Photo: Squirrelwhisperer · CC BY-SA 4.0Household incomes in Cardinal top those of 65% of Canadian towns
From Cardinal, the drive or ride to work averages 30.8 minutes, with 10% going an hour or longer. With 73% of its 15-to-64s in work in 2021, Cardinal matches the middle of Canadian towns. Of everyone in Cardinal working or looking for work in May 2021, 9.3% were unemployed; the middle of Canadian towns is 9.9%.
Cardinal at work: what stands out
Work near the middle
Among residents aged 15 to 64, 73% were in work at the 2021 census, against 73% in the middle of Canadian towns; take everyone 15 and over and it falls to 54%. In work ↓
Longer trips than most towns
Commutes take 30.8 minutes on average, against 26 in the middle of Canadian towns; 10% 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.
Cardinal grades C for jobs and income
Better than 29% of Canadian towns on three measures together, #566 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.
The length of the trip to work in Cardinal
Timed exactly, the average is 27.1 minutes (Statistics Canada). In the middle of Ontario’s towns, the average commute is 28.6 minutes. Only 25% get to work within a quarter-hour, against 31% in the middle of Ontario’s towns.
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.
More workers leave Cardinal each day than arrive
2,270 residents of Cardinal had a usual place of work at the 2021 census, and 1,775 people had theirs in Cardinal, wherever they lived.
24% 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.
76% of Cardinal’s residents in work leave it to work; Ottawa takes the most
- Ottawa430
- Brockville345
- Kemptville270
- Prescott225
- Morrisburg155
- Augusta80
- Winchester60
- Kingston45
- Elizabethtown-Kitley35
- Cornwall25
Inbound, the leader is Augusta (290).
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 Cardinal work and where people who work there live, the ten largest each way.
Work and the working-age population of Cardinal
Of the 11 other places of 2,500 people or more in the Leeds and Grenville census division, 5 have a smaller share of 15-to-64s in work.
By October 2026, the Labour Force Survey had 59% of the wider area’s adults in work. The participation rate, everyone 15 and over working or looking for work, was 59%. Take in all adults, retirees with them, and only 54% 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.
Median household income in Cardinal: $84,500 in 2020
7 of the 11 other places of 2,500+ in the Leeds and Grenville census division have a higher median. Set beside Ontario’s towns, where the median is $91,600, Cardinal sits 8% below. These are 2020 incomes, before tax, and they include pandemic benefits such as CERB, which lifted many lower incomes 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).
Without a car, 2.2% of Cardinal’s commuters get to work
Only 18% 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%. The car is the way to work for 96% of commuters.
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.
20% more people are on EI in the Leeds and Grenville census division than in 2019
Set against the same month a year before, the count in August 2026 fell by 1%. The count topped out in February 2021 at 5,400 people, 2.7 times the 2019 average. For each 100 residents of working age in the division, about 3.9 are on EI.
Statistics Canada, Employment Insurance beneficiaries by census division (14-10-0323): all income benefits, not seasonally adjusted. Data for EI beneficiaries covers the Leeds and Grenville 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).
Walkability in Cardinal: graded C−
Better than 24% of Canadian towns on two measures together, #798 of 866 in Ontario.
OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL); active commuting from the 2021 Census.
Ranked on jobs and income, Cardinal is 525th among 680 Canadian towns of 5,600 to 10,700
| # | Place | People | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Household income | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Labrador City Newfoundland and Labrador | 7,965 | 79% | 5.5% | $146K | A+ |
| 2 | Silverwood Heights Saskatchewan | 8,153 | 81% | 5.8% | $118K | A+ |
| 3 | North River Heights Manitoba | 7,228 | 82% | 8.4% | $143K | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 6 | Sioux Lookout Ontario | 6,122 | 79% | 5.7% | $103K | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 18 | Alta Vista Ontario | 8,387 | 78% | 8.3% | $138K | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 24 | New Edinburgh Ontario | 5,728 | 79% | 7.4% | $126K | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 523 | Cumberland County, Subdivision C Nova Scotia | 6,040 | 69% | 12% | $69K | C |
| 524 | Fairview Ontario | 7,597 | 68% | 14% | $104K | C |
| 525 | Edwardsburgh/Cardinal Ontario | 7,952 | 73% | 9.3% | $85K | C |
| 526 | Ermineskin Alberta | 7,483 | 72% | 14% | $76K | C |
| 527 | Rockwood Manitoba | 9,180 | 66% | 5.5% | $101K | C |
| … | ||||||
| 680 | Chertsey Quebec | 5,678 | 64% | 8.6% | $58K | D− |
Ordered by Jobs & income Grade: the top three, the places either side of Cardinal, and others among Ontario’s towns.
Neighbouring places to Cardinal, compared
| Place | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Household income | Average trip | Jobs | Walk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cardinal | 73% | 9.3% | $85K | 30.8 min | C | C− |
| Prescott 13.9 km | 63% | 12% | $61K | 23.6 min | D | A− |
| Morrisburg 17.5 km | 72% | 10% | $78K | 31.6 min | C− | B |
| Augusta 18.8 km | 78% | 7.9% | $96K | 25.4 min | B+ | C− |
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 Cardinal, where it comes from, and what it leaves out.
- The Labour Force Survey. Statistics Canada’s monthly survey, published for metro areas and economic regions rather than towns: it gives a current rate beside the census’s 2021 one.
- 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. The share of people 15 and over in the labour force, working or looking for work, who had no job on census day in May 2021.
- 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.
- 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. Built from the census table that pairs each worker’s home municipality with their workplace municipality. A job here means someone who usually works in the municipality, local or not.
- 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. 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 Cardinal as part of Edwardsburgh/Cardinal, so every census figure on this page is the whole municipality’s.
Questions about work in Cardinal
What is the average household income in Cardinal?
At $84,500 before tax in 2020, the median household in Cardinal compares with $85,900 in the middle of Canadian towns.
How do people in Cardinal get to work?
96% of commuters drive, 2.2% walk; 18% of everyone in work worked at home on census day.
How long is the commute from Cardinal?
The average commute is 30.8 minutes; 25% of trips take under 15 minutes and 10% an hour or more.
Where do people in Cardinal work?
Only 24% work in Cardinal itself; the rest go first to Ottawa (430) and Brockville (345).
How many jobs are there in Cardinal?
The 2021 census found about 1,775 people with their usual workplace in Cardinal, or 0.8 for each resident who travels to a fixed job. In June 2026, 161 businesses with employees were on Statistics Canada’s count.
What is the unemployment rate in Cardinal?
In October 2026 the Labour Force Survey put the Ottawa economic region at 8%; the 2021 census, which counts the town itself, found 9.3%, 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, 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).