Photo: Unknown author Unknown author · Public domainCornwall has a smaller share of its working-age people in jobs than 89% of Canadian towns
An hour or more each way is the commute for 5.9% of workers in Cornwall; the average is 18.2 minutes. Before tax, the typical household in Cornwall brought in $60,200 in 2020; the middle of Canadian towns is $85,900. When the 2021 census was taken, 12% of people in Cornwall who wanted a job had none, next to 9.9% for the middle of Canadian towns.
Cornwall and work: the main findings
Fewer people in work than most towns
63% 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 46%. In work ↓
Lower incomes than most towns
At $60,200 before tax in 2020, the median household compares with $85,900 in the middle of Canadian towns. Household income ↓
A local job centre
16,575 people work in Cornwall and 13,415 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 18.2 minutes on average, against 26 in the middle of Canadian towns; 5.9% 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.
Cornwall earns C− for jobs and income
Better than 21% of Canadian towns on three measures together, #640 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.
In Cornwall, 63% of the working-age population has a job
None of the 6 other places of 2,500 people or more in the Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry census division has a smaller share of 15-to-64s in work.
An older population pulls the all-ages rate down: 46% of residents 15 and over were in work. For the wider area, the Labour Force Survey had 59% in work in October 2026. Participation, the share of residents 15 and over working or looking for work, came to 52%. 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.
How Cornwall’s household incomes compare
Before tax, 2020: lower than in 88% of Canadian towns.
Every other place of 2,500 or more in the Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry census division has a higher median. Against the middle of Ontario’s towns ($91,600), Cornwall’s median is 34% below. That year, 2020, brought emergency benefits that count in these totals, before tax.
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census: median total income of households in 2020, before tax (a neighbourhood’s estimated from its dissemination areas’ income groups).
Workers pour into Cornwall: 20% more on a working day
For every resident who leaves Cornwall for work, about 2 people come in. The job is inside the municipality for 81% of its commuters (70% in the middle of Canadian towns).
People with no fixed workplace are in neither count.
The length of the trip to work in Cornwall
Timed exactly, the average is 16.3 minutes (Statistics Canada). The middle of Ontario’s towns averages 28.6 minutes. Trips under 15 minutes: 60%, more than the 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.
5,749 people come into Cornwall to work, most from Long Sault and South Glengarry
- Long Sault2,440
- South Glengarry1,820
- North Stormont300
- Alexandria245
- Morrisburg175
- Ottawa165
- Limoges85
- Winchester50
- Montréal45
- Saint-Zotique30
- Long Sault705
- South Glengarry455
- Ottawa345
- Kingston145
- Alexandria135
- Morrisburg100
- North Stormont80
- Montréal55
- Embrun45
- Larouche40
Of everyone working in Cornwall, 35% come in from elsewhere; 2,440 make the 16 km trip from Long Sault. Going the other way, Long Sault is the biggest single destination (705).
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census (98-10-0459): commuting flows between municipalities (census subdivisions), rounded to 5; linked names have their own pages.
9.4% of commuters from Cornwall go without a car
By car, truck or van: 88% of commuters, much as in the middle of Ontario’s towns. By bus, train or subway: 3%, much as in the middle of Canadian towns. The middle of Ontario’s towns has 3.2% walking; here, 5.4% do.
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census: main mode of commuting; average durations by mode from table 98-10-0458 (whole municipalities only).
In the Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry census division, 29% more people receive EI than in 2019
Over the year to August 2026, the count rose by 4%. In January 2021 it reached 6,180, the most in the series and 2.5 times the 2019 average. For each 100 residents of working age in the division, about 4.9 are on EI.
Statistics Canada, Employment Insurance beneficiaries by census division (14-10-0323): all income benefits, not seasonally adjusted. EI beneficiaries: the Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry 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).
Cornwall earns A for walkability
Better than 90% of Canadian towns on two measures together, #395 of 866 in Ontario.
OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL); active commuting from the 2021 Census.
Cornwall is 66th of 76 Canadian towns of 38,000 to 73,400 people for jobs and income
| # | Place | People | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Household income | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Boucherville Quebec | 41,910 | 82% | 5.2% | $111K | A |
| 2 | Langford British Columbia | 59,664 | 81% | 6.2% | $93K | A |
| 3 | Grande Prairie Alberta | 71,160 | 73% | 12% | $103K | A |
| … | ||||||
| 11 | Brant Ontario | 45,565 | 78% | 8.8% | $107K | B+ |
| … | ||||||
| 16 | Lakeshore Ontario | 45,954 | 71% | 13% | $114K | B+ |
| … | ||||||
| 19 | Timmins Ontario | 45,569 | 71% | 8.6% | $82K | B |
| … | ||||||
| 64 | Georgina Ontario | 53,630 | 72% | 11% | $98K | C |
| 65 | Pierrefonds-Est Quebec | 38,928 | 73% | 11% | $81K | C |
| 66 | Cornwall Ontario | 54,346 | 63% | 12% | $60K | C− |
| 67 | Shawinigan Quebec | 51,739 | 71% | 7.5% | $54K | C− |
| 68 | Welland Ontario | 66,480 | 65% | 15% | $72K | C− |
| … | ||||||
| 76 | Port-Maurice Quebec | 45,720 | 69% | 12% | $69K | D |
Ordered by Jobs & income Grade: the top three, the places either side of Cornwall, and others among Ontario’s towns.
How Cornwall compares with the places nearby
| Place | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Household income | Average trip | Jobs | Walk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cornwall | 63% | 12% | $60K | 18.2 min | C− | A |
| Akwesasne (Part) 59 2.6 km | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Akwesasne 14.1 km | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| South Glengarry 14.8 km | 79% | 8.6% | $91K | 25.8 min | A− | C− |
| Long Sault 15.7 km | 78% | 6.8% | $92K | 26.6 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 Cornwall, where it comes from, and what it leaves out.
- 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. People in work of any age over residents aged 15 to 64 (2021 Census). The census doesn’t cross work with age below the municipality, so this is the one rate every town and neighbourhood has; retirees don’t weigh on it.
- 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. 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. Commuters picked a band for their usual trip (under 15 minutes, 15 to 29, and so on). We place each person at the middle of their band, which lands a little above Statistics Canada’s own 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.
- Which towns we compare. Towns and city neighbourhoods of 2,500 people or more, never a whole city and never a First Nations reserve. Middles are medians.
Questions about work in Cornwall
What is the average household income in Cornwall?
Before tax, half the households in Cornwall had more than $60,200 in 2020; the middle of Canadian towns is $85,900.
How do people in Cornwall get to work?
88% of commuters go by car, 3% take public transit, 5.4% walk and 1% cycle. On census day 12% of everyone in work stayed home to work.
How long is the commute from Cornwall?
On average 18.2 minutes; 60% take under 15 minutes and 5.9% take an hour or longer.
Where do people in Cornwall work?
81% work in Cornwall itself; of those who leave, the most go to Long Sault (705), then South Glengarry (455).
How many jobs are there in Cornwall?
About 16,575 people had their usual place of work in Cornwall at the 2021 census, 1.2 for each working resident with a fixed workplace. Statistics Canada counted 1,231 businesses with employees in June 2026.
What is the unemployment rate in Cornwall?
The 2021 census found 12% unemployed, against 9.9% in the middle of Canadian towns; the Labour Force Survey’s latest, for the Ottawa economic region, is 8% (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).