Photo: chester902 · Public domainWolfville has lower household incomes than 91% of Canadian towns
Of Wolfville’s residents aged 15 to 64, 63% were employed when the 2021 census was taken, next to 73% for the middle of Canadian towns. Most commutes from Wolfville take well under an hour: the average is 21 minutes, and 4.7% take 60 minutes or longer. Joblessness at the 2021 census: 19% of Wolfville’s labour force, against 9.9% in the middle of Canadian towns.
What Wolfville’s work numbers say
Fewer people in work than most towns
Of residents aged 15 to 64, 63% held a job in 2021; the middle of Canadian towns is 73%, and over all adults the share is 47%. In work ↓
More unemployment than most towns
Census day in 2021 put 19% out of work (9.9% in the middle of Canadian towns), and the area’s monthly survey gave 4.3% in October 2026. Unemployment ↓
Lower incomes than most towns
Half the households here had more than $58,200 in 2020, against $85,900 in the middle of Canadian towns. Household income ↓
More jobs than the typical town
1,510 people work in Wolfville and 1,415 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 21 minutes on average, against 26 in the middle of Canadian towns; 4.7% 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.
Jobs & income in Wolfville: graded D
Better than 15% of Canadian towns on three measures together.
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.
A place this unusual is graded but left out of the rankings.
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 many in Wolfville have a job: 63% of 15-to-64s
None of the 6 other places of 2,500 people or more in the Kings census division has a smaller share of 15-to-64s in work.
The Labour Force Survey’s employment rate for the wider area was 56% in October 2026. Working or looking, 59% of everyone 15 and over was in the labour force. Take in all adults, retirees with them, and only 47% were working. 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.
The median household in Wolfville had $58,200 in 2020
Every other place of 2,500 or more in the Kings census division has a higher median. The middle of Nova Scotia’s towns is $69,150, and Wolfville is 16% below it. Read the incomes as 2020’s, before tax: pandemic benefits such as CERB are in them, and they raised many low incomes for that year.
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census: median total income of households in 2020, before tax (a neighbourhood’s estimated from its dissemination areas’ income groups).
Each working day, Wolfville’s workforce swells by 5%
36% 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.
21 minutes from Wolfville to work, under the middle of Canadian towns
In the middle of Nova Scotia’s towns, the average commute is 23 minutes. Within a quarter-hour: 46% of commuters, much as in the middle of Nova Scotia’s towns. Statistics Canada’s own average, timed exactly rather than by band, is 19.1 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.
1,008 people come into Wolfville to work, most from Kings County, Subdivision B and Kings County, Subdivision D
- Kings County, Subdivision B235
- Kings County, Subdivision D180
- Kings County, Subdivision C165
- Kentville115
- Kingston95
- Windsor95
- Halifax80
- Berwick15
- Annapolis Valley First Nation10
- Ottawa10
Of everyone working in Wolfville, 67% come in from elsewhere; 235 make the 9 km trip from Kings County, Subdivision B. The main destination the other way is Kings County, Subdivision C, with 250.
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census (98-10-0459): commuting flows between municipalities (census subdivisions), rounded to 5; linked names have their own pages.
On foot, by bike, bus or train: 18% of Wolfville’s commuters
Transit takes 2.8% of commuters, close to the middle of Canadian towns. On foot: 14% of commuters, well above the 3.3% in the middle of Nova Scotia’s towns. The car takes 78% of commuters here, under the 92% in the middle of Nova Scotia’s towns. Working at home: 23% here, 21% 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).
In the Kings census division, 11% more people receive EI than in 2019
Per 100 residents aged 15 to 64, about 4.6 receive EI. Set against the same month a year before, the count in August 2026 fell by 1%. May 2021 was the busiest month, with 3,880 people on EI, 2.3 times 2019’s average.
Statistics Canada, Employment Insurance beneficiaries by census division (14-10-0323): all income benefits, not seasonally adjusted. EI beneficiaries published for the Kings census division, not by town. EI counts are context, not part of any grade.
People receiving Employment Insurance each month, as a share of the 2019 average (100).
How walkable Wolfville is: A−
Better than 80% of Canadian towns on two measures together.
OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL); active commuting from the 2021 Census.
Work next door to Wolfville
| Place | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Household income | Average trip | Jobs | Walk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wolfville | 63% | 19% | $58K | 21 min | D | A− |
| Kings County, Subdivision D 2.7 km | 72% | 12% | $72K | 24.1 min | C | C |
| Kings County, Subdivision B 8.9 km | 69% | 12% | $68K | 21.6 min | C | C+ |
| Kings County, Subdivision C 10.7 km | 70% | 10% | $65K | 18.6 min | C | B |
| Kentville 11.2 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 Wolfville, where it comes from, and what it leaves out.
- 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. A census-day figure: people without a job who were looking, divided by all those working or looking, ages 15 and up.
- Household income. The census median total income of households in 2020, before tax; a neighbourhood’s is estimated from its dissemination areas’ income groups.
- 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.
- Where people commute. Only people with a usual place of work are in it: those who work from home or have no fixed site are not. Home and work are both counted by municipality.
- Which towns we compare. Towns and city neighbourhoods of 2,500 people or more, never a whole city and never a First Nations reserve. Middles are medians.
Questions about work in Wolfville
How many jobs are there in Wolfville?
Some 1,510 people worked in Wolfville at the 2021 census: 1.1 jobs per working resident with a fixed workplace. In June 2026, 181 businesses with employees were on Statistics Canada’s count.
What is the unemployment rate in Wolfville?
On census day in May 2021, unemployment stood at 19% 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 Wolfville?
The census puts Wolfville at $58,200 for 2020, before tax and at the median, against $85,900 in the middle of Canadian towns.
How do people in Wolfville get to work?
Driving takes 78% of commuters to work, 2.8% take public transit, 14% walk and 1.9% cycle, and on census day 23% of those in work were at home.
How long is the commute from Wolfville?
About 21 minutes on average, with 46% under a quarter-hour and 4.7% at an hour or longer.
Where do people in Wolfville work?
Only 36% work in Wolfville itself; the rest go first to Kings County, Subdivision C (250) and Kentville (135).
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).