Photo: JFVoll · CC BY-SA 4.0Household incomes in Forest Heights are higher than in 94% of Canadian towns
Unemployment in Forest Heights stood at 9.4% on census day 2021, and the middle of Canadian towns sits at 9.9%. Working at home: 30% of its workers, where the middle of Canadian towns has 21%. Of Forest Heights’ residents aged 15 to 64, 74% were employed when the 2021 census was taken; the middle of Canadian towns is 73%.
What sets Forest Heights apart on jobs and income
Work near the middle
At the 2021 census 74% of the 15-to-64s were in work (73% in the middle of Canadian towns); across all ages 15 and over, 59%. In work ↓
Higher incomes than most towns
Household income at the median was $111,300 in 2020, before tax; Canadian towns have $85,900 at the middle. 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, Forest Heights grades A−
Better than 76% of Canadian towns on three measures together, #111 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.
Forest Heights households: $111,300 a year at the median
That puts Forest Heights 22% above the median of Ontario’s towns, $91,600. Of the 42 other places of 2,500 or more in the Waterloo census division, 13 have a higher median. In 2020 emergency benefits topped up many low incomes, and the census counts them here.
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census: median total income of households in 2020, before tax (a neighbourhood’s estimated from its dissemination areas’ income groups).
In Forest Heights, 74% of the working-age population has a job
Of the 42 other places of 2,500 people or more in the Waterloo census division, 26 have a smaller share of 15-to-64s in work.
Take in all adults, retirees with them, and only 59% were working. A more recent figure, for the wider area: 65% in work in October 2026, by the Labour Force Survey. The participation rate, everyone 15 and over working or looking for work, was 65%. The census caught the labour market on 11 May 2021, deep in the pandemic, so unemployment and working from home both ran above normal.
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.
Walk, cycle or ride transit: the choice of 3.6% of Forest Heights’ commuters
Transit takes 2.3% of commuters, against 3.5% in the middle of Canadian towns. The car is the way to work for 92% of commuters.
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census: main mode of commuting; average durations by mode from table 98-10-0458 (whole municipalities only).
47% more people are on EI in the Waterloo census division than in 2019
That works out to around 4.3 beneficiaries per 100 people aged 15 to 64 across the division. Set against the same month a year before, the count in August 2026 rose by 2%. The count topped out in April 2021 at 28,950 people, 3 times the 2019 average.
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). Forest Heights doesn’t get its own EI beneficiaries figures; the ones here come from the Waterloo census division.
The Walkability grade for Forest Heights: B+
Better than 66% of Canadian towns on two measures together, #580 of 866 in Ontario.
OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL); active commuting from the 2021 Census.
How Forest Heights ranks: 110th of 557 Canadian towns of 10,100 to 19,400
| # | 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+ |
| … | ||||||
| 108 | South Glengarry Ontario | 14,355 | 79% | 8.6% | $91K | A− |
| 109 | Saint-Amable Quebec | 14,119 | 83% | 5.1% | $92K | A− |
| 110 | Forest Heights Ontario | 14,369 | 74% | 9.4% | $111K | A− |
| 111 | Bromont Quebec | 12,413 | 82% | 4.6% | $100K | A− |
| 112 | Dawson Creek British Columbia | 13,635 | 74% | 9.8% | $81K | A− |
| … | ||||||
| 557 | René-Goupil Quebec | 11,663 | 58% | 15% | $54K | D− |
Ordered by Jobs & income Grade: the top three, the places either side of Forest Heights, and others among Ontario’s towns.
Work in the places around Forest Heights
| Place | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Household income | Average trip | Jobs | Walk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Forest Heights | 74% | 9.4% | $111K | 24.1 min | A− | B+ |
| Highland West 1.8 km | 72% | 12% | $109K | 24.6 min | B | A− |
| Forest Hill 1.9 km | 66% | 13% | $86K | 25.6 min | C | A+ |
| Victoria Hills 2.5 km | 63% | 15% | $69K | 28.2 min | D | A+ |
| Laurentian West 2.5 km | 70% | 11% | $114K | 26.3 min | B− | A− |
| Meinzinger Park-Lakeside 2.8 km | 71% | 14% | $74K | 22.9 min | C+ | A |
| Laurentian Hills 3 km | 65% | 13% | $80K | 23.4 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 Forest Heights, where it comes from, and what it leaves out.
- Trip times. How long getting to work normally takes, averaged from the census’s time bands at their middles; expect it to read slightly high against the timed figure.
- 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. 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. Everyone with a job, whatever their age, divided by the residents aged 15 to 64 at the 2021 Census: below the municipality the census doesn’t split work by age, and this is the one rate every town and neighbourhood can be given.
- 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. The census median total income of households in 2020, before tax; a neighbourhood’s is estimated from its dissemination areas’ income groups.
- 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. The census reaches a neighbourhood only through its dissemination areas, and Forest Heights’ figures add those up. Kitchener’s page has the commuting flows, which exist only for the whole municipality.
Questions about work in Forest Heights
What is the average household income in Forest Heights?
Forest Heights’s middle household had $111,300 in 2020, before tax; Canadian towns have $85,900 at their middle.
How do people in Forest Heights get to work?
By car: 92% of commuters, 2.3% take public transit, 1.1% walk and 0.2% cycle; on census day 30% of those in work worked from home.
How many jobs are there in Forest Heights?
There is no count for a neighbourhood: the jobs figure, and where commuters go, are published for Kitchener as one municipality.
What is the unemployment rate in Forest Heights?
In October 2026 the Labour Force Survey put the Kitchener-Cambridge-Waterloo metro area at 7.1%; the 2021 census, which counts the town itself, found 9.4%, against 9.9% in the middle of Canadian towns.
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).