Photo: Verne Equinox · CC BY-SA 4.0Fewer of Windsor’s 15-to-64s are in work than in 76% of Canadian towns
For 11% of commuters in Windsor, the trip to work lasts an hour or more; the average is 31.7 minutes. Half the households in Windsor had more than $69,500 in 2020, before tax, against $85,900 in the middle of Canadian towns. Joblessness at the 2021 census: 10% of Windsor’s labour force, and the middle of Canadian towns sits at 9.9%.
What Windsor’s work numbers say
Lower incomes than most towns
Half of households had more than $69,500 before tax in 2020, where the middle of Canadian towns is $85,900. Household income ↓
Longer trips than most towns
The average trip to work is 31.7 minutes (26 in the middle of Canadian towns), and 11% 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 Windsor earn D
Better than 7% of Canadian towns on three measures together, #81 of 88 in Nova Scotia.
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.
How Windsor’s household incomes compare
Before tax, 2020: lower than in 67% of Canadian towns.
Against the middle of Nova Scotia’s towns ($69,150), Windsor’s median is 1% above. Because 2020 was the first year of the pandemic, emergency benefits make up part of these before-tax incomes.
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census: median total income of households in 2020, before tax (a neighbourhood’s estimated from its dissemination areas’ income groups).
Time on the road to work from Windsor
In the middle of Nova Scotia’s towns, the average commute is 23 minutes. Only 32% get to work within a quarter-hour, against 46% in the middle of Nova Scotia’s towns. Statistics Canada’s own average, timed exactly rather than by band, is 28.2 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.
On a working day, Windsor loses more workers than it gains
For every person who comes in to work, about 2 residents travel out. Of those who commute, 56% stay within the municipality; the middle of Canadian towns is 70%.
People with no fixed workplace are in neither count.
44% of Windsor’s residents in work leave it to work; Halifax takes the most
Of those coming in, Halifax supplies the most: 295.
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census (98-10-0459): commuting flows between municipalities (census subdivisions), rounded to 5; linked names have their own pages.
In Windsor, 69% of the working-age population has a job
An older population pulls the all-ages rate down: 50% of residents 15 and over were in work. For the wider area, the Labour Force Survey had 56% in work in October 2026. Participation, the share of residents 15 and over working or looking for work, came to 56%. The figures are a snapshot of 11 May 2021, when pandemic rules still kept many people out of work or at home.
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.
Windsor gets to work without a car for 3.2% of commuters
The car is the way to work for 95% of commuters. Only 15% worked at home on census day, against 21% in the middle of Canadian towns. Transit takes 0.3% 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 EI claims in the Hants census division have moved since 2019
At its peak, in March 2021, 3,500 people were on EI, 2.3 times the 2019 average. That is about 5.5 people on EI for every 100 aged 15 to 64 in the division. In the twelve months to August 2026 the number rose by 3%.
Statistics Canada, Employment Insurance beneficiaries by census division (14-10-0323): all income benefits, not seasonally adjusted. Data for EI beneficiaries covers the Hants 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).
Everyday places on foot in Windsor: C
Better than 33% of Canadian towns on two measures together, #52 of 88 in Nova Scotia.
OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL); active commuting from the 2021 Census.
Where Windsor sits among Canadian towns of 14,200 to 27,400
| # | 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 | Cap-Rouge Quebec | 17,139 | 81% | 4.3% | $126K | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 46 | Cole Harbour Nova Scotia | 21,627 | 77% | 9.9% | $103K | A− |
| … | ||||||
| 107 | Middle Sackville Nova Scotia | 14,898 | 75% | 7.4% | $104K | B+ |
| … | ||||||
| 125 | Woodlawn Nova Scotia | 20,925 | 70% | 11% | $95K | B+ |
| … | ||||||
| 407 | Westminster-Branson Ontario | 26,027 | 67% | 15% | $77K | D |
| 408 | Downtown Ontario | 15,686 | 64% | 14% | $74K | D |
| 409 | West Hants Nova Scotia | 20,318 | 69% | 10% | $70K | D |
| 410 | Moss Park Ontario | 22,701 | 66% | 15% | $66K | D |
| 411 | O'Connor-Parkview Ontario | 18,746 | 62% | 17% | $79K | D |
| … | ||||||
| 452 | South Parkdale Ontario | 21,663 | 64% | 17% | $57K | D− |
Ordered by Jobs & income Grade: the top three, the places either side of Windsor, and others among Nova Scotia’s towns.
How the places next to Windsor compare on work
Windsor has few close neighbours with figures, so the list reaches 18–30 km out.
| Place | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Household income | Average trip | Jobs | Walk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Windsor | 69% | 10% | $70K | 31.7 min | D | C |
| Kings County, Subdivision D 18.3 km | 72% | 12% | $72K | 24.1 min | C | C |
| Wolfville 21 km | 63% | 19% | $58K | 21 min | D | A− |
| Kings County, Subdivision C 29.3 km | 70% | 10% | $65K | 18.6 min | C | B |
| Kings County, Subdivision B 29.9 km | 69% | 12% | $68K | 21.6 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 Windsor, 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. Beneficiaries of Employment Insurance, month by month, for the census division rather than the town. Many jobless people don’t qualify, so it isn’t an unemployment rate.
- 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. Of everyone 15 or older who was working or job-hunting in the census week, the part still looking. Someone not seeking work isn’t in it at all.
- Household income. The 2020 income of the household at the midpoint, all sources and before tax. Inside a city we rebuild it from the dissemination areas’ income bands, so there it is an estimate.
- 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.
- 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.
- The municipality’s figures. Statistics Canada counts Windsor as part of West Hants, so every census figure on this page is the whole municipality’s.
Questions about work in Windsor
How many jobs are there in Windsor?
The 2021 census counted about 4,145 people working in Windsor: 0.8 jobs for every resident who commutes to a fixed workplace. Statistics Canada counted 539 businesses with employees in June 2026.
What is the unemployment rate in Windsor?
On census day in May 2021, unemployment stood at 10% of the labour force (9.9% in the middle of Canadian towns). For a recent figure, the Labour Force Survey put the Annapolis Valley economic region at 4.3% in October 2026.
What is the average household income in Windsor?
At $69,500 before tax in 2020, the median household in Windsor compares with $85,900 in the middle of Canadian towns.
How do people in Windsor get to work?
By car: 95% of commuters, 0.3% take public transit, 2.7% walk and 0.2% cycle; on census day 15% of those in work worked from home.
How long is the commute from Windsor?
31.7 minutes is the average trip, with 32% of commuters there in under 15 minutes and 11% taking an hour or more.
Where do people in Windsor work?
Most stay: 56% work in Windsor. The rest go first to Halifax (1,525) and Kingston (150).
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).