Photo: Paul Vincent Dimaranan · CC BY 3.0Households in Carling have higher incomes than those in 66% of Canadian towns
When the 2021 census was taken, 7.1% of people in Carling who wanted a job had none, next to 9.9% for the middle of Canadian towns. Most commutes from Carling take well under an hour: the average is 28.6 minutes, and 10% take 60 minutes or longer. 74% of people aged 15 to 64 in Carling had a job at the 2021 census, against 73% in the middle of Canadian towns.
Carling and work: the main findings
Work near the middle
74% of people aged 15 to 64 had a job at the 2021 census, against 73% in the middle of Canadian towns; counting everyone 15 and over, retirees included, it was 49%. In work ↓
Less unemployment than most towns
Unemployment was 7.1% at the 2021 census, against 9.9% in the middle of Canadian towns. The Labour Force Survey for the wider area read 6% in October 2026. Unemployment ↓
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 Carling: graded C+
Better than 39% of Canadian towns on three measures together.
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.
Work and the working-age population of Carling
Of the 7 other places of 2,500 people or more in the Parry Sound census division, 5 have a smaller share of 15-to-64s in work.
Many residents are past working age, so among everyone 15 and over the share in work drops to 49%. By October 2026, the Labour Force Survey had 56% of the wider area’s adults in work. Counting those looking for work too, 53% of people aged 15 and over were in the labour force. Pandemic rules were in force on census day, 11 May 2021; the Labour Force Survey shows how jobs have moved since.
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.
100% of Carling’s residents in work leave it to work; Parry Sound takes the most
No other place sends enough people to work in Carling to be counted.
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census (98-10-0459): commuting flows between municipalities (census subdivisions), rounded to 5; linked names have their own pages.
Median household income in Carling: $85,000 in 2020
Of the 7 other places of 2,500 or more in the Parry Sound census division, 2 have a higher median. Set beside Ontario’s towns, where the median is $91,600, Carling sits 7% below. Pandemic support paid in 2020, CERB first among it, is part of these before-tax incomes.
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, 0% of Carling’s commuters get to work
Transit barely figures here, against 3.5% in the middle of Canadian towns. Nearly everyone drives: 98% of commuters go by car, truck or van. Home was the workplace for 16%, under the 21% in the middle of Canadian towns.
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census: main mode of commuting; average durations by mode from table 98-10-0458 (whole municipalities only).
The length of the trip to work in Carling
Only 17% get to work within a quarter-hour, against 31% in the middle of Ontario’s towns. Timed exactly, the average is 28.1 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.
About as many people are on EI in the Parry Sound census division as in 2019
February 2021 was the busiest month, with 3,090 people on EI, 2.1 times 2019’s average. Per 100 residents aged 15 to 64, about 4 receive EI. Over the year to August 2026, the count fell 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). Carling shares its EI beneficiaries numbers with the rest of the Parry Sound census division.
On getting around on foot, Carling grades D−
Better than 2% of Canadian towns on two measures together.
OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL); active commuting from the 2021 Census.
The places around Carling, side by side
| Place | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Household income | Average trip | Jobs | Walk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Carling | 74% | 7.1% | $85K | 28.6 min | C+ | D− |
| McDougall 14.1 km | 82% | 9.6% | $93K | 20.7 min | A+ | D |
| Parry Sound 17.4 km | 72% | 9.5% | $63K | 17.4 min | C+ | A+ |
| The Archipelago 18.4 km | 81% | 8.2% | $84K | 22.7 min | A | 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 Carling, 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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.
- 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 Carling
Where do people in Carling work?
0% work in Carling itself. Of those who leave, the most go to Parry Sound (260), then McDougall (80).
What is the unemployment rate in Carling?
The 2021 census found 7.1% 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 Carling?
Before tax, half the households in Carling had more than $85,000 in 2020; the middle of Canadian towns is $85,900.
How do people in Carling get to work?
98% of commuters go by car. On census day 16% of everyone in work stayed home to work.
How long is the commute from Carling?
On average 28.6 minutes; 17% take under 15 minutes and 10% take 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).