Photo: P199 · CC BY-SA 3.0With 0.2 jobs for each resident in work, most of Perry commutes out
Of Perry’s residents aged 15 to 64, 69% were employed when the 2021 census was taken, and the middle of Canadian towns sits at 73%. An hour or more each way is the commute for 6.8% of workers in Perry; the average is 29.3 minutes. Half the households in Perry had more than $72,500 in 2020, before tax, next to $85,900 for the middle of Canadian towns.
Perry and work: the main findings
Lower incomes than most towns
Household income at the median was $72,500 in 2020, before tax; Canadian towns have $85,900 at the middle. Household income ↓
Longer trips than most towns
The average trip to work is 29.3 minutes (26 in the middle of Canadian towns), and 6.8% 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.
The Jobs & income grade for Perry: D
Better than 13% of Canadian towns on three measures together, #712 of 866 in Ontario.
Its strongest measure is household income; 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.
What households in Perry earn
Before tax, 2020: lower than in 60% of Canadian towns.
4 of the 6 other places of 2,500+ in the Parry Sound census division have a higher median. Perry’s median is 21% below the middle of Ontario’s towns ($91,600). Because 2020 was the first year of the pandemic, emergency benefits make up part of these before-tax incomes.
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census: median total income of households in 2020, before tax (a neighbourhood’s estimated from its dissemination areas’ income groups).
The length of the trip to work in Perry
Statistics Canada’s own average, timed exactly rather than by band, is 26.7 minutes. Only 16% get to work within a quarter-hour, against 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.
On a working day, Perry loses more workers than it gains
About 7 residents leave for work for each person who comes in. 7.2% 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.
93% of Perry’s residents in work leave it to work; Huntsville takes the most
- Huntsville25
- Strong25
- McMurrich/Monteith15
- Kearney10
- Armour10
Of those coming in, Huntsville supplies the most: 25.
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census (98-10-0459): commuting flows between municipalities (census subdivisions), rounded to 5; linked names have their own pages.
In Perry, 69% of people aged 15 to 64 have a job
Of the 6 other places of 2,500 people or more in the Parry Sound census division, 2 have a smaller share of 15-to-64s in work.
The participation rate, everyone 15 and over working or looking for work, was 53%. Across all ages 15 and over the share in work falls to 48%: many residents are past working age. In October 2026, 56% of the wider area’s adults had a job, on the Labour Force Survey’s count. 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.
Leaving the car at home: 2.1% of commuters in Perry
Transit barely figures here, against 3.5% in the middle of Canadian towns. Nearly everyone drives: 98% of commuters go by car, truck or van. Fewer worked at home than in the middle of Canadian towns: 12% against 21%.
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census: main mode of commuting; average durations by mode from table 98-10-0458 (whole municipalities only).
About as many people are on EI in the Parry Sound census division as in 2019
February 2021 was the busiest month, with 3,090 people on EI, 2.1 times 2019’s average. Roughly 4 in every 100 people aged 15 to 64 in the division draw EI. Compared with a year earlier, the count in August 2026 fell by 5%.
Statistics Canada, Employment Insurance beneficiaries by census division (14-10-0323): all income benefits, not seasonally adjusted. Data for EI beneficiaries covers the Parry Sound 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 Perry is: D
Better than 8% of Canadian towns on two measures together, #855 of 866 in Ontario.
OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL); active commuting from the 2021 Census.
Perry places 473rd of 553 on jobs and income among Canadian towns of 2,500 to 3,900
| # | Place | People | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Household income | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Upper Mount Royal Alberta | 2,758 | 83% | 12% | $188K | A+ |
| 2 | Central River Heights Manitoba | 2,736 | 84% | 5.4% | $137K | A+ |
| 3 | Crescentwood Manitoba | 3,060 | 87% | 5% | $123K | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 23 | McDougall Ontario | 3,002 | 82% | 9.6% | $93K | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 33 | Adelaide-Metcalfe Ontario | 3,196 | 86% | 5.9% | $107K | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 35 | Enniskillen Ontario | 3,174 | 82% | 5.2% | $105K | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 471 | Senneterre Quebec | 2,832 | 69% | 6.5% | $59K | D |
| 472 | Georgian Bay Ontario | 3,798 | 68% | 11% | $82K | D |
| 473 | Perry Ontario | 2,866 | 69% | 8.8% | $73K | D |
| 474 | Saint-David-de-Falardeau Quebec | 3,128 | 68% | 9.4% | $78K | D |
| 475 | Black River-Matheson Ontario | 2,899 | 72% | 8.6% | $76K | D |
| … | ||||||
| 553 | Division No. 8, Subdivision L Newfoundland and Labrador | 2,724 | 43% | 30% | $51K | D− |
Ordered by Jobs & income Grade: the top three, the places either side of Perry, and others among Ontario’s towns.
Work next door to Perry
| Place | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Household income | Average trip | Jobs | Walk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Perry | 69% | 8.8% | $73K | 29.3 min | D | D |
| Armour 8.1 km | 62% | 18% | $71K | 29.8 min | D | C |
| Kearney 10.5 km | 62% | 9.8% | $70K | 34.3 min | D− | D− |
| Burk's Falls 13.4 km | 77% | 11% | $54K | 24.9 min | C− | 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 Perry, where it comes from, and what it leaves out.
- In work. Working residents per resident of working age (15 to 64), from the 2021 Census.
- Unemployment. Of everyone 15 or older who was working or job-hunting in the census week, the part still looking. Someone not seeking work isn’t in it at all.
- 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. Our average assumes everyone in, say, the 15-to-29-minute band takes 22 minutes. Across all the bands that runs a shade above Statistics Canada’s measured average.
- 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. Statistics Canada counts EI beneficiaries each month by census division. Seasonal work makes it swing, so read it as a trend, not a jobless 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.
- Which towns we compare. Medians over towns and neighbourhoods of at least 2,500 residents. Whole cities would swamp them and reserves sit outside the rankings, so neither is in.
Questions about work in Perry
What is the average household income in Perry?
The census puts Perry at $72,500 for 2020, before tax and at the median, against $85,900 in the middle of Canadian towns.
How do people in Perry get to work?
By car: 98% of commuters, 2.1% walk; on census day 12% of those in work worked from home.
How long is the commute from Perry?
29.3 minutes is the average trip, with 16% of commuters there in under 15 minutes and 6.8% taking an hour or more.
Where do people in Perry work?
7.2% work in Perry itself. Of those who leave, the most go to Huntsville (470), then Bracebridge (35).
How many jobs are there in Perry?
In June 2026, 72 businesses with employees were on Statistics Canada’s count.
What is the unemployment rate in Perry?
The 2021 census found 8.8% unemployed, against 9.9% in the middle of Canadian towns; the Labour Force Survey’s latest, for the Northeast economic region, is 6% (October 2026).
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).