Photo: BaShildy . · CC BY 3.0A smaller share of people aged 15 to 64 are in work in Igloolik than in almost any Canadian town
Census day 2021 found 20% of Igloolik’s labour force without a job, next to 9.9% for the middle of Canadian towns. From Igloolik, the drive or ride to work averages 11.6 minutes, with 2.2% going an hour or longer. Median household income in Igloolik was $87,900 in 2020; the middle of Canadian towns is $85,900.
The work numbers behind Igloolik
Fewer people in work than most towns
Among residents aged 15 to 64, 40% were in work at the 2021 census, against 73% in the middle of Canadian towns; take everyone 15 and over and it falls to 38%. In work ↓
More unemployment than most towns
The census counted 20% unemployed in 2021, against 9.9% in the middle of Canadian towns. Unemployment ↓
More jobs than the typical town
With 450 jobs based in Igloolik and 440 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 11.6 minutes (26 in the middle of Canadian towns), and 2.2% 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 Igloolik earn B
Better than 61% 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 Igloolik, 40% of the working-age population has a job
Add those looking for a job to those with one, and 48% of residents 15 and over were in the labour force. 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.
A smaller share in work than in almost any Canadian town.
As many come into Igloolik to work as leave
440 residents of Igloolik had a usual place of work at the 2021 census, and 450 people had theirs in Igloolik, wherever they lived.
93% 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.
How long the commute from Igloolik takes
Trips under 15 minutes: 84%, more than the 36% in the middle of Canadian towns. Timed exactly, the average is 8.6 minutes (Statistics Canada).
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.
41 people come into Igloolik to work, most from Iqaluit and Pangnirtung
- Iqaluit10
- Pangnirtung10
- Qikiqtarjuaq10
- Hall Beach10
- Arctic Bay10
- Hall Beach10
- Clyde River10
- Resolute10
- Qikiqtaaluk, Unorganized (NO)10
9.1% of the people who work in Igloolik live outside it, 10 of them in Iqaluit, 855 km away. Of residents who leave for work, most head to Hall Beach (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 Igloolik work and where people who work there live, the ten largest each way.
How Igloolik’s household incomes compare
Before tax, 2020: higher than in 71% of Canadian towns.
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).
Walk, cycle or ride transit: the choice of 66% of Igloolik’s commuters
Only 2.1% worked at home on census day, against 21% in the middle of Canadian towns. Hardly anyone takes transit to work, where the middle of Canadian towns has 3.5%.
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.
EI claims in the Qikiqtaaluk census division run 5% above their 2019 level
Set against the same month a year before, the count in August 2026 rose by 18%. In August 2021 it reached 750, the most in the series and 2 times the 2019 average. Roughly 3.2 in every 100 people aged 15 to 64 in the division draw EI.
Statistics Canada, Employment Insurance beneficiaries by census division (14-10-0323): all income benefits, not seasonally adjusted. EI beneficiaries: one figure for all of the Qikiqtaaluk 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).
Walking in Igloolik earns A
Better than 87% 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 Igloolik, where it comes from, and what it leaves out.
- Employment Insurance. A monthly count of Employment Insurance beneficiaries for the whole census division. It tracks the local job market, but it is not an unemployment rate.
- 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. Built from banded answers: each commuter’s usual one-way trip counts as the midpoint of the band they chose, and the result tends to sit slightly higher than Statistics Canada’s average.
- Where people commute. Who travels where, from the census: workers with a regular workplace, sorted by the municipality they live in and the one they work in.
- 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 Igloolik
What is the average household income in Igloolik?
The census puts Igloolik at $87,900 for 2020, before tax and at the median, against $85,900 in the middle of Canadian towns.
How do people in Igloolik get to work?
20% of commuters drive, 66% walk; 2.1% of everyone in work worked at home on census day.
How long is the commute from Igloolik?
The average commute is 11.6 minutes; 84% of trips take under 15 minutes and 2.2% an hour or more.
Where do people in Igloolik work?
93% work in Igloolik itself; of those who leave, the most go to Hall Beach (10), then Clyde River (10).
How many jobs are there in Igloolik?
The 2021 census found about 450 people with their usual workplace in Igloolik, or 1 for each resident who travels to a fixed job. Statistics Canada counted 14 businesses with employees in June 2026.
What is the unemployment rate in Igloolik?
About 20%, by the census of May 2021, against 9.9% in the middle of Canadian towns.
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, 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).