Photo: Municipal Affairs and Housing · CC BY 2.0Working-age people in Orillia are less likely to have a job than in 85% of Canadian towns
15% of the labour force in Orillia was out of work at the 2021 census, and the middle of Canadian towns sits at 9.9%. Jobs located in Orillia: 12,440, for 8,880 residents with a usual workplace. Median household income in Orillia was $70,900 in 2020, against $85,900 in the middle of Canadian towns.
Orillia and work: the main findings
Fewer people in work than most towns
66% 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 48%. In work ↓
More unemployment than most towns
Census day in 2021 put 15% out of work (9.9% in the middle of Canadian towns), and the area’s monthly survey gave 6.5% in October 2026. Unemployment ↓
Lower incomes than most towns
At $70,900 before tax in 2020, the median household compares with $85,900 in the middle of Canadian towns. Household income ↓
A local job centre
With 12,440 jobs based in Orillia and 8,880 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 23 minutes (26 in the middle of Canadian towns), and 8.7% 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.
Orillia grades C− for jobs and income
Better than 23% of Canadian towns on three measures together, #623 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.
How many in Orillia have a job: 66% of 15-to-64s
Of the 17 other places of 2,500 people or more in the Simcoe census division, one has a smaller share of 15-to-64s in work.
Participation, the share of residents 15 and over working or looking for work, came to 56%. Counting retirees, 48% of everyone aged 15 and over was working. In October 2026, 64% of the wider area’s adults had a job, on the Labour Force Survey’s count. 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.
What households in Orillia earn
Before tax, 2020: lower than in 64% of Canadian towns.
Set beside Ontario’s towns, where the median is $91,600, Orillia sits 23% below. 16 of the 17 other places of 2,500+ in the Simcoe census division have a higher median. Incomes are for 2020, the first pandemic year, so CERB and other emergency payments are part of them.
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census: median total income of households in 2020, before tax (a neighbourhood’s estimated from its dissemination areas’ income groups).
Workers pour into Orillia: 32% more on a working day
For every resident who leaves Orillia for work, about 2 people come in. 63% 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.
At 23 minutes, commutes from Orillia are shorter than in the middle of Canadian towns
Trips under 15 minutes: 52%, more than the 31% in the middle of Ontario’s towns. Long trips, an hour or more, are about as common as in the middle of Ontario’s towns: 8.7%. Timed exactly, the average is 21.8 minutes (Statistics Canada). In the middle of Ontario’s towns, the average commute is 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.
6,846 people come into Orillia to work, most from Severn and Oro-Medonte
- Severn1,690
- Oro-Medonte1,255
- Barrie1,035
- Ramara970
- Tay225
- Gravenhurst215
- Lindsay185
- Springwater180
- Innisfil100
- Midland95
- Barrie980
- Oro-Medonte500
- Severn270
- Toronto180
- Gravenhurst155
- Ramara150
- Alliston140
- Bracebridge100
- Chippewas of Rama First Nation75
- Springwater60
55% of the people who work in Orillia live outside it, 1,690 of them in Severn, 7 km away. The main destination the other way is Barrie, with 980.
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census (98-10-0459): commuting flows between municipalities (census subdivisions), rounded to 5; linked names have their own pages.
On foot, by bike, bus or train: 11% of Orillia’s commuters
By car, truck or van: 87% of commuters, much as in the middle of Ontario’s towns. Only 17% worked at home on census day, against 21% in the middle of Canadian towns. Transit takes 3.3% of commuters, close to the middle of Canadian towns. The middle of Ontario’s towns has 3.2% walking; here, 6.7% do.
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census: main mode of commuting; average durations by mode from table 98-10-0458 (whole municipalities only).
38% more people are on EI in the Simcoe census division than in 2019
That is about 4.4 people on EI for every 100 aged 15 to 64 in the division. Set against the same month a year before, the count in August 2026 rose by 5%. In February 2021 it reached 31,440, the most in the series and 3.2 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). Orillia doesn’t get its own EI beneficiaries figures; the ones here come from the Simcoe census division.
