Photo: Drozwik Drones · CC BY 3.0Working-age people in Cobourg have jobs less often than in 73% of Canadian towns
Half the households in Cobourg had more than $77,200 in 2020, before tax; the middle of Canadian towns is $85,900. Jobs located in Cobourg: 8,100, for 5,280 residents with a usual workplace. Most commutes from Cobourg take well under an hour: the average is 22 minutes, and 7.4% take 60 minutes or longer.
What stands out about work in Cobourg
A local job centre
With 8,100 jobs based in Cobourg and 5,280 working residents, the ratio compares with 0.8 in the middle of Canadian towns. The daily tide ↓
Shorter trips than most towns
The average trip to work is 22 minutes (26 in the middle of Canadian towns), and 7.4% last an hour or longer. 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, Cobourg grades C+
Better than 42% of Canadian towns on three measures together, #395 of 866 in Ontario.
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.
Workers pour into Cobourg: 42% more on a working day
5,280 residents of Cobourg had a usual place of work at the 2021 census, and 8,100 people had theirs in Cobourg, wherever they lived.
Cobourg takes in some 2 workers for every resident it sends out. 60% 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.
22 minutes from Cobourg to work, under the middle of Canadian towns
Statistics Canada’s own average, timed exactly rather than by band, is 20.5 minutes. The middle of Ontario’s towns averages 28.6 minutes. A quarter-hour or less for 54% of commuters, 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.
4,911 people come into Cobourg to work, most from Hamilton and Port Hope
- Hamilton1,325
- Port Hope830
- Alnwick/Haldimand680
- Colborne385
- Bowmanville255
- Brighton230
- Quinte West160
- Peterborough140
- Oshawa140
- Campbellford135
- Port Hope620
- Bowmanville220
- Hamilton155
- Toronto140
- Whitby125
- Oshawa120
- Peterborough100
- Alnwick/Haldimand85
- Pickering70
- Stirling45
61% of the people who work in Cobourg live outside it, 1,325 of them in Hamilton, 9 km away. Going the other way, Port Hope is the biggest single destination (620).
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 Cobourg work and where people who work there live, the ten largest each way.
In Cobourg, 70% of the working-age population has a job
Of the 6 other places of 2,500 people or more in the Northumberland census division, one has a smaller share of 15-to-64s in work.
A more recent figure, for the wider area: 53% in work in October 2026, by the Labour Force Survey. The participation rate, everyone 15 and over working or looking for work, was 51%. Take in all adults, retirees with them, and only 45% were working. Statistics Canada counted on 11 May 2021, with much of the country under pandemic rules: more people were out of work or at home than usual.
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.
Household income in Cobourg
Before tax, 2020: higher than in 50% of Canadian towns.
Cobourg’s median is 16% below the middle of Ontario’s towns ($91,600). Of the 6 other places of 2,500 or more in the Northumberland census division, 5 have a higher median. In 2020 emergency benefits topped up many low incomes, and the census counts them here.
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census: median total income of households in 2020, before tax (a neighbourhood’s estimated from its dissemination areas’ income groups).
Walking, cycling or transit: 9.9% of Cobourg’s commuters
Fewer worked at home than in the middle of Canadian towns: 19% against 21%. Transit takes 1.1% of commuters, against 3.5% in the middle of Canadian towns. More people walk to work here than in the middle of Ontario’s towns: 7.9% against 3.2%. By car, truck or van: 89% of commuters, much as in the middle of Ontario’s towns.
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.
EI claims in the Northumberland census division run 29% above their 2019 level
Compared with a year earlier, the count in August 2026 rose by 1%. The count topped out in April 2021 at 4,180 people, 2.8 times the 2019 average. Per 100 residents aged 15 to 64, about 4.2 receive EI.
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 Northumberland 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).
Cobourg grades A for walkability
Better than 90% of Canadian towns on two measures together, #391 of 866 in Ontario.
OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL); active commuting from the 2021 Census.
Cobourg next to Canadian towns of 15,800 to 30,400: 185th of 384 on jobs and income
| # | Place | People | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Household income | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Yellowknife Northwest Territories | 22,858 | 80% | 5.8% | $148K | A+ |
| 2 | Central Saanich British Columbia | 18,184 | 85% | 4.9% | $103K | A+ |
| 3 | Cap-Rouge Quebec | 17,139 | 81% | 4.3% | $126K | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 15 | Wilmot Ontario | 22,890 | 81% | 6.8% | $115K | A |
| … | ||||||
| 23 | North Perth Ontario | 18,168 | 83% | 5.7% | $84K | A |
| 24 | Kenora Ontario | 15,892 | 76% | 7.2% | $86K | A |
| … | ||||||
| 183 | St.Andrew-Windfields Ontario | 17,005 | 71% | 11% | $123K | C+ |
| 184 | Essex Ontario | 23,872 | 70% | 13% | $87K | C+ |
| 185 | Cobourg Ontario | 22,529 | 70% | 12% | $77K | C+ |
| 186 | Eringate-Centennial-West Deane Ontario | 18,501 | 72% | 13% | $112K | C+ |
| 187 | Islington Ontario | 23,659 | 72% | 13% | $106K | C+ |
| … | ||||||
| 384 | Parc-Extension Quebec | 29,066 | 61% | 16% | $48K | D− |
Ordered by Jobs & income Grade: the top three, the places either side of Cobourg, and others among Ontario’s towns.
The work picture around Cobourg
| Place | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Household income | Average trip | Jobs | Walk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cobourg | 70% | 12% | $77K | 22 min | C+ | A |
| Hamilton 9.5 km | 76% | 11% | $106K | 28.9 min | B | D |
| Port Hope 10.8 km | 71% | 11% | $88K | 28.7 min | C | B |
| Alnwick/Haldimand 14.8 km | 75% | 12% | $103K | 33.3 min | C+ | D |
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 Cobourg, where it comes from, and what it leaves out.
- 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. 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.
- Unemployment. Of everyone 15 or older who was working or job-hunting in the census week, the part still looking. Someone not seeking work isn’t in it at all.
- 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. 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. Statistics Canada counts EI beneficiaries each month by census division. Seasonal work makes it swing, so read it as a trend, not a jobless rate.
- 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 Cobourg
How do people in Cobourg get to work?
Driving takes 89% of commuters to work, 1.1% take public transit, 7.9% walk and 0.9% cycle, and on census day 19% of those in work were at home.
How long is the commute from Cobourg?
About 22 minutes on average, with 54% under a quarter-hour and 7.4% at an hour or longer.
Where do people in Cobourg work?
60% work in Cobourg itself; of those who leave, the most go to Port Hope (620), then Bowmanville (220).
How many jobs are there in Cobourg?
Some 8,100 people worked in Cobourg at the 2021 census: 1.5 jobs per working resident with a fixed workplace. Statistics Canada counted 792 businesses with employees in June 2026.
What is the unemployment rate in Cobourg?
The 2021 census found 12% unemployed, against 9.9% in the middle of Canadian towns; the Labour Force Survey’s latest, for the Muskoka-Kawarthas economic region, is 5.1% (October 2026).
What is the average household income in Cobourg?
Cobourg’s middle household had $77,200 in 2020, before tax; Canadian towns have $85,900 at their middle.
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).