Photo: Don-vip · CC BY-SA 3.0The share of 15-to-64s with a job in Niagara Falls trails that of 94% of Canadian towns
For 5.7% of commuters in Niagara Falls, the trip to work lasts an hour or more; the average is 22 minutes. Half the households in Niagara Falls had more than $74,600 in 2020, before tax, against $85,900 in the middle of Canadian towns. Of everyone in Niagara Falls working or looking for work in May 2021, 23% were unemployed, and the middle of Canadian towns sits at 9.9%.
Where Niagara Falls stands out on work
Fewer people in work than most towns
60% of people aged 15 to 64 had a job at the 2021 census, against 73% in the middle of Canadian towns; counting everyone 15 and over, retirees included, it was 45%. In work ↓
More unemployment than most towns
Census day in 2021 put 23% out of work (9.9% in the middle of Canadian towns), and the area’s monthly survey gave 7.1% in October 2026. Unemployment ↓
Shorter trips than most towns
Commutes take 22 minutes on average, against 26 in the middle of Canadian towns; 5.7% 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.
On jobs and income, Niagara Falls grades C
Better than 26% of Canadian towns on three measures together, #599 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.
In Niagara Falls, 60% of people aged 15 to 64 have a job
None of the 11 other places of 2,500 people or more in the Niagara census division has a smaller share of 15-to-64s in work.
Take in all adults, retirees with them, and only 45% were working. For the wider area, the Labour Force Survey had 55% in work in October 2026. Working or looking, 59% of everyone 15 and over was in the labour force. May 2021, when the census was taken, was a pandemic spring; unemployment has come down since, as the Labour Force Survey records.
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.
Niagara Falls has a quicker trip to work than the middle of Canadian towns: 22 minutes
Trips under 15 minutes: 41%, more than the 31% in the middle of Ontario’s towns. Timed exactly, the average is 20 minutes (Statistics Canada). The middle of Ontario’s towns averages 28.6 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.
More workers leave Niagara Falls each day than arrive
24,475 residents of Niagara Falls had a usual place of work at the 2021 census, and 22,425 people had theirs in Niagara Falls, wherever they lived.
Of those who commute, 55% stay within the municipality; the middle of Canadian towns is 70%.
People with no fixed workplace are in neither count.
45% of Niagara Falls’ residents in work leave it to work; St. Catharines takes the most
- St. Catharines2,880
- Welland1,435
- Fort Erie1,245
- Thorold870
- Niagara-on-the-Lake570
- Pelham410
- Port Colborne370
- Beamsville215
- Hamilton210
- Grimsby95
- St. Catharines4,210
- Niagara-on-the-Lake1,240
- Welland855
- Hamilton840
- Thorold775
- Fort Erie680
- Beamsville390
- Toronto335
- Grimsby250
- Mississauga215
Of those coming in, St. Catharines supplies the most: 2,880.
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 Niagara Falls work and where people who work there live, the ten largest each way.
Earnings at home in Niagara Falls: households
Before tax, 2020: lower than in 55% of Canadian towns.
Of the 11 other places of 2,500 or more in the Niagara census division, 8 have a higher median. Against the middle of Ontario’s towns ($91,600), Niagara Falls’ median is 19% below. Read the incomes as 2020’s, before tax: pandemic benefits such as CERB are in them, and they raised many low incomes for that year.
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 5.6% of Niagara Falls’ commuters
Few ride transit: 2.1%, where the middle of Canadian towns has 3.5%. Nearly everyone drives: 92% of commuters go by car, truck or van. Home was the workplace for 17%, 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.
EI claims in the Niagara census division run 37% above their 2019 level
February 2021 was the busiest month, with 35,740 people on EI, 4.3 times 2019’s average. That is about 4.3 people on EI for every 100 aged 15 to 64 in the division. Compared with a year earlier, the count in August 2026 rose by 1%.
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). Niagara Falls doesn’t get its own EI beneficiaries figures; the ones here come from the Niagara census division.
The walkability of Niagara Falls: B+
Better than 75% of Canadian towns on two measures together, #538 of 866 in Ontario.
OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL); active commuting from the 2021 Census.
