Photo: XeresNelro · CC BY-SA 4.0Household incomes in Bracebridge are higher than in 65% of Canadian towns
76% of people aged 15 to 64 in Bracebridge had a job at the 2021 census, and the middle of Canadian towns sits at 73%. For 6.8% of commuters in Bracebridge, the trip to work lasts an hour or more; the average is 23.6 minutes. 5,460 people have their usual place of work in Bracebridge, against 4,680 residents who travel to a job.
Bracebridge and work: the main findings
Work near the middle
The 2021 census found 76% of 15-to-64s with a job (73% in the middle of Canadian towns). Count every adult, retirees too, and the figure is 54%. In work ↓
A local job centre
With 5,460 jobs based in Bracebridge and 4,680 working residents, the ratio compares with 0.8 in the middle of Canadian towns. The daily tide ↓
Written from the data on this page: Statistics Canada’s 2021 Census, its commuting tables, Employment Insurance and the Labour Force Survey.
Bracebridge grades B+ for jobs and income
Better than 66% of Canadian towns on three measures together, #178 of 866 in Ontario.
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.
A working day adds 12% to the people at work in Bracebridge
People with no fixed workplace are in neither count.
2,437 people come into Bracebridge to work, most from Gravenhurst and Huntsville
- Gravenhurst660
- Huntsville625
- Muskoka Lakes450
- Lake of Bays115
- Orillia100
- Severn70
- Oro-Medonte65
- Perry35
- Toronto30
- Barrie30
45% of the people who work in Bracebridge live outside it, 660 of them in Gravenhurst, 16 km away. Gravenhurst is where the largest group of commuters out goes, 575 of them.
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census (98-10-0459): commuting flows between municipalities (census subdivisions), rounded to 5; linked names have their own pages.
Work and the working-age population of Bracebridge
Of the 5 other places of 2,500 people or more in the Muskoka census division, 3 have a smaller share of 15-to-64s in work.
Working or looking, 59% of everyone 15 and over was in the labour force. Many residents are past working age, so among everyone 15 and over the share in work drops to 54%. For the wider area, the Labour Force Survey had 53% in work in October 2026. 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.
Bracebridge households: $84,700 a year at the median
Of the 5 other places of 2,500 or more in the Muskoka census division, 2 have a higher median. Against the middle of Ontario’s towns ($91,600), Bracebridge’s median is 8% below. Incomes are for 2020, the first pandemic year, so CERB and other emergency payments are part of them.
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census: median total income of households in 2020, before tax (a neighbourhood’s estimated from its dissemination areas’ income groups).
Walking, cycling or transit: 5% of Bracebridge’s commuters
21% worked at home on census day, about the same as in the middle of Canadian towns. Transit takes 0.5% of commuters, against 3.5% in the middle of Canadian towns. The car is the way to work for 93% of commuters.
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census: main mode of commuting; average durations by mode from table 98-10-0458 (whole municipalities only).
Time on the road to work from Bracebridge
In the middle of Ontario’s towns, the average commute is 28.6 minutes. Trips under 15 minutes: 44%, more than the 31% in the middle of Ontario’s towns. Statistics Canada’s own average, timed exactly rather than by band, is 21.7 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.
In the Muskoka census division, 38% more people receive EI than in 2019
Set against the same month a year before, the count in August 2026 rose by 12%. At its peak, in February 2021, 3,910 people were on EI, 3.2 times the 2019 average. Per 100 residents aged 15 to 64, about 3.2 receive EI.
Statistics Canada, Employment Insurance beneficiaries by census division (14-10-0323): all income benefits, not seasonally adjusted. EI counts are context, not part of any grade.
People receiving Employment Insurance each month, as a share of the 2019 average (100). Figures for EI beneficiaries are published for the Muskoka census division as a whole, not for Bracebridge alone.
Bracebridge grades B− for walkability
Better than 55% of Canadian towns on two measures together, #656 of 866 in Ontario.
OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL); active commuting from the 2021 Census.