Walking in Orillia earns A
Better than 88% of Canadian towns on two measures together, #423 of 866 in Ontario.
OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL); active commuting from the 2021 Census.
Orillia next to Canadian towns of 26,400 to 50,900: 134th of 175 on jobs and income
| # | Place | People | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Household income | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Whitehorse Yukon | 34,129 | 82% | 5.6% | $112K | A+ |
| 2 | Arcola East Saskatchewan | 33,823 | 79% | 7.7% | $123K | A+ |
| 3 | Woolwich Ontario | 31,382 | 82% | 6.2% | $115K | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 15 | Centre Wellington Ontario | 34,565 | 81% | 7.2% | $101K | A− |
| … | ||||||
| 18 | LaSalle Ontario | 36,452 | 69% | 13% | $119K | A− |
| … | ||||||
| 132 | Victoria-Fraserview British Columbia | 31,095 | 71% | 10% | $87K | C− |
| 133 | Saint-Lin--Laurentides Quebec | 26,673 | 77% | 6.3% | $78K | C− |
| 134 | Orillia Ontario | 37,735 | 66% | 15% | $71K | C− |
| 135 | Lunenburg Nova Scotia | 26,862 | 70% | 11% | $69K | C− |
| 136 | West Humber-Clairville Ontario | 33,690 | 67% | 14% | $95K | C− |
| … | ||||||
| 175 | Parc-Extension Quebec | 29,066 | 61% | 16% | $48K | D− |
Ordered by Jobs & income Grade: the top three, the places either side of Orillia, and others among Ontario’s towns.
Orillia and its neighbours: work and income
| Place | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Household income | Average trip | Jobs | Walk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Orillia | 66% | 15% | $71K | 23 min | C− | A |
| Severn 7.1 km | 74% | 11% | $94K | 30.4 min | C+ | C |
| Chippewas of Rama First Nation 8.3 km | 48% | 28% | $68K | 19.4 min | C− | B |
| Oro-Medonte 13.5 km | 75% | 11% | $116K | 31.7 min | B− | C− |
| Ramara 15.6 km | 70% | 14% | $85K | 34.2 min | C− | 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 Orillia, where it comes from, and what it leaves out.
- Trip times. Built from banded answers: each commuter’s usual one-way trip counts as the midpoint of the band they chose, and the result tends to sit slightly higher than Statistics Canada’s average.
- 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. 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. Statistics Canada’s monthly survey, published for metro areas and economic regions rather than towns: it gives a current rate beside the census’s 2021 one.
- In work. How many residents held a job in May 2021, set against how many were 15 to 64. It reads a little high where many people work past 65, since below the municipality the census gives no breakdown of workers by age.
- 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. Taken from the 2021 Census, which asked about 2020: wages, pensions, investment income and government transfers together, before income tax, for the median household.
- Which towns we compare. Every town and city neighbourhood with 2,500 residents or more; whole cities and First Nations reserves are left out. Each middle figure is a median.
Questions about work in Orillia
How many jobs are there in Orillia?
About 12,440 people had their usual place of work in Orillia at the 2021 census, 1.4 for each working resident with a fixed workplace. In June 2026, 1,158 businesses with employees were on Statistics Canada’s count.
What is the unemployment rate in Orillia?
The census put unemployment at 15% in May 2021, where the middle of Canadian towns was 9.9%. More recently, in October 2026, the Labour Force Survey had the Kitchener-Waterloo-Barrie economic region at 6.5%.
What is the average household income in Orillia?
The median household in Orillia had $70,900 before tax in 2020, against $85,900 in the middle of Canadian towns.
How do people in Orillia get to work?
87% of commuters go by car, 3.3% take public transit, 6.7% walk and 1% cycle. On census day 17% of everyone in work stayed home to work.
How long is the commute from Orillia?
On average 23 minutes; 52% take under 15 minutes and 8.7% take an hour or longer.
Where do people in Orillia work?
Most stay: 63% work in Orillia. The rest go first to Barrie (980) and Oro-Medonte (500).
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).