Photo: Hearst1958 · CC BY-SA 4.0Hearst has a larger share of its working-age people in jobs than 60% of Canadian towns
8.6% of the labour force in Hearst was out of work at the 2021 census; the middle of Canadian towns is 9.9%. Workers in Hearst spend 14.5 minutes on the way to work on average, and 6.8% need an hour or more. In 2020, a household at the middle of Hearst had $76,200 before tax, against $85,900 in the middle of Canadian towns.
What Hearst’s work numbers say
A local job centre
With 2,210 jobs based in Hearst and 1,855 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 14.5 minutes (26 in the middle of Canadian towns), and 6.8% 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.
Jobs & income in Hearst: graded A−
Better than 85% of Canadian towns on three measures together, #64 of 866 in Ontario.
Its strongest measure is trip times; its weakest, household income.
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.
Each working day, Hearst’s workforce swells by 18%
For every resident who leaves Hearst for work, about 3 people come in. Of those who commute, 91% stay within the municipality; the middle of Canadian towns is 70%.
People with no fixed workplace are in neither count.
Time on the road to work from Hearst
Statistics Canada’s own average, timed exactly rather than by band, is 14.4 minutes. The middle of Ontario’s towns averages 28.6 minutes. Trips under 15 minutes: 82%, 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.
528 people come into Hearst to work, most from Cochrane, Unorganized, North Part and Mattice-Val Côté
- Cochrane, Unorganized, North Part330
- Mattice-Val Côté110
- Factory Island 120
- Constance Lake 9215
- Kapuskasing10
- Opasatika10
- New Post 69A10
- Constance Lake 9255
- Cochrane50
- Kapuskasing20
- Hornepayne15
- Cochrane, Unorganized, North Part10
24% of the people who work in Hearst live outside it, 330 of them in Cochrane, Unorganized, North Part, 168 km away. Going the other way, Constance Lake 92 is the biggest single destination (55).
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census (98-10-0459): commuting flows between municipalities (census subdivisions), rounded to 5; linked names have their own pages.
The share of 15-to-64s in work in Hearst: 77%
All 6 other places of 2,500 people or more in the Cochrane census division have a smaller share of 15-to-64s in work.
A more recent figure, for the wider area: 56% in work in October 2026, by the Labour Force Survey. The participation rate, everyone 15 and over working or looking for work, was 62%. Across all ages 15 and over the share in work falls to 57%: many residents are past working age. May 2021, when the census was taken, was a pandemic spring; unemployment has come down since, as the Labour Force Survey records.
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.
Earnings at home in Hearst: households
Before tax, 2020: lower than in 52% of Canadian towns.
The middle of Ontario’s towns is $91,600, and Hearst is 17% below it. Of the 6 other places of 2,500 or more in the Cochrane census division, 2 have a higher median. Pandemic benefits paid in 2020 lifted the incomes at the bottom, and they are counted here.
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census: median total income of households in 2020, before tax (a neighbourhood’s estimated from its dissemination areas’ income groups).
12% of commuters in Hearst walk, cycle or take transit
Driving to work is about as common as in the middle of Ontario’s towns, at 87%. Transit takes 0.9% 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: 9.4% against 3.2%.
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census: main mode of commuting; average durations by mode from table 98-10-0458 (whole municipalities only).
12% fewer people are on EI in the Cochrane census division than in 2019
For each 100 residents of working age in the division, about 4.7 are on EI. Compared with a year earlier, the count in August 2026 fell by 3%. At its peak, in July 2021, 4,270 people were on EI, 2 times the 2019 average.
Statistics Canada, Employment Insurance beneficiaries by census division (14-10-0323): all income benefits, not seasonally adjusted. Data for EI beneficiaries covers the Cochrane 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).
Walking in Hearst earns A−
Better than 75% of Canadian towns on two measures together, #533 of 866 in Ontario.
OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL); active commuting from the 2021 Census.
Among Canadian towns of 3,500 to 6,800, Hearst ranks 104th of 739 for jobs and income
| # | Place | People | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Household income | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cornwallis Manitoba | 4,705 | 85% | 2.1% | $99K | A+ |
| 2 | New Maryland New Brunswick | 4,455 | 81% | 6.5% | $118K | A+ |
| 3 | South Tuxedo Manitoba | 3,629 | 85% | 6.8% | $110K | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 5 | Sioux Lookout Ontario | 6,122 | 79% | 5.7% | $103K | A+ |
| 6 | Red Lake Ontario | 4,285 | 77% | 5.1% | $111K | A+ |
| 7 | Perth South Ontario | 4,055 | 87% | 7.3% | $102K | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 102 | Cumberland British Columbia | 4,974 | 80% | 8.2% | $86K | A |
| 103 | Charleswood Alberta | 5,642 | 73% | 15% | $116K | A− |
| 104 | Hearst Ontario | 5,032 | 77% | 8.6% | $76K | A− |
| 105 | Fraipont Manitoba | 4,221 | 79% | 5% | $133K | A− |
| 106 | Saint-Maurice Quebec | 3,804 | 83% | 5.5% | $83K | A− |
| … | ||||||
| 739 | Chertsey Quebec | 5,678 | 64% | 8.6% | $58K | D− |
Ordered by Jobs & income Grade: the top three, the places either side of Hearst, and others among Ontario’s towns.
Next to Hearst: how nearby places compare
No closer places have figures: these lie 95–113 km from Hearst.
| Place | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Household income | Average trip | Jobs | Walk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hearst | 77% | 8.6% | $76K | 14.5 min | A− | A− |
| Kapuskasing 95.3 km | 68% | 7.7% | $69K | 14.8 min | C+ | A |
| Hornepayne 96.2 km | 67% | 8.2% | $104K | 10.8 min | A | A− |
| Moonbeam 113 km | 56% | 15% | $91K | 24.4 min | C | B− |
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 Hearst, where it comes from, and what it leaves out.
- 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. Counts of workers with a fixed workplace, by where they live and where they work, both taken as whole municipalities; the jobs figure takes everyone who works here, wherever home is.
- Employment Insurance. People receiving EI benefits each month, counted for the census division. It follows the local job market; it isn’t an unemployment rate.
- 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. Working residents per resident of working age (15 to 64), from the 2021 Census.
- Unemployment. It counts only people who wanted work and had none in May 2021, as a share of those working or searching; students and retirees who weren’t looking stay out of both sides.
- 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.
- Which towns we compare. Any town of 2,500 or more counts, and so does any city neighbourhood that size; the city as a whole and First Nations reserves don’t. The middle is the median.
Questions about work in Hearst
What is the unemployment rate in Hearst?
Two figures answer it: 8.6% on census day in May 2021 (9.9% in the middle of Canadian towns), and 6% for the Northeast economic region in the Labour Force Survey of October 2026.
What is the average household income in Hearst?
At $76,200 before tax in 2020, the median household in Hearst compares with $85,900 in the middle of Canadian towns.
How do people in Hearst get to work?
Driving takes 87% of commuters to work, 0.9% take public transit, 9.4% walk and 1.4% cycle, and on census day 6.8% of those in work were at home.
How long is the commute from Hearst?
About 14.5 minutes on average, with 82% under a quarter-hour and 6.8% at an hour or longer.
Where do people in Hearst work?
91% work in Hearst itself; of those who leave, the most go to Constance Lake 92 (55), then Cochrane (50).
How many jobs are there in Hearst?
Some 2,210 people worked in Hearst at the 2021 census: 1.2 jobs per working resident with a fixed workplace. Statistics Canada counted 232 businesses with employees in June 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).