Photo: Edgar El · CC BY 3.0A place people come to for work: Lunenburg has 2.6 jobs per resident in work
An hour or more each way is the commute for 2.9% of workers in Lunenburg; the average is 18 minutes. Unemployment in Lunenburg stood at 14% on census day 2021, against 9.9% in the middle of Canadian towns. Half the households in Lunenburg had more than $63,600 in 2020, before tax, and the middle of Canadian towns sits at $85,900.
Lunenburg at work: what stands out
More unemployment than most towns
14% of the labour force was out of work at the 2021 census (9.9% in the middle of Canadian towns); the Labour Force Survey had the area at 8.9% in October 2026. Unemployment ↓
Lower incomes than most towns
At $63,600 before tax in 2020, the median household compares with $85,900 in the middle of Canadian towns. Household income ↓
Shorter trips than most towns
The average trip to work is 18 minutes (26 in the middle of Canadian towns), and 2.9% 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.
Lunenburg earns C+ for jobs and income
Better than 36% of Canadian towns on three measures together, #32 of 88 in Nova Scotia.
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.
In Lunenburg, 71% of the working-age population has a job
All 3 other places of 2,500 people or more in the Lunenburg census division have a smaller share of 15-to-64s in work.
Many residents are past working age, so among everyone 15 and over the share in work drops to 46%. The monthly Labour Force Survey, which covers the wider area, put its employment rate at 48% in October 2026. Participation, the share of residents 15 and over working or looking for work, came to 53%. 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.
Household income in Lunenburg
Before tax, 2020: lower than in 81% of Canadian towns.
Of the 3 other places of 2,500 or more in the Lunenburg census division, 2 have a higher median. Set beside Nova Scotia’s towns, where the median is $69,150, Lunenburg sits 8% below. 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).
On a working day, 1,610 people work in Lunenburg, 2.1 times its working residents
540 residents of Lunenburg had a usual place of work at the 2021 census, and 1,400 people had theirs in Lunenburg, wherever they lived.
About 5 people arrive to work in Lunenburg for each resident who goes out. Of those who commute, 57% stay within the municipality; the middle of Canadian towns is 70%.
People with no fixed workplace are in neither count.
A shorter commute than the middle of Canadian towns: 18 minutes from Lunenburg
Timed exactly, the average is 16 minutes (Statistics Canada). The middle of Nova Scotia’s towns averages 23 minutes. A quarter-hour or less for 57% 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.
1,092 people come into Lunenburg to work, most from Lunenburg (Nova Scotia part) and Bridgewater
78% of the people who work in Lunenburg live outside it, 775 of them in Lunenburg (Nova Scotia part), 15 km away. Of residents who leave for work, most head to Lunenburg (Nova Scotia part) (70).
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 Lunenburg work and where people who work there live, the ten largest each way.
Leaving the car at home: 23% of commuters in Lunenburg
72% drive to work, fewer than the 92% in the middle of Nova Scotia’s towns. 24% of everyone in work worked at home on census day, against 21% in the middle of Canadian towns. Transit barely figures here, against 3.5% in the middle of Canadian towns. The middle of Nova Scotia’s towns has 3.3% walking; here, 21% do.
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 the Lunenburg census division, 25% more people receive EI than in 2019
March 2021 was the busiest month, with 3,340 people on EI, 2.2 times 2019’s average. For each 100 residents of working age in the division, about 6.1 are on EI. Compared with a year earlier, the count in August 2026 rose by 8%.
Statistics Canada, Employment Insurance beneficiaries by census division (14-10-0323): all income benefits, not seasonally adjusted. Data for EI beneficiaries covers the Lunenburg census division. 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 Lunenburg: A
Better than 92% of Canadian towns on two measures together, #12 of 88 in Nova Scotia.
OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL); active commuting from the 2021 Census.
For jobs and income, Lunenburg is 248th of 390 Canadian towns of 2,500 to 3,400
| # | 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+ |
| … | ||||||
| 246 | La Loche Saskatchewan | 3,124 | 33% | 25% | $72K | C+ |
| 247 | Electoral Area B, Sunshine Coast British Columbia | 3,130 | 75% | 6.3% | $76K | C+ |
| 248 | Lunenburg Nova Scotia | 2,523 | 71% | 14% | $64K | C+ |
| 249 | Lakeshore Ontario | 3,127 | 77% | 11% | $80K | C+ |
| 250 | Saint-André-d'Argenteuil Quebec | 3,300 | 81% | 5.5% | $70K | C+ |
| … | ||||||
| 252 | Head of St Margarets Bay Nova Scotia | 2,885 | 68% | 11% | $101K | C |
| … | ||||||
| 300 | Berwick Nova Scotia | 2,631 | 64% | 11% | $61K | C− |
| … | ||||||
| 310 | Inverness County, Subdivision C Nova Scotia | 3,314 | 67% | 17% | $72K | C− |
| … | ||||||
| 390 | 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 Lunenburg, and others among Nova Scotia’s towns.
The work picture around Lunenburg
| Place | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Household income | Average trip | Jobs | Walk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lunenburg | 71% | 14% | $64K | 18 min | C+ | A |
| Mahone Bay 9.7 km | 70% | 10% | $60K | 21.2 min | C− | A+ |
| Lunenburg 15.4 km | 70% | 11% | $69K | 24.9 min | C− | C− |
| Bridgewater 16.6 km | 68% | 12% | $57K | 16.9 min | C | A− |
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 Lunenburg, where it comes from, and what it leaves out.
- 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. 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. 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. Counts of workers with a fixed workplace, by where they live and where they work, both taken as whole municipalities; the jobs figure takes everyone who works here, wherever home is.
- 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. Monthly, and only for metro areas and economic regions. It is the up-to-date rate we set beside the census’s 2021 snapshot.
- 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 Lunenburg
How do people in Lunenburg get to work?
72% of commuters go by car, 21% walk and 1.5% cycle. On census day 24% of everyone in work stayed home to work.
How long is the commute from Lunenburg?
On average 18 minutes; 57% take under 15 minutes and 2.9% take an hour or longer.
Where do people in Lunenburg work?
57% work in Lunenburg itself; of those who leave, the most go to Lunenburg (Nova Scotia part) (70), then Bridgewater (55).
How many jobs are there in Lunenburg?
About 1,400 people had their usual place of work in Lunenburg at the 2021 census, 2.6 for each working resident with a fixed workplace. Statistics Canada counted 160 businesses with employees in June 2026.
What is the unemployment rate in Lunenburg?
Two figures answer it: 14% on census day in May 2021 (9.9% in the middle of Canadian towns), and 8.9% for the Southern economic region in the Labour Force Survey of October 2026.
What is the average household income in Lunenburg?
Lunenburg’s middle household had $63,600 in 2020, before tax; Canadian towns have $85,900 at their middle.
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).