Photo: P199 · CC BY-SA 3.0Fewer of Kapuskasing’s 15-to-64s are in work than in 79% of Canadian towns
Before tax, the typical household in Kapuskasing brought in $68,500 in 2020, next to $85,900 for the middle of Canadian towns. Commutes from Kapuskasing average 14.8 minutes, and 6.7% take an hour or more. Joblessness at the 2021 census: 7.7% of Kapuskasing’s labour force; the middle of Canadian towns is 9.9%.
Kapuskasing and work: the main findings
Fewer people in work than most towns
Of residents aged 15 to 64, 68% held a job in 2021; the middle of Canadian towns is 73%, and over all adults the share is 49%. In work ↓
Lower incomes than most towns
Half the households here had more than $68,500 in 2020, against $85,900 in the middle of Canadian towns. Household income ↓
A local job centre
2,975 people work in Kapuskasing and 2,580 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 14.8 minutes on average, against 26 in the middle of Canadian towns; 6.7% 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.
Kapuskasing grades C+ for jobs and income
Better than 43% of Canadian towns on three measures together, #371 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.
How many in Kapuskasing have a job: 68% of 15-to-64s
Of the 6 other places of 2,500 people or more in the Cochrane census division, 2 have a smaller share of 15-to-64s in work.
The monthly Labour Force Survey, which covers the wider area, put its employment rate at 56% in October 2026. The labour force, people 15 and over with a job or seeking one, took in 53% of residents that age. Across all ages 15 and over the share in work falls to 49%: many residents are past working age. 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.
Earnings at home in Kapuskasing: households
Before tax, 2020: lower than in 70% of Canadian towns.
That puts Kapuskasing 25% below the median of Ontario’s towns, $91,600. Every other place of 2,500 or more in the Cochrane census division has a higher median. The year is 2020: emergency benefits like CERB count in these incomes, and they raised the bottom of the range.
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census: median total income of households in 2020, before tax (a neighbourhood’s estimated from its dissemination areas’ income groups).
On a working day Kapuskasing gains 14% in workers
For every resident who leaves Kapuskasing for work, about 3 people come in. 90% 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.
The length of the trip to work in Kapuskasing
The middle of Ontario’s towns averages 28.6 minutes. Statistics Canada’s own average, timed exactly rather than by band, is 15.2 minutes.
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.
653 people come into Kapuskasing to work, most from Val Rita-Harty and Moonbeam
- Val Rita-Harty185
- Moonbeam180
- Fauquier-Strickland60
- Smooth Rock Falls40
- Cochrane, Unorganized, North Part35
- Opasatika25
- Cochrane20
- Hearst20
- Timmins10
- Iroquois Falls10
- Cochrane95
- Moonbeam25
- Smooth Rock Falls15
- Kivalliq, Unorganized (NO)15
- Toronto10
- Sudbury, Unorganized, North Part10
- Timmins10
- Val Rita-Harty10
- Hearst10
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census (98-10-0459): commuting flows between municipalities (census subdivisions), rounded to 5; linked names have their own pages.
10% of commuters from Kapuskasing go without a car
By car, truck or van: 88% of commuters, much as in the middle of Ontario’s towns. Fewer worked at home than in the middle of Canadian towns: 8.3% against 21%. Transit takes 0.8% 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: 8.5% against 3.2%.
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census: main mode of commuting; average durations by mode from table 98-10-0458 (whole municipalities only).
In the Cochrane census division, 12% fewer people receive EI than in 2019
At its peak, in July 2021, 4,270 people were on EI, 2 times the 2019 average. That is about 4.7 people on EI for every 100 aged 15 to 64 in the division. Over the year to August 2026, the count fell by 3%.
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). Kapuskasing shares its EI beneficiaries numbers with the rest of the Cochrane census division.
Everyday places on foot in Kapuskasing: A
Better than 89% of Canadian towns on two measures together, #407 of 866 in Ontario.
OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL); active commuting from the 2021 Census.
