Photo: Andre Carrotflower · CC BY-SA 4.0Listowel has a larger share of its working-age people in jobs than 88% of Canadian towns
Workers in Listowel spend 22.6 minutes on the way to work on average, and 5.5% need an hour or more. Half the households in Listowel had more than $84,400 in 2020, before tax; the middle of Canadian towns is $85,900. When the 2021 census was taken, 5.7% of people in Listowel who wanted a job had none, next to 9.9% for the middle of Canadian towns.
The work numbers behind Listowel
More people in work than most towns
Of residents aged 15 to 64, 83% held a job in 2021; the middle of Canadian towns is 73%, and over all adults the share is 64%. In work ↓
Less unemployment than most towns
On census day in 2021 5.7% were unemployed, against 9.9% in the middle of Canadian towns; by October 2026 the Labour Force Survey put the area at 3.8%. Unemployment ↓
More jobs than the typical town
5,990 people work in Listowel and 5,455 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 22.6 minutes on average, against 26 in the middle of Canadian towns; 5.5% 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.
Listowel earns A for jobs and income
Better than 91% of Canadian towns on three measures together, #31 of 866 in Ontario.
Its strongest measure is the share of 15-to-64s in work; its weakest, trip times.
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 Listowel, 83% of people aged 15 to 64 have a job
Of the 5 other places of 2,500 people or more in the Perth census division, 2 have a smaller share of 15-to-64s in work.
Participation, the share of residents 15 and over working or looking for work, came to 68%. An older population pulls the all-ages rate down: 64% of residents 15 and over were in work. A more recent figure, for the wider area: 54% in work in October 2026, by the Labour Force Survey. 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.
Workers pour into Listowel: 8% more on a working day
60% 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.
Commuting times in Listowel
Statistics Canada’s own average, timed exactly rather than by band, is 19.8 minutes. In the middle of Ontario’s towns, the average commute is 28.6 minutes. Trips under 15 minutes: 51%, 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.
2,712 people come into Listowel to work, most from Palmerston and Perth East
- Palmerston440
- Perth East325
- Seaforth295
- Howick270
- Drayton260
- Mitchell165
- Wingham120
- Morris-Turnberry115
- Kitchener110
- Mount Forest90
- Palmerston340
- Elmira280
- Perth East215
- Drayton145
- Kitchener135
- Wellesley110
- Stratford110
- Cambridge95
- Waterloo95
- Seaforth95
Of everyone working in Listowel, 45% come in from elsewhere; 440 make the 22 km trip from Palmerston. Of residents who leave for work, most head to Palmerston (340).
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census (98-10-0459): commuting flows between municipalities (census subdivisions), rounded to 5; linked names have their own pages.
How Listowel’s household incomes compare
Before tax, 2020: higher than in 65% of Canadian towns.
4 of the 5 other places of 2,500+ in the Perth census division have a higher median. Listowel’s median is 8% below the middle of Ontario’s towns ($91,600). 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).
Walk, cycle or ride transit: the choice of 8% of Listowel’s commuters
Hardly anyone takes transit to work, where the middle of Canadian towns has 3.5%. On foot: 6.7% of commuters, well above the 3.2% in the middle of Ontario’s towns. The car is the way to work for 90% of commuters. Only 19% worked at home on census day, against 21% 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).
EI claims in the Perth census division run 30% above their 2019 level
Set against the same month a year before, the count in August 2026 fell by 3%. April 2021 was the busiest month, with 3,460 people on EI, 2.7 times 2019’s average. 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. EI counts are context, not part of any grade.
People receiving Employment Insurance each month, as a share of the 2019 average (100). Figures for EI beneficiaries are published for the Perth census division as a whole, not for Listowel alone.
How walkable Listowel is: B+
Better than 70% of Canadian towns on two measures together, #563 of 866 in Ontario.
OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL); active commuting from the 2021 Census.
For jobs and income, Listowel is 38th of 510 Canadian towns of 12,700 to 24,500
| # | Place | People | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Household income | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Yellowknife Northwest Territories | 22,858 | 80% | 5.8% | $148K | A+ |
| 2 | North Saanich British Columbia | 12,986 | 85% | 5.9% | $121K | A+ |
| 3 | Sillery Quebec | 13,950 | 81% | 6.2% | $120K | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 6 | Glebe-Dows Lake Ontario | 13,436 | 80% | 9.4% | $113K | A+ |
| 7 | Perth East Ontario | 13,423 | 86% | 3.9% | $96K | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 25 | Wilmot Ontario | 22,890 | 81% | 6.8% | $115K | A |
| … | ||||||
| 36 | Thames Centre Ontario | 15,475 | 80% | 7.7% | $113K | A |
| 37 | View Royal British Columbia | 12,795 | 78% | 5.6% | $97K | A |
| 38 | North Perth Ontario | 18,168 | 83% | 5.7% | $84K | A |
| 39 | Kenora Ontario | 15,892 | 76% | 7.2% | $86K | A |
| 40 | Dewdney East Saskatchewan | 18,670 | 75% | 9.9% | $93K | A |
| … | ||||||
| 510 | Oakridge Ontario | 13,913 | 51% | 21% | $60K | D− |
Ordered by Jobs & income Grade: the top three, the places either side of Listowel, and others among Ontario’s towns.
Next to Listowel: how nearby places compare
Listowel has few close neighbours with figures, so the list reaches 20–28 km out.
| Place | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Household income | Average trip | Jobs | Walk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Listowel | 83% | 5.7% | $84K | 22.6 min | A | B+ |
| Howick 19.6 km | 85% | 3.6% | $84K | 28.9 min | B+ | C− |
| Palmerston 22.1 km | 81% | 5.5% | $83K | 27.8 min | B | A− |
| Drayton 23.7 km | 86% | 3.8% | $109K | 26.4 min | A | B |
| Perth East 23.9 km | 86% | 3.9% | $96K | 22.2 min | A+ | B |
| Morris-Turnberry 28 km | 89% | 4.8% | $86K | 24.3 min | A | D |
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 Listowel, where it comes from, and what it leaves out.
- 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. 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. 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.
- Where people commute. Who travels where, from the census: workers with a regular workplace, sorted by the municipality they live in and the one they work in.
- 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.
- 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. Towns and city neighbourhoods of 2,500 people or more, never a whole city and never a First Nations reserve. Middles are medians.
- The municipality’s figures. Statistics Canada counts Listowel as part of North Perth, so every census figure on this page is the whole municipality’s.
Questions about work in Listowel
How long is the commute from Listowel?
About 22.6 minutes on average, with 51% under a quarter-hour and 5.5% at an hour or longer.
Where do people in Listowel work?
60% work in Listowel itself; of those who leave, the most go to Palmerston (340), then Elmira (280).
How many jobs are there in Listowel?
Some 5,990 people worked in Listowel at the 2021 census: 1.1 jobs per working resident with a fixed workplace. In June 2026, 619 businesses with employees were on Statistics Canada’s count.
What is the unemployment rate in Listowel?
In October 2026 the Labour Force Survey put the Stratford-Bruce Peninsula economic region at 3.8%; the 2021 census, which counts the town itself, found 5.7%, against 9.9% in the middle of Canadian towns.
What is the average household income in Listowel?
The median household in Listowel had $84,400 before tax in 2020, against $85,900 in the middle of Canadian towns.
How do people in Listowel get to work?
Driving takes 90% of commuters to work, 6.7% walk and 1.3% cycle, and on census day 19% of those in work were at home.
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).