Photo: P199 · CC BY-SA 3.0Working-age people in Central Manitoulin have jobs less often than in 72% of Canadian towns
Joblessness at the 2021 census: 8.3% of Central Manitoulin’s labour force; the middle of Canadian towns is 9.9%. Before tax, the typical household in Central Manitoulin brought in $70,500 in 2020, next to $85,900 for the middle of Canadian towns. Most commutes from Central Manitoulin take well under an hour: the average is 23.7 minutes, and 9.6% take 60 minutes or longer.
Where Central Manitoulin stands out on work
Work near the middle
With 70% of its 15-to-64s in work in 2021, against 73% in the middle of Canadian towns, it has 43% of all adults employed. In work ↓
Lower incomes than most towns
Household income at the median was $70,500 in 2020, before tax; Canadian towns have $85,900 at the middle. Household income ↓
Written from the data on this page: Statistics Canada’s 2021 Census, its commuting tables, Employment Insurance and the Labour Force Survey.
On jobs and income, Central Manitoulin grades C
Better than 27% of Canadian towns on three measures together.
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.
How Central Manitoulin’s household incomes compare
Before tax, 2020: lower than in 65% of Canadian towns.
Central Manitoulin’s median is 23% below the middle of Ontario’s towns ($91,600). 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).
Each working day, more people leave Central Manitoulin for work than come in
Of those who commute, 55% stay within the municipality; the middle of Canadian towns is 70%.
People with no fixed workplace are in neither count.
45% of Central Manitoulin’s residents in work leave it to work; Gore Bay takes the most
- Little Current40
- Greater Sudbury / Grand Sudbury25
- Tehkummah20
- Billings15
- Gore Bay15
- M'Chigeeng 2215
- Assiginack10
- Gordon/Barrie Island10
- Gore Bay55
- Little Current30
- M'Chigeeng 2230
- Greater Sudbury / Grand Sudbury25
- Assiginack15
- Manitoulin, Unorganized, West Part15
- Tehkummah10
- Billings10
In the other direction the biggest source is Little Current, with 40.
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census (98-10-0459): commuting flows between municipalities (census subdivisions), rounded to 5; linked names have their own pages.
Central Manitoulin at work: 70% of people aged 15 to 64
In October 2026, 56% of the wider area’s adults had a job, on the Labour Force Survey’s count. Participation, the share of residents 15 and over working or looking for work, came to 47%. Take in all adults, retirees with them, and only 43% were working. The census was taken on 11 May 2021, mid-pandemic, when lockdowns had pushed unemployment up and sent many to work from home.
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 Central Manitoulin’s commuters get to work
Transit barely figures here, against 3.5% in the middle of Canadian towns. Nearly everyone drives: 94% of commuters go by car, truck or van. Working at home: 25% here, 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).
Time on the road to work from Central Manitoulin
A quarter-hour or less for 50% of commuters, against 31% in the middle of Ontario’s towns. Statistics Canada’s own average, timed exactly rather than by band, is 21.8 minutes. 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.
10% fewer people are on EI in the Manitoulin census division than in 2019
March 2021 was the busiest month, with 940 people on EI, 2.1 times 2019’s average. Roughly 4.4 in every 100 people aged 15 to 64 in the division draw EI. Over the year to August 2026, the count rose by 21%.
Statistics Canada, Employment Insurance beneficiaries by census division (14-10-0323): all income benefits, not seasonally adjusted. EI beneficiaries: one figure for all of the Manitoulin 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).
Central Manitoulin grades C for walkability
Better than 27% of Canadian towns on two measures together.
OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL); active commuting from the 2021 Census.
How the places next to Central Manitoulin compare on work
Central Manitoulin has few close neighbours with figures, so the list reaches 29–46 km out.
| Place | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Household income | Average trip | Jobs | Walk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Central Manitoulin | 70% | 8.3% | $71K | 23.7 min | C | C |
| Assiginack 29.1 km | 75% | 5.3% | $72K | 26.4 min | C | C+ |
| Little Current 34 km | 78% | 10% | $76K | 25 min | B− | A− |
| Wikwemikong Unceded 37.1 km | 47% | 14% | $49K | 13.7 min | C− | B+ |
| Sagamok 46.1 km | 43% | 13% | $53K | 22.5 min | D | 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 Central Manitoulin, where it comes from, and what it leaves out.
- Unemployment. The census-week jobless rate for residents 15 and over. Its base is the labour force, those employed plus those actively looking.
- 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. One way, on a usual day, from the census’s travel-time bands. Band midpoints overstate it a little next to the figure Statistics Canada times.
- 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. 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.
- Which towns we compare. Comparisons are with the median of Canadian towns and city neighbourhoods counting 2,500 people or more, reserves and entire cities excluded.
Questions about work in Central Manitoulin
What is the average household income in Central Manitoulin?
Central Manitoulin’s middle household had $70,500 in 2020, before tax; Canadian towns have $85,900 at their middle.
How do people in Central Manitoulin get to work?
By car: 94% of commuters, 4.8% walk; on census day 25% of those in work worked from home.
How long is the commute from Central Manitoulin?
23.7 minutes is the average trip, with 50% of commuters there in under 15 minutes and 9.6% taking an hour or more.
Where do people in Central Manitoulin work?
55% work in Central Manitoulin itself; of those who leave, the most go to Gore Bay (55), then Little Current (30).
How many jobs are there in Central Manitoulin?
The 2021 census counted about 430 people working in Central Manitoulin: 0.9 jobs for every resident who commutes to a fixed workplace. In June 2026, 95 businesses with employees were on Statistics Canada’s count.
What is the unemployment rate in Central Manitoulin?
At the 2021 census 8.3% of the labour force had no job and was looking (9.9% in the middle of Canadian towns). The latest monthly survey, for the Northeast economic region, gives 6% in October 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).