Photo: Tabercil · CC BY 3.0The share of 15-to-64s with a job in Mount Forest tops that of 70% of Canadian towns
Of everyone in Mount Forest working or looking for work in May 2021, 6.1% were unemployed; the middle of Canadian towns is 9.9%. Commutes from Mount Forest average 27.9 minutes, and 12% take an hour or more. Median household income in Mount Forest was $77,800 in 2020, next to $85,900 for the middle of Canadian towns.
The short version on work in Mount Forest
More people in work than most towns
At the 2021 census 79% of the 15-to-64s were in work (73% in the middle of Canadian towns); across all ages 15 and over, 60%. In work ↓
Less unemployment than most towns
The Labour Force Survey had the area at 6.5% in October 2026; on census day in 2021 the town’s own rate was 6.1%, where the middle of Canadian towns had 9.9%. Unemployment ↓
More jobs than the typical town
With 4,195 jobs based in Mount Forest and 3,845 working residents, the ratio compares with 0.8 in the middle of Canadian towns. The daily tide ↓
Written from the data on this page: Statistics Canada’s 2021 Census, its commuting tables, Employment Insurance and the Labour Force Survey.
Mount Forest earns B− for jobs and income
Better than 47% of Canadian towns on three measures together, #329 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.
Mount Forest at work: 79% of people aged 15 to 64
Of the 7 other places of 2,500 people or more in the Wellington census division, one has a smaller share of 15-to-64s in work.
In October 2026, 64% of the wider area’s adults had a job, on the Labour Force Survey’s count. Participation, the share of residents 15 and over working or looking for work, came to 63%. An older population pulls the all-ages rate down: 60% of residents 15 and over were in work. Pandemic rules were in force on census day, 11 May 2021; the Labour Force Survey shows how jobs have moved since.
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.
Mount Forest fills up on a working day: 7% more workers
3,845 residents of Mount Forest had a usual place of work at the 2021 census, and 4,195 people had theirs in Mount Forest, wherever they lived.
People with no fixed workplace are in neither count.
2,192 people come into Mount Forest to work, most from Dundalk and Durham
- Dundalk440
- Durham365
- Palmerston310
- Drayton180
- Fergus170
- Guelph75
- Orangeville65
- Grand Valley60
- Kitchener60
- Listowel60
- Fergus240
- Guelph225
- Palmerston195
- Drayton135
- Dundalk100
- Listowel90
- Orangeville80
- Elmira65
- Rockwood55
- Kitchener55
52% of the people who work in Mount Forest live outside it, 440 of them in Dundalk, 28 km away. The main destination the other way is Fergus, with 240.
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 Mount Forest work and where people who work there live, the ten largest each way.
What households in Mount Forest earn
Before tax, 2020: higher than in 51% of Canadian towns.
That puts Mount Forest 15% below the median of Ontario’s towns, $91,600. Every other place of 2,500 or more in the Wellington 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).
Mount Forest gets to work without a car for 8.3% of commuters
Transit takes 0.2% 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: 6.8% against 3.2%. Nearly everyone drives: 91% of commuters go by car, truck or van. Home was the workplace for 19%, under the 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).
How residents who commute got to work, 2021 Census; working at home is counted apart.
Commuting times in Mount Forest
Statistics Canada’s own average, timed exactly rather than by band, is 25.1 minutes. Trips under 15 minutes: 40%, 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.
Commuting time at the 2021 Census, to work only, for people who travel to a usual workplace or have none fixed.
34% more people are on EI in the Wellington census division than in 2019
Over the year to August 2026, the count rose by 3%. The count topped out in April 2021 at 11,080 people, 3 times the 2019 average. That works out to around 3.7 beneficiaries per 100 people aged 15 to 64 across the division.
Statistics Canada, Employment Insurance beneficiaries by census division (14-10-0323): all income benefits, not seasonally adjusted. EI beneficiaries: one figure for all of the Wellington 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 Mount Forest is: A
Better than 86% of Canadian towns on two measures together, #452 of 866 in Ontario.
OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL); active commuting from the 2021 Census.
Mount Forest places 264th of 557 on jobs and income among 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+ |
| … | ||||||
| 262 | Eastern Passage Nova Scotia | 10,745 | 68% | 8.6% | $92K | B− |
| 263 | Whitehaven - Woodpark - Glabar Park Ontario | 11,111 | 73% | 10% | $84K | B− |
| 264 | Wellington North Ontario | 14,407 | 79% | 6.1% | $78K | B− |
| 265 | North Dundas Ontario | 12,706 | 79% | 7% | $90K | B− |
| 266 | Parksville British Columbia | 15,371 | 75% | 6.7% | $67K | B− |
| … | ||||||
| 557 | René-Goupil Quebec | 11,663 | 58% | 15% | $54K | D− |
Ordered by Jobs & income Grade: the top three, the places either side of Mount Forest, and others among Ontario’s towns.
Jobs and income in the places around Mount Forest
No closer places have figures: these lie 20–30 km from Mount Forest.
| Place | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Household income | Average trip | Jobs | Walk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mount Forest | 79% | 6.1% | $78K | 27.9 min | B− | A |
| Drayton 19.6 km | 86% | 3.8% | $109K | 26.4 min | A | B |
| Palmerston 20.2 km | 81% | 5.5% | $83K | 27.8 min | B | A− |
| Grand Valley 23.6 km | 80% | 7.8% | $101K | 41.6 min | B− | B |
| Dundalk 27.6 km | 73% | 7.8% | $86K | 34.8 min | C− | B |
| Fergus 29.6 km | 81% | 7.2% | $101K | 27.1 min | A− | 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 Mount Forest, where it comes from, and what it leaves out.
- 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. 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. Unemployed people over the labour force (in work or looking), aged 15 and over, on census day.
- 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. 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.
- 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.
- The municipality’s figures. Statistics Canada counts Mount Forest as part of Wellington North, so every census figure on this page is the whole municipality’s.
Questions about work in Mount Forest
How many jobs are there in Mount Forest?
The 2021 census counted about 4,195 people working in Mount Forest: 1.1 jobs for every resident who commutes to a fixed workplace. Statistics Canada counted 423 businesses with employees in June 2026.
What is the unemployment rate in Mount Forest?
Two figures answer it: 6.1% on census day in May 2021 (9.9% in the middle of Canadian towns), and 6.5% for the Kitchener-Waterloo-Barrie economic region in the Labour Force Survey of October 2026.
What is the average household income in Mount Forest?
Before tax, half the households in Mount Forest had more than $77,800 in 2020; the middle of Canadian towns is $85,900.
How do people in Mount Forest get to work?
By car: 91% of commuters, 0.2% take public transit, 6.8% walk and 1.3% cycle; on census day 19% of those in work worked from home.
How long is the commute from Mount Forest?
27.9 minutes is the average trip, with 40% of commuters there in under 15 minutes and 12% taking an hour or more.
Where do people in Mount Forest work?
52% work in Mount Forest itself; of those who leave, the most go to Fergus (240), then Guelph (225).
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).