Carpenter has higher household incomes than 97% of Canadian towns
Joblessness at the 2021 census: 9.6% of Carpenter’s labour force; the middle of Canadian towns is 9.9%. Commutes from Carpenter average 27 minutes, against 26 in the middle of Canadian towns. In Carpenter, 63% of residents aged 15 to 64 were working in May 2021, and the middle of Canadian towns sits at 73%.
Work in Carpenter: the figures worth knowing
Fewer people in work than most towns
In work at the 2021 census: 63% of people aged 15 to 64, against 73% in the middle of Canadian towns, and 59% of everyone 15 and over. In work ↓
Higher incomes than most towns
The median household had $121,600 before tax in 2020; the middle of Canadian towns is $85,900. 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, Carpenter grades C+
Better than 41% of Canadian towns on three measures together, #406 of 866 in Ontario.
Its strongest measure is household income; 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 and out of work in Carpenter
Of the 105 other places of 2,500 people or more in the Hamilton census division, 20 have a smaller share of 15-to-64s in work.
A more recent figure, for the wider area: 61% in work in October 2026, by the Labour Force Survey. Working or looking, 66% of everyone 15 and over was 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.
What households earned in Carpenter: $121,600 in 2020
That puts Carpenter 33% above the median of Ontario’s towns, $91,600. Of the 105 other places of 2,500 or more in the Hamilton census division, 17 have a higher median. Read the incomes as 2020’s, before tax: pandemic benefits such as CERB are in them, and they raised many low incomes for that year.
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census: median total income of households in 2020, before tax (a neighbourhood’s estimated from its dissemination areas’ income groups).
Carpenter gets to work without a car for 3.7% of commuters
Nearly everyone drives: 95% of commuters go by car, truck or van. Home was the workplace for 24%, where the middle of Canadian towns has 21%. Few ride transit: 2.1%, 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 Hamilton census division, 38% more people receive EI than in 2019
The highest month was January 2021: 30,560 people, 3.3 times the 2019 level. Roughly 4.1 in every 100 people aged 15 to 64 in the division draw EI. Over the year to August 2026, the count rose by 1%.
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). Carpenter doesn’t get its own EI beneficiaries figures; the ones here come from the Hamilton census division.
The Walkability grade for Carpenter: B
Better than 60% of Canadian towns on two measures together, #618 of 866 in Ontario.
OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL); active commuting from the 2021 Census.
How Carpenter ranks: 335th of 578 Canadian towns of 2,500 to 4,000
| # | Place | People | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Household income | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Upper Mount Royal Alberta | 2,758 | 83% | 12% | $188K | A+ |
| 2 | Central River Heights Manitoba | 2,736 | 84% | 5.4% | $137K | A+ |
| 3 | Crescentwood Manitoba | 3,060 | 87% | 5% | $123K | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 23 | McDougall Ontario | 3,002 | 82% | 9.6% | $93K | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 33 | Adelaide-Metcalfe Ontario | 3,196 | 86% | 5.9% | $107K | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 35 | Enniskillen Ontario | 3,174 | 82% | 5.2% | $105K | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 333 | Gilkson Ontario | 2,963 | 71% | 13% | $96K | C+ |
| 334 | Talbot-Grey Manitoba | 2,756 | 76% | 10% | $68K | C+ |
| 335 | Carpenter Ontario | 2,941 | 63% | 9.6% | $122K | C+ |
| 336 | Elmwood Alberta | 2,522 | 63% | 18% | $91K | C+ |
| 337 | Magrath Alberta | 2,566 | 66% | 8.7% | $87K | C+ |
| … | ||||||
| 578 | Division No. 8, Subdivision L Newfoundland and Labrador | 2,724 | 43% | 30% | $51K | D− |
Ordered by Jobs & income Grade: the top three, the places either side of Carpenter, and others among Ontario’s towns.
Neighbouring places to Carpenter, compared
| Place | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Household income | Average trip | Jobs | Walk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Carpenter | 63% | 9.6% | $122K | 27 min | C+ | B |
| Falkirk East 0.9 km | 74% | 12% | $123K | 26.9 min | B | A− |
| Lampman 1.4 km | 65% | 13% | $129K | 30.2 min | C | B |
| Gilkson 1.7 km | 71% | 13% | $96K | 27.9 min | C+ | A− |
| Gurnett 1.9 km | 69% | 12% | $108K | 28.5 min | C+ | A− |
| Gourley 2.3 km | 67% | 13% | $117K | 24.8 min | B− | A− |
| Fessenden 2.7 km | 70% | 12% | $88K | 26.3 min | C+ | A |
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 Carpenter, 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. We divide the number of employed residents by the number aged 15 to 64. Workers past 64 still count on top, because the 2021 Census crosses work with age only for whole municipalities; in return, a retirement town’s pensioners don’t drag the rate down.
- 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. 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- Neighbourhood figures. We add up Carpenter’s dissemination areas for its census figures. Flows between places and timed averages exist only for the whole municipality: see Hamilton’s page.
Questions about work in Carpenter
What is the unemployment rate in Carpenter?
Two figures answer it: 9.6% on census day in May 2021 (9.9% in the middle of Canadian towns), and 7.6% for the Hamilton metro area in the Labour Force Survey of October 2026.
What is the average household income in Carpenter?
Carpenter’s middle household had $121,600 in 2020, before tax; Canadian towns have $85,900 at their middle.
How do people in Carpenter get to work?
95% of commuters drive, 2.1% take public transit and 1.6% walk; 24% of everyone in work worked at home on census day.
How many jobs are there in Carpenter?
Jobs and commuting flows exist only for Hamilton as a whole, and its page carries them.
Sources: Statistics Canada, 2021 Census of Population (Census Profile) · 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).