Canadian towns of 79,800 to 153,900, and where Niagara Falls sits
| # | Place | People | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Household income | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Saanich British Columbia | 126,011 | 77% | 6.8% | $93K | A |
| 2 | North Vancouver British Columbia | 97,845 | 79% | 7.3% | $123K | A |
| 3 | Strathcona County Alberta | 107,345 | 77% | 9.1% | $124K | A− |
| … | ||||||
| 17 | Waterloo Ontario | 142,450 | 68% | 12% | $94K | B |
| … | ||||||
| 19 | Thunder Bay Ontario | 117,671 | 68% | 11% | $78K | B− |
| … | ||||||
| 23 | Sarnia Ontario | 80,539 | 66% | 13% | $78K | B− |
| … | ||||||
| 37 | Ajax Ontario | 141,111 | 69% | 13% | $119K | C |
| 38 | St. Catharines Ontario | 153,865 | 66% | 16% | $72K | C |
| 39 | Niagara Falls Ontario | 113,983 | 60% | 23% | $75K | C |
| 40 | Saint-Jérôme Quebec | 85,160 | 75% | 7.1% | $63K | C− |
| 41 | Cape Breton Nova Scotia | 106,752 | 59% | 20% | $63K | C− |
| … | ||||||
| 43 | Chomedey Quebec | 81,813 | 69% | 12% | $66K | D |
Ordered by Jobs & income Grade: the top three, the places either side of Niagara Falls, and others among Ontario’s towns.
Next to Niagara Falls: how nearby places compare
| Place | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Household income | Average trip | Jobs | Walk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Niagara Falls | 60% | 23% | $75K | 22 min | C | B+ |
| Thorold 9.5 km | 64% | 15% | $83K | 25.6 min | C | B |
| St. Catharines 14.2 km | 66% | 16% | $72K | 22.2 min | C | A |
| Niagara-on-the-Lake 14.4 km | 70% | 15% | $98K | 23.5 min | B | B |
| Welland 16.7 km | 65% | 15% | $72K | 24.5 min | C− | A− |
| Pelham 17.3 km | 76% | 8.6% | $110K | 25 min | A− | 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 Niagara Falls, where it comes from, and what it leaves out.
- Unemployment. The share of people 15 and over in the labour force, working or looking for work, who had no job on census day in May 2021.
- Household income. Taken from the 2021 Census, which asked about 2020: wages, pensions, investment income and government transfers together, before income tax, for the median household.
- Trip times. Commuters picked a band for their usual trip (under 15 minutes, 15 to 29, and so on). We place each person at the middle of their band, which lands a little above Statistics Canada’s own timed 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. A monthly count of Employment Insurance beneficiaries for the whole census division. It tracks the local job market, but it is not an unemployment rate.
- The Labour Force Survey. Monthly, and only for metro areas and economic regions. It is the up-to-date rate we set beside the census’s 2021 snapshot.
- In work. People in work of any age over residents aged 15 to 64 (2021 Census). The census doesn’t cross work with age below the municipality, so this is the one rate every town and neighbourhood has; retirees don’t weigh on it.
- 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.
Questions about work in Niagara Falls
Where do people in Niagara Falls work?
55% work in Niagara Falls itself; of those who leave, the most go to St. Catharines (4,210), then Niagara-on-the-Lake (1,240).
How many jobs are there in Niagara Falls?
About 22,425 people had their usual place of work in Niagara Falls at the 2021 census, 0.9 for each working resident with a fixed workplace. Statistics Canada counted 2,725 businesses with employees in June 2026.
What is the unemployment rate in Niagara Falls?
Two figures answer it: 23% on census day in May 2021 (9.9% in the middle of Canadian towns), and 7.1% for the St. Catharines-Niagara metro area in the Labour Force Survey of October 2026.
What is the average household income in Niagara Falls?
Niagara Falls’s middle household had $74,600 in 2020, before tax; Canadian towns have $85,900 at their middle.
How do people in Niagara Falls get to work?
92% of commuters go by car, 2.1% take public transit, 2.9% walk and 0.6% cycle. On census day 17% of everyone in work stayed home to work.
How long is the commute from Niagara Falls?
On average 22 minutes; 41% take under 15 minutes and 5.7% take an hour or longer.
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).