which towns we compare. Medians over towns and neighbourhoods of at least 2,500 residents. Whole cities would swamp them and reserves sit outside the rankings, so neither is in.
Questions about work in Berwick
How do people in Berwick get to work?
89% of commuters drive, 9.2% walk and 1.4% cycle; 15% of everyone in work worked at home on census day.
How long is the commute from Berwick?
The average commute is 18.4 minutes; 51% of trips take under 15 minutes and 4.9% an hour or more.
Where do people in Berwick work?
43% work in Berwick itself. Of those who leave, the most go to Kingston (190), then Kings County, Subdivision C (50).
How many jobs are there in Berwick?
The 2021 census found about 1,470 people with their usual workplace in Berwick, or 2.3 for each resident who travels to a fixed job. In June 2026, 106 businesses with employees were on Statistics Canada’s count.
What is the unemployment rate in Berwick?
Two figures answer it: 11% on census day in May 2021 (9.9% in the middle of Canadian towns), and 4.3% for the Annapolis Valley economic region in the Labour Force Survey of October 2026.
What is the average household income in Berwick?
Before tax, half the households in Berwick had more than $61,100 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).