Photo: P199 · CC BY-SA 3.0The share of 15-to-64s with a job in Petrolia trails that of 68% of Canadian towns
9.1% of the labour force in Petrolia was out of work at the 2021 census; the middle of Canadian towns is 9.9%. Petrolia is the usual workplace of 2,485 people, and 1,790 of its own residents commute to a job. Half the households in Petrolia had more than $85,800 in 2020, before tax, against $85,900 in the middle of Canadian towns.
The work numbers behind Petrolia
A local job centre
With 2,485 jobs based in Petrolia and 1,790 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 20.6 minutes (26 in the middle of Canadian towns), and 2.5% 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.
Petrolia grades B for jobs and income
Better than 63% of Canadian towns on three measures together, #204 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.
A working day adds 33% to the people at work in Petrolia
About 2 people arrive to work in Petrolia for each resident who goes out. The job is inside the municipality for 41% of its commuters (70% in the middle of Canadian towns).
People with no fixed workplace are in neither count.
Shorter than the middle of Canadian towns: commutes from Petrolia average 20.6 minutes
The middle of Ontario’s towns averages 28.6 minutes. A quarter-hour or less for 41% of commuters, against 31% in the middle of Ontario’s towns. An hour or more: 2.5% of commuters, under the 7.9% in the middle of Ontario’s towns. Statistics Canada’s own average, timed exactly rather than by band, is 18.1 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.
1,746 people come into Petrolia to work, most from Sarnia and Enniskillen
- Sarnia545
- Enniskillen260
- Plympton-Wyoming200
- Chatham195
- Corunna180
- Brooke-Alvinston80
- Dawn-Euphemia65
- Oil Springs65
- Watford45
- Forest30
70% of the people who work in Petrolia live outside it, 545 of them in Sarnia, 21 km away. Sarnia is where the largest group of commuters out goes, 600 of them.
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census (98-10-0459): commuting flows between municipalities (census subdivisions), rounded to 5; linked names have their own pages.
The share of 15-to-64s in work in Petrolia: 71%
Of the 7 other places of 2,500 people or more in the Lambton census division, one has a smaller share of 15-to-64s in work.
Counting retirees, 53% of everyone aged 15 and over was working. The monthly Labour Force Survey, which covers the wider area, put its employment rate at 57% in October 2026. Working or looking, 58% of everyone 15 and over was in the labour force. Statistics Canada counted on 11 May 2021, with much of the country under pandemic rules: more people were out of work or at home than usual.
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 Petrolia earn
Before tax, 2020: higher than in 67% of Canadian towns.
Of the 7 other places of 2,500 or more in the Lambton census division, 4 have a higher median. Set beside Ontario’s towns, where the median is $91,600, Petrolia sits 6% 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).
Without a car, 4.4% of Petrolia’s commuters get to work
Home was the workplace for 13%, under the 21% in the middle of Canadian towns. Transit barely figures here, against 3.5% in the middle of Canadian towns. Nearly everyone drives: 95% of commuters go by car, truck or van.
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census: main mode of commuting; average durations by mode from table 98-10-0458 (whole municipalities only).
20% more people are on EI in the Lambton census division than in 2019
Per 100 residents aged 15 to 64, about 4.6 receive EI. Compared with a year earlier, the count in August 2026 fell by 8%. The highest month was February 2021: 7,680 people, 2.9 times the 2019 level.
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). Petrolia doesn’t get its own EI beneficiaries figures; the ones here come from the Lambton census division.
The Walkability grade for Petrolia: B
Better than 65% of Canadian towns on two measures together, #590 of 866 in Ontario.
OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL); active commuting from the 2021 Census.
How Petrolia ranks: 260th of 707 Canadian towns of 4,500 to 8,700
| # | Place | People | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Household income | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Labrador City Newfoundland and Labrador | 7,965 | 79% | 5.5% | $146K | A+ |
| 2 | Cornwallis Manitoba | 4,705 | 85% | 2.1% | $99K | A+ |
| 3 | Silverwood Heights Saskatchewan | 8,153 | 81% | 5.8% | $118K | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 6 | Sioux Lookout Ontario | 6,122 | 79% | 5.7% | $103K | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 8 | Island Park-Wellington Village Ontario | 5,486 | 81% | 7% | $161K | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 23 | Alta Vista Ontario | 8,387 | 78% | 8.3% | $138K | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 258 | Carlisle Ontario | 7,161 | 77% | 10% | $148K | B |
| 259 | Griesbach Alberta | 6,640 | 73% | 9.8% | $108K | B |
| 260 | Petrolia Ontario | 6,422 | 71% | 9.1% | $86K | B |
| 261 | Fairhaven Saskatchewan | 6,536 | 75% | 11% | $75K | B |
| 262 | Scenic Acres Alberta | 8,026 | 72% | 12% | $140K | B |
| … | ||||||
| 707 | Chertsey Quebec | 5,678 | 64% | 8.6% | $58K | D− |
Ordered by Jobs & income Grade: the top three, the places either side of Petrolia, and others among Ontario’s towns.
Jobs near Petrolia: the places around it
| Place | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Household income | Average trip | Jobs | Walk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Petrolia | 71% | 9.1% | $86K | 20.6 min | B | B |
| Enniskillen 2.1 km | 82% | 5.2% | $105K | 23.5 min | A+ | C+ |
| Plympton-Wyoming 13.3 km | 75% | 7.5% | $109K | 23.9 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 Petrolia, 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. 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. 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. People receiving EI benefits each month, counted for the census division. It follows the local job market; it isn’t an unemployment rate.
- The Labour Force Survey. Sampled each month and released for regions rather than towns, so its rate describes the area around the town.
- 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 Petrolia
What is the average household income in Petrolia?
The census puts Petrolia at $85,800 for 2020, before tax and at the median, against $85,900 in the middle of Canadian towns.
How do people in Petrolia get to work?
By car: 95% of commuters, 3.9% walk and 0.5% cycle; on census day 13% of those in work worked from home.
How long is the commute from Petrolia?
20.6 minutes is the average trip, with 41% of commuters there in under 15 minutes and 2.5% taking an hour or more.
Where do people in Petrolia work?
41% work in Petrolia itself. Of those who leave, the most go to Sarnia (600), then Corunna (115).
How many jobs are there in Petrolia?
The 2021 census counted about 2,485 people working in Petrolia: 1.4 jobs for every resident who commutes to a fixed workplace. Statistics Canada counted 150 businesses with employees in June 2026.
What is the unemployment rate in Petrolia?
Two figures answer it: 9.1% on census day in May 2021 (9.9% in the middle of Canadian towns), and 7.9% for the Windsor-Sarnia economic region in the Labour Force Survey of 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).