Photo: Joe Mabel (on Flickr as Joe Mabel from Seattle, US) · CC BY-SA 3.0Household incomes in Bradford are higher than in 95% of Canadian towns
Unemployment in Bradford stood at 11% on census day 2021, and the middle of Canadian towns sits at 9.9%. Workers in Bradford spend 35.8 minutes on the way to work on average, and 15% need an hour or more. 73% of people aged 15 to 64 in Bradford had a job at the 2021 census, right at the middle of Canadian towns.
What Bradford’s work numbers say
Higher incomes than most towns
Half the households here had more than $114,200 in 2020, against $85,900 in the middle of Canadian towns. Household income ↓
Longer trips than most towns
Commutes take 35.8 minutes on average, against 26 in the middle of Canadian towns; 15% 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.
The Jobs & income grade for Bradford: C+
Better than 37% of Canadian towns on three measures together, #456 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.
What households earned in Bradford: $114,200 in 2020
3 of the 17 other places of 2,500+ in the Simcoe census division have a higher median. The middle of Ontario’s towns is $91,600, and Bradford is 25% above it. That year, 2020, brought emergency benefits that count in these totals, before tax.
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census: median total income of households in 2020, before tax (a neighbourhood’s estimated from its dissemination areas’ income groups).
The length of the trip to work in Bradford
The middle of Ontario’s towns averages 28.6 minutes. Trips under 15 minutes: 22%, fewer than the 31% in the middle of Ontario’s towns. Statistics Canada’s own average, timed exactly rather than by band, is 32.4 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.
Bradford empties a little on a working day
Outbound commuters outnumber inbound ones about 2 to 1. The job is inside the municipality for 29% of its commuters (70% in the middle of Canadian towns).
People with no fixed workplace are in neither count.
71% of Bradford’s residents in work leave it to work; Toronto takes the most
- Toronto1,915
- Vaughan1,600
- Newmarket1,370
- Aurora520
- East Gwillimbury420
- Barrie375
- Mississauga365
- Alliston355
- Richmond Hill310
- Markham230
Inbound, the leader is Barrie (725).
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census (98-10-0459): commuting flows between municipalities (census subdivisions), rounded to 5; linked names have their own pages.
How many in Bradford were working in 2021
Of the 17 other places of 2,500 people or more in the Simcoe census division, 9 have a smaller share of 15-to-64s in work.
69% of residents aged 15 and over were in the labour force, in work or seeking it. In October 2026, 62% of the wider area’s adults had a job, on the Labour Force Survey’s count. May 2021, when the census was taken, was a pandemic spring; unemployment has come down since, as the Labour Force Survey records.
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.
Without a car, 4.8% of Bradford’s commuters get to work
Working at home: 22%, close to the middle of Canadian towns. Transit takes 2.1% of commuters, against 3.5% in the middle of Canadian towns. Nearly everyone drives: 94% of commuters go by car, truck or van.
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census: main mode of commuting; average durations by mode from table 98-10-0458 (whole municipalities only).
In the Simcoe census division, 38% more people receive EI than in 2019
The count topped out in February 2021 at 31,440 people, 3.2 times the 2019 average. Per 100 residents aged 15 to 64, about 4.4 receive EI. Compared with a year earlier, the count in August 2026 rose by 5%.
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). Bradford doesn’t get its own EI beneficiaries figures; the ones here come from the Simcoe census division.
Walkability in Bradford: graded B+
Better than 66% of Canadian towns on two measures together, #584 of 866 in Ontario.
OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL); active commuting from the 2021 Census.
Among Canadian towns of 35,900 to 69,300, Bradford ranks 65th of 96 for jobs and income
| # | Place | People | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Household income | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dieppe New Brunswick | 35,986 | 79% | 6.7% | $87K | A |
| 2 | Neufchatel Est—Lebourgneuf Quebec | 37,164 | 83% | 6.2% | $83K | A |
| 3 | Boucherville Quebec | 41,910 | 82% | 5.2% | $111K | A |
| … | ||||||
| 6 | LaSalle Ontario | 36,452 | 69% | 13% | $119K | A− |
| … | ||||||
| 16 | Stratford Ontario | 36,097 | 76% | 11% | $77K | B+ |
| 17 | Brant Ontario | 45,565 | 78% | 8.8% | $107K | B+ |
| … | ||||||
| 63 | Belleville Ontario | 62,914 | 66% | 12% | $74K | C+ |
| 64 | Haldimand County Ontario | 56,059 | 74% | 8.3% | $92K | C+ |
| 65 | Bradford West Gwillimbury Ontario | 51,346 | 73% | 11% | $114K | C+ |
| 66 | East Gwillimbury Ontario | 42,989 | 72% | 12% | $119K | C+ |
| 67 | Roseborough Ontario | 54,539 | 66% | 14% | $131K | C+ |
| … | ||||||
| 96 | Metrotown British Columbia | 36,594 | 71% | 11% | $64K | D |
Ordered by Jobs & income Grade: the top three, the places either side of Bradford, and others among Ontario’s towns.
The work picture around Bradford
| Place | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Household income | Average trip | Jobs | Walk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bradford | 73% | 11% | $114K | 35.8 min | C+ | B+ |
| Newmarket 11.2 km | 71% | 12% | $110K | 30.9 min | C+ | A |
| East Gwillimbury 11.7 km | 72% | 12% | $119K | 35 min | C+ | B |
| Aurora 15 km | 72% | 12% | $119K | 32.6 min | C+ | A− |
| Alliston 17.6 km | 76% | 9.6% | $105K | 37 min | C+ | B |
| King 18.1 km | 74% | 11% | $141K | 34.4 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 Bradford, where it comes from, and what it leaves out.
- 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. How long getting to work normally takes, averaged from the census’s time bands at their middles; expect it to read slightly high against the timed figure.
- Where people commute. Statistics Canada’s place-of-work table counts people with a usual place of work by the municipality they live in and the one they work in. Jobs here are people whose usual workplace is in the municipality, wherever they live.
- 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. Sampled each month and released for regions rather than towns, so its rate describes the area around the town.
- In work. Working residents per resident of working age (15 to 64), from the 2021 Census.
- Which towns we compare. The comparison pool is places of 2,500 people or more, towns or neighbourhoods inside cities, without whole cities or reserves, and we compare with its median.
- The municipality’s figures. Statistics Canada counts Bradford as part of Bradford West Gwillimbury, so every census figure on this page is the whole municipality’s.
Questions about work in Bradford
Where do people in Bradford work?
Only 29% work in Bradford itself; the rest go first to Toronto (1,915) and Vaughan (1,600).
How many jobs are there in Bradford?
Some 7,105 people worked in Bradford at the 2021 census: 0.6 jobs per working resident with a fixed workplace. In June 2026, 1,273 businesses with employees were on Statistics Canada’s count.
What is the unemployment rate in Bradford?
At the 2021 census 11% of the labour force had no job and was looking (9.9% in the middle of Canadian towns). The latest monthly survey, for the Toronto metro area, gives 7.1% in October 2026.
What is the average household income in Bradford?
Bradford’s middle household had $114,200 in 2020, before tax; Canadian towns have $85,900 at their middle.
How do people in Bradford get to work?
Driving takes 94% of commuters to work, 2.1% take public transit, 2.3% walk and 0.4% cycle, and on census day 22% of those in work were at home.
How long is the commute from Bradford?
About 35.8 minutes on average, with 22% under a quarter-hour and 15% at an hour or longer.
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).