Photo: Andre Carrotflower · CC BY-SA 4.0Working-age people in Blind River are less likely to have a job than in 87% of Canadian towns
The median household in Blind River had $67,000 before tax in 2020, next to $85,900 for the middle of Canadian towns. Workers in Blind River spend 17.2 minutes on the way to work on average, and 4.9% need an hour or more. Census day 2021 found 12% of Blind River’s labour force without a job; the middle of Canadian towns is 9.9%.
What Blind River’s work numbers say
Fewer people in work than most towns
In work at the 2021 census: 65% of people aged 15 to 64, against 73% in the middle of Canadian towns, and 45% 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 $67,000 before tax in 2020. Household income ↓
A local job centre
With 1,090 jobs based in Blind River and 910 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 17.2 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.
Jobs & income in Blind River: graded C
Better than 32% of Canadian towns on three measures together, #510 of 866 in Ontario.
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.
Work for 65% of 15-to-64s in Blind River
Of the 4 other places of 2,500 people or more in the Algoma census division, 2 have a smaller share of 15-to-64s in work.
Across all ages 15 and over the share in work falls to 45%: many residents are past working age. The Labour Force Survey’s employment rate for the wider area was 56% in October 2026. Counting those looking for work too, 52% of people aged 15 and over were in the labour force. 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.
Earnings at home in Blind River: households
Before tax, 2020: lower than in 73% of Canadian towns.
Blind River’s median is 27% below the middle of Ontario’s towns ($91,600). Of the 4 other places of 2,500 or more in the Algoma census division, 3 have a higher median. 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).
Workers pour into Blind River: 17% more on a working day
910 residents of Blind River had a usual place of work at the 2021 census, and 1,090 people had theirs in Blind River, wherever they lived.
Blind River takes in some 2 workers for every resident it sends out. 79% 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.
Time on the road to work from Blind River
A quarter-hour or less for 67% of commuters, against 31% in the middle of Ontario’s towns. Timed exactly, the average is 16.3 minutes (Statistics Canada). The middle of Ontario’s towns averages 28.6 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.
Commuting time at the 2021 Census, to work only, for people who travel to a usual workplace or have none fixed.
373 people come into Blind River to work, most from Huron Shores and The North Shore
- Huron Shores135
- The North Shore60
- Elliot Lake55
- Mississagi River 820
- Espanola15
- Greater Sudbury / Grand Sudbury15
- Sault Ste. Marie10
- Sagamok10
- Wawa10
- Huron Shores25
- The North Shore25
- Elliot Lake25
- Sault Ste. Marie25
- Thessalon15
- Mississagi River 815
- Spanish10
- Kenora, Unorganized10
34% of the people who work in Blind River live outside it, 135 of them in Huron Shores, 32 km away. Going the other way, Huron Shores is the biggest single destination (25).
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 Blind River work and where people who work there live, the ten largest each way.
Walk, cycle or ride transit: the choice of 8.4% of Blind River’s commuters
Home was the workplace for 14%, under the 21% in the middle of Canadian towns. Few ride transit: 0.9%, where the middle of Canadian towns has 3.5%. More people walk to work here than in the middle of Ontario’s towns: 7.5% against 3.2%.
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.
4% more people are on EI in the Algoma census division than in 2019
Compared with a year earlier, the count in August 2026 rose by 6%. April 2021 was the busiest month, with 7,740 people on EI, 2.4 times 2019’s average. Per 100 residents aged 15 to 64, about 5 receive EI.
Statistics Canada, Employment Insurance beneficiaries by census division (14-10-0323): all income benefits, not seasonally adjusted. EI beneficiaries published for the Algoma 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).
Getting around Blind River on foot earns B+
Better than 74% of Canadian towns on two measures together, #544 of 866 in Ontario.
OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL); active commuting from the 2021 Census.
How Blind River ranks: 532nd of 769 Canadian towns of 2,600 to 5,000
| # | 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+ |
| … | ||||||
| 12 | Red Lake Ontario | 4,285 | 77% | 5.1% | $111K | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 14 | Perth South Ontario | 4,055 | 87% | 7.3% | $102K | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 32 | McDougall Ontario | 3,002 | 82% | 9.6% | $93K | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 530 | Delwood Alberta | 3,491 | 67% | 15% | $86K | C |
| 531 | Newton Alberta | 2,809 | 63% | 15% | $84K | C |
| 532 | Blind River Ontario | 3,692 | 65% | 12% | $67K | C |
| 533 | Atikokan Ontario | 2,796 | 65% | 7.6% | $68K | C |
| 534 | Belmead Alberta | 3,970 | 66% | 15% | $86K | C |
| … | ||||||
| 769 | 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 Blind River, and others among Ontario’s towns.
Around Blind River: jobs, pay and the commute
Distances here run 31–47 km: that is how far the nearest places with figures are from Blind River.
| Place | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Household income | Average trip | Jobs | Walk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Blind River | 65% | 12% | $67K | 17.2 min | C | B+ |
| Elliot Lake 30.6 km | 52% | 17% | $50K | 16.4 min | C− | A− |
| Huron Shores 32.3 km | 68% | 9.4% | $67K | 25.9 min | D | C− |
| Thessalon 47.4 km | 56% | 14% | $59K | 14 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 Blind River, where it comes from, and what it leaves out.
- 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. Jobs count everyone whose usual workplace lies in the municipality, residents or commuters from elsewhere, from Statistics Canada’s home-by-workplace table.
- 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.
- In work. How many residents held a job in May 2021, set against how many were 15 to 64. It reads a little high where many people work past 65, since below the municipality the census gives no breakdown of workers by age.
- 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. 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.
- 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 Blind River
How do people in Blind River get to work?
87% of commuters drive, 0.9% take public transit and 7.5% walk; 14% of everyone in work worked at home on census day.
How long is the commute from Blind River?
The average commute is 17.2 minutes; 67% of trips take under 15 minutes and 4.9% an hour or more.
Where do people in Blind River work?
79% work in Blind River itself; of those who leave, the most go to Huron Shores (25), then The North Shore (25).
How many jobs are there in Blind River?
The 2021 census found about 1,090 people with their usual workplace in Blind River, or 1.2 for each resident who travels to a fixed job. Statistics Canada counted 113 businesses with employees in June 2026.
What is the unemployment rate in Blind River?
The 2021 census found 12% unemployed, against 9.9% in the middle of Canadian towns; the Labour Force Survey’s latest, for the Northeast economic region, is 6% (October 2026).
What is the average household income in Blind River?
Before tax, half the households in Blind River had more than $67,000 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).