Photo: P199 · CC BY-SA 3.0Household incomes in Kenora are higher than in 68% of Canadian towns
In Kenora, 76% of residents aged 15 to 64 were working in May 2021; the middle of Canadian towns is 73%. Commutes from Kenora average 15.2 minutes, and 3% take an hour or more. Out of work in May 2021: 7.2% of Kenora’s labour force, and the middle of Canadian towns sits at 9.9%.
What Kenora’s work numbers say
Less unemployment than most towns
On census day in 2021 7.2% were unemployed, against 9.9% in the middle of Canadian towns; by October 2026 the Labour Force Survey put the area at 2.9%. Unemployment ↓
More jobs than the typical town
With 5,560 jobs based in Kenora and 5,120 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 15.2 minutes (26 in the middle of Canadian towns), and 3% 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.
Kenora earns A for jobs and income
Better than 91% of Canadian towns on three measures together, #32 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.
Who in Kenora has a job
Of the 4 other places of 2,500 people or more in the Kenora census division, 2 have a smaller share of 15-to-64s in work.
Many residents are past working age, so among everyone 15 and over the share in work drops to 58%. The monthly Labour Force Survey, which covers the wider area, put its employment rate at 59% in October 2026. Working or looking, 63% of everyone 15 and over was in the labour force. 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.
Kenora fills up on a working day: 7% more workers
5,120 residents of Kenora had a usual place of work at the 2021 census, and 5,560 people had theirs in Kenora, wherever they lived.
Inbound commuters outnumber outbound ones about 2 to 1 in Kenora. The job is inside the municipality for 92% of its commuters (70% in the middle of Canadian towns).
People with no fixed workplace are in neither count.
How long the commute from Kenora takes
The middle of Ontario’s towns averages 28.6 minutes. Trips under 15 minutes: 65%, more than the 31% in the middle of Ontario’s towns. Statistics Canada’s own average, timed exactly rather than by band, is 13.5 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.
Commuting time at the 2021 Census, to work only, for people who travel to a usual workplace or have none fixed.
829 people come into Kenora to work, most from Kenora, Unorganized and Winnipeg
- Kenora, Unorganized550
- Winnipeg75
- Kenora 38B20
- Ottawa15
- Sioux Narrows-Nestor Falls15
- Rat Portage 38A15
- Oakville10
- Thunder Bay10
- Lake of the Woods10
- Machin10
- Oliver Paipoonge45
- Sioux Narrows-Nestor Falls45
- Niverville45
- Kenora, Unorganized35
- Shuniah25
- Wabaseemoong20
- Dryden15
- English River 2115
- Rat Portage 38A15
- Machin10
15% of the people who work in Kenora live outside it, 550 of them in Kenora, Unorganized, 86 km away. Outbound, Oliver Paipoonge takes the most: 45 people.
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 Kenora work and where people who work there live, the ten largest each way.
Before tax, the median household in Kenora had $86,200
3 of the 4 other places of 2,500+ in the Kenora census division have a higher median. Against the middle of Ontario’s towns ($91,600), Kenora’s median is 6% below. 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).
6.6% of commuters from Kenora go without a car
On foot: 5.5% of commuters, well above the 3.2% in the middle of Ontario’s towns. Nearly everyone drives: 91% of commuters go by car, truck or van. Only 14% worked at home on census day, against 21% in the middle of Canadian towns. Transit takes 0.4% of commuters, against 3.5% in the middle of Canadian 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.
11% fewer people are on EI in the Kenora census division than in 2019
Over the year to August 2026, the count rose by 2%. The highest month was August 2021: 3,210 people, 1.8 times the 2019 level. For each 100 residents of working age in the division, about 3.8 are on EI.
Statistics Canada, Employment Insurance beneficiaries by census division (14-10-0323): all income benefits, not seasonally adjusted. Area behind the EI beneficiaries figures: the Kenora 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).
How walkable Kenora is: B
Better than 65% of Canadian towns on two measures together, #589 of 866 in Ontario.
OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL); active commuting from the 2021 Census.
Among Canadian towns of 11,100 to 21,500, Kenora ranks 45th of 552 for jobs and income
| # | Place | People | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Household income | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | North Saanich British Columbia | 12,986 | 85% | 5.9% | $121K | A+ |
| 2 | Sillery Quebec | 13,950 | 81% | 6.2% | $120K | A+ |
| 3 | Central Saanich British Columbia | 18,184 | 85% | 4.9% | $103K | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 5 | Glebe-Dows Lake Ontario | 13,436 | 80% | 9.4% | $113K | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 7 | Wellesley Ontario | 12,413 | 84% | 3.9% | $119K | A+ |
| 8 | Perth East Ontario | 13,423 | 86% | 3.9% | $96K | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 43 | View Royal British Columbia | 12,795 | 78% | 5.6% | $97K | A |
| 44 | North Perth Ontario | 18,168 | 83% | 5.7% | $84K | A |
| 45 | Kenora Ontario | 15,892 | 76% | 7.2% | $86K | A |
| 46 | Dewdney East Saskatchewan | 18,670 | 75% | 9.9% | $93K | A |
| 47 | Linden Woods Manitoba | 11,134 | 75% | 6.1% | $126K | A |
| … | ||||||
| 552 | René-Goupil Quebec | 11,663 | 58% | 15% | $54K | D− |
Ordered by Jobs & income Grade: the top three, the places either side of Kenora, and others among Ontario’s towns.
Work next door to Kenora
Kenora has few close neighbours with figures, so the list reaches 63–109 km out.
| Place | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Household income | Average trip | Jobs | Walk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kenora | 76% | 7.2% | $86K | 15.2 min | A | B |
| Division No. 1, Unorganized 63.2 km | 54% | 7.4% | $87K | 23.9 min | C | D− |
| Kenora, Unorganized 86 km | 74% | 9.4% | $87K | 23.5 min | B | D |
| Machin 94.6 km | 62% | 14% | $73K | 27.8 min | D | C+ |
| Pinawa 108.4 km | 71% | 7.3% | $89K | 24.1 min | B− | A |
| Whitemouth 109.2 km | 68% | 9.7% | $73K | 27.2 min | C− | 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 Kenora, where it comes from, and what it leaves out.
- In work. Working residents per resident of working age (15 to 64), from the 2021 Census.
- Unemployment. The census-week jobless rate for residents 15 and over. Its base is the labour force, those employed plus those actively looking.
- 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. Our average assumes everyone in, say, the 15-to-29-minute band takes 22 minutes. Across all the bands that runs a shade above Statistics Canada’s measured 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. Monthly EI recipients across the census division: a pulse of the local job market rather than a measure of who is out of work.
- The Labour Force Survey. A monthly household survey by Statistics Canada, reported for metro areas and economic regions only. It supplies a recent rate next to the 2021 census figure.
- 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 Kenora
What is the unemployment rate in Kenora?
At the 2021 census 7.2% of the labour force had no job and was looking (9.9% in the middle of Canadian towns). The latest monthly survey, for the Northwest economic region, gives 2.9% in October 2026.
What is the average household income in Kenora?
The census puts Kenora at $86,200 for 2020, before tax and at the median, against $85,900 in the middle of Canadian towns.
How do people in Kenora get to work?
Driving takes 91% of commuters to work, 0.4% take public transit, 5.5% walk and 0.7% cycle, and on census day 14% of those in work were at home.
How long is the commute from Kenora?
About 15.2 minutes on average, with 65% under a quarter-hour and 3% at an hour or longer.
Where do people in Kenora work?
92% work in Kenora itself; of those who leave, the most go to Oliver Paipoonge (45), then Sioux Narrows-Nestor Falls (45).
How many jobs are there in Kenora?
Some 5,560 people worked in Kenora at the 2021 census: 1.1 jobs per working resident with a fixed workplace. In June 2026, 674 businesses with employees were on Statistics Canada’s count.
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).