Photo: WabbitWanderer from London, Canada · CC BY-SA 2.0Most of Chapleau works close to home: 98% of commuters have their job there
Joblessness at the 2021 census: 6.9% of Chapleau’s labour force; the middle of Canadian towns is 9.9%. Commutes from Chapleau average 9.8 minutes, and 0% take an hour or more. The census counted 880 people working in Chapleau and 725 residents commuting to a fixed workplace.
What Chapleau’s work numbers say
Less unemployment than most towns
The Labour Force Survey had the area at 6% in October 2026; on census day in 2021 the town’s own rate was 6.9%, where the middle of Canadian towns had 9.9%. Unemployment ↓
A local job centre
880 people work in Chapleau and 725 residents commute to a fixed workplace; the middle of Canadian towns has 0.8 jobs per working resident. The daily tide ↓
Shorter trips than most towns
Commutes take 9.8 minutes on average, against 26 in the middle of Canadian towns; 0% 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.
On jobs and income, Chapleau grades A−
Better than 84% 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.
In Chapleau, 73% of the working-age population has a job
All 5 other places of 2,500 people or more in the Sudbury census division have a smaller share of 15-to-64s in work.
Counting retirees, 55% of everyone aged 15 and over was working. For the wider area, the Labour Force Survey had 56% in work in October 2026. Counting those looking for work too, 59% of people aged 15 and over were in the labour force. The census caught the labour market on 11 May 2021, deep in the pandemic, so unemployment and working from home both ran above normal.
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.
Workers pour into Chapleau: 20% more on a working day
For every resident who leaves Chapleau for work, about 11 people come in.
People with no fixed workplace are in neither count.
The length of the trip to work in Chapleau
In the middle of Ontario’s towns, the average commute is 28.6 minutes. A quarter-hour or less for 86% of commuters, against 31% in the middle of Ontario’s towns. Timed exactly, the average is 8.3 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.
170 people come into Chapleau to work, most from Sudbury, Unorganized, North Part and Greater Sudbury / Grand Sudbury
Of everyone working in Chapleau, 19% come in from elsewhere; 100 make the 190 km trip from Sudbury, Unorganized, North Part. Going the other way, Greater Sudbury / Grand Sudbury is the biggest single destination (15).
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census (98-10-0459): commuting flows between municipalities (census subdivisions), rounded to 5; linked names have their own pages.
Household income in Chapleau: $83,500 at the median
Before tax, 2020: higher than in 63% of Canadian towns.
No other place of 2,500 or more in the Sudbury census division has a higher median. Against the middle of Ontario’s towns ($91,600), Chapleau’s median is 9% below. Because 2020 was the first year of the pandemic, emergency benefits make up 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).
On foot, by bike, bus or train: 17% of Chapleau’s commuters
82% drive to work, fewer than the 88% in the middle of Ontario’s towns. Fewer worked at home than in the middle of Canadian towns: 5.6% against 21%. Hardly anyone takes transit to work, where the middle of Canadian towns has 3.5%.
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census: main mode of commuting; average durations by mode from table 98-10-0458 (whole municipalities only).
In the Sudbury census division, 7% more people receive EI than in 2019
The highest month was April 2021: 1,380 people, 2 times the 2019 level. That is about 5.4 people on EI for every 100 aged 15 to 64 in the division. Set against the same month a year before, the count in August 2026 rose by 3%.
Statistics Canada, Employment Insurance beneficiaries by census division (14-10-0323): all income benefits, not seasonally adjusted. Data for EI beneficiaries covers the Sudbury 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).
Chapleau earns A for walkability
Better than 93% of Canadian towns on two measures together.
OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL); active commuting from the 2021 Census.
Work in the places around Chapleau
Chapleau has few close neighbours with figures, so the list reaches 104–155 km out.
| Place | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Household income | Average trip | Jobs | Walk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chapleau | 73% | 6.9% | $84K | 9.8 min | A− | A |
| Wawa 104.3 km | 76% | 9.6% | $81K | 21.7 min | B+ | A |
| Algoma, Unorganized, North Part 130.6 km | 62% | 16% | $76K | 31.2 min | D | D |
| Garden River 14 155.3 km | 53% | 14% | $54K | 20.1 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 Chapleau, where it comes from, and what it leaves out.
- Unemployment. Unemployed people over the labour force (in work or looking), aged 15 and over, on census day.
- 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. 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. 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. Beneficiaries of Employment Insurance, month by month, for the census division rather than the town. Many jobless people don’t qualify, so it isn’t an unemployment rate.
- The Labour Force Survey. Monthly, and only for metro areas and economic regions. It is the up-to-date rate we set beside the census’s 2021 snapshot.
- 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. 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 Chapleau
How many jobs are there in Chapleau?
About 880 people had their usual place of work in Chapleau at the 2021 census, 1.2 for each working resident with a fixed workplace. Statistics Canada counted 69 businesses with employees in June 2026.
What is the unemployment rate in Chapleau?
The census put unemployment at 6.9% in May 2021, where the middle of Canadian towns was 9.9%. More recently, in October 2026, the Labour Force Survey had the Northeast economic region at 6%.
What is the average household income in Chapleau?
At $83,500 before tax in 2020, the median household in Chapleau compares with $85,900 in the middle of Canadian towns.
How do people in Chapleau get to work?
82% of commuters go by car, 17% walk. On census day 5.6% of everyone in work stayed home to work.
How long is the commute from Chapleau?
On average 9.8 minutes; 86% take under 15 minutes and 0% 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).