How Bracebridge ranks: 134th of 492 Canadian towns of 13,100 to 25,200
| # | Place | People | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Household income | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Yellowknife Northwest Territories | 22,858 | 80% | 5.8% | $148K | A+ |
| 2 | Sillery Quebec | 13,950 | 81% | 6.2% | $120K | A+ |
| 3 | Central Saanich British Columbia | 18,184 | 85% | 4.9% | $103K | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 5 | Glebe-Dows Lake Ontario | 13,436 | 80% | 9.4% | $113K | A+ |
| 6 | Perth East Ontario | 13,423 | 86% | 3.9% | $96K | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 23 | Wilmot Ontario | 22,890 | 81% | 6.8% | $115K | A |
| … | ||||||
| 132 | Rivière-du-Loup Quebec | 20,650 | 78% | 7% | $63K | B+ |
| 133 | Vieux-Montréal Quebec | 14,615 | 79% | 7.9% | $87K | B+ |
| 134 | Bracebridge Ontario | 18,676 | 76% | 9.9% | $85K | B+ |
| 135 | Lakewood Saskatchewan | 14,880 | 75% | 9.7% | $79K | B+ |
| 136 | Pincourt Quebec | 15,220 | 80% | 8.1% | $95K | B+ |
| … | ||||||
| 492 | Oakridge Ontario | 13,913 | 51% | 21% | $60K | D− |
Ordered by Jobs & income Grade: the top three, the places either side of Bracebridge, and others among Ontario’s towns.
Neighbouring places to Bracebridge, compared
The nearest places to Bracebridge with figures are 16–40 km away.
| Place | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Household income | Average trip | Jobs | Walk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bracebridge | 76% | 9.9% | $85K | 23.6 min | B+ | B− |
| Gravenhurst 15.7 km | 67% | 11% | $74K | 26.8 min | C− | B+ |
| Muskoka Lakes 21.1 km | 82% | 9.9% | $89K | 28.6 min | B+ | C |
| Huntsville 30.8 km | 72% | 12% | $83K | 23.1 min | B− | B− |
| Lake of Bays 34.6 km | 80% | 11% | $90K | 29.1 min | B | C− |
| Georgian Bay 40.2 km | 68% | 11% | $82K | 33.8 min | D | 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 Bracebridge, where it comes from, and what it leaves out.
- The Labour Force Survey. The most recent unemployment rate on the page comes from this monthly survey, which covers the wider metro area or economic region, not the town.
- In work. Everyone with a job, whatever their age, divided by the residents aged 15 to 64 at the 2021 Census: below the municipality the census doesn’t split work by age, and this is the one rate every town and neighbourhood can be given.
- 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. Before-tax total income of the middle household for 2020, from the census. Neighbourhood medians are worked out from bracket counts, since Statistics Canada publishes none of their own.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- Which towns we compare. Every town and city neighbourhood with 2,500 residents or more; whole cities and First Nations reserves are left out. Each middle figure is a median.
Questions about work in Bracebridge
What is the unemployment rate in Bracebridge?
The census put unemployment at 9.9% in May 2021, where the middle of Canadian towns was 9.9%. More recently, in October 2026, the Labour Force Survey had the Muskoka-Kawarthas economic region at 5.1%.
What is the average household income in Bracebridge?
The median household in Bracebridge had $84,700 before tax in 2020, against $85,900 in the middle of Canadian towns.
How do people in Bracebridge get to work?
Driving takes 93% of commuters to work, 0.5% take public transit, 3.8% walk and 0.7% cycle, and on census day 21% of those in work were at home.
How long is the commute from Bracebridge?
About 23.6 minutes on average, with 44% under a quarter-hour and 6.8% at an hour or longer.
Where do people in Bracebridge work?
Most stay: 65% work in Bracebridge. The rest go first to Gravenhurst (575) and Muskoka Lakes (355).
How many jobs are there in Bracebridge?
Some 5,460 people worked in Bracebridge at the 2021 census: 1.2 jobs per working resident with a fixed workplace. Statistics Canada counted 901 businesses with employees in June 2026.
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).