Kapuskasing is 391st of 663 Canadian towns of 6,200 to 11,900 people for jobs and income
| # | Place | People | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Household income | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Labrador City Newfoundland and Labrador | 7,965 | 79% | 5.5% | $146K | A+ |
| 2 | Silverwood Heights Saskatchewan | 8,153 | 81% | 5.8% | $118K | A+ |
| 3 | North River Heights Manitoba | 7,228 | 82% | 8.4% | $143K | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 16 | Alta Vista Ontario | 8,387 | 78% | 8.3% | $138K | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 24 | West Perth Ontario | 10,080 | 88% | 5% | $92K | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 27 | East Zorra-Tavistock Ontario | 8,710 | 86% | 5.7% | $100K | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 389 | Hope Ontario | 6,997 | 72% | 12% | $139K | C+ |
| 390 | Hatchet Lake Nova Scotia | 9,930 | 74% | 9.5% | $93K | C+ |
| 391 | Kapuskasing Ontario | 8,825 | 68% | 7.7% | $69K | C+ |
| 392 | Heart Lake North Ontario | 8,539 | 72% | 11% | $125K | C+ |
| 393 | Barnstown Ontario | 6,603 | 63% | 14% | $119K | C+ |
| … | ||||||
| 663 | René-Goupil Quebec | 11,663 | 58% | 15% | $54K | D− |
Ordered by Jobs & income Grade: the top three, the places either side of Kapuskasing, and others among Ontario’s towns.
Jobs and income in the places around Kapuskasing
The nearest places to Kapuskasing with figures are 18–75 km away.
| Place | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Household income | Average trip | Jobs | Walk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kapuskasing | 68% | 7.7% | $69K | 14.8 min | C+ | A |
| Moonbeam 17.8 km | 56% | 15% | $91K | 24.4 min | C | B− |
| Smooth Rock Falls 59.2 km | 57% | 8.8% | $66K | 30.7 min | D− | A− |
| Cochrane, Unorganized, North Part 75.3 km | 65% | 11% | $98K | 20.7 min | B | 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 Kapuskasing, where it comes from, and what it leaves out.
- Household income. The census median total income of households in 2020, before tax; a neighbourhood’s is estimated from its dissemination areas’ income groups.
- 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. Statistics Canada’s place-of-work table counts people with a usual place of work by the municipality they live in and the one they work in. Jobs here are people whose usual workplace is in the municipality, wherever they live.
- 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. 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. Why 15 to 64? Otherwise retirees would pull the rate down in older towns. The census can’t say how old a neighbourhood’s workers are, so the count of people in work takes every age.
- Unemployment. Unemployed people over the labour force (in work or looking), aged 15 and over, on census day.
- Which towns we compare. The comparison pool is places of 2,500 people or more, towns or neighbourhoods inside cities, without whole cities or reserves, and we compare with its median.
Questions about work in Kapuskasing
How do people in Kapuskasing get to work?
Driving takes 88% of commuters to work, 0.8% take public transit, 8.5% walk and 1% cycle, and on census day 8.3% of those in work were at home.
How long is the commute from Kapuskasing?
About 14.8 minutes on average, with 79% under a quarter-hour and 6.7% at an hour or longer.
Where do people in Kapuskasing work?
90% work in Kapuskasing itself; of those who leave, the most go to Cochrane (95), then Moonbeam (25).
How many jobs are there in Kapuskasing?
Some 2,975 people worked in Kapuskasing at the 2021 census: 1.2 jobs per working resident with a fixed workplace. In June 2026, 255 businesses with employees were on Statistics Canada’s count.
What is the unemployment rate in Kapuskasing?
The 2021 census found 7.7% unemployed, against 9.9% in the middle of Canadian towns; the Labour Force Survey’s latest, for the Northeast economic region, is 6% (October 2026).
What is the average household income in Kapuskasing?
The census puts Kapuskasing at $68,500 for 2020, before tax and at the median, against $85,900 in the middle of Canadian towns.
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).