Photo: P199 · CC BY-SA 3.0St. Joseph has a smaller share of its working-age people in jobs than 70% of Canadian towns
An hour or more each way is the commute for 16% of workers in St. Joseph; the average is 32.8 minutes. In 2020, a household at the middle of St. Joseph had $82,200 before tax, next to $85,900 for the middle of Canadian towns. Out of work in May 2021: 12% of St. Joseph’s labour force; the middle of Canadian towns is 9.9%.
Where St. Joseph stands out on work
Work near the middle
The 2021 census found 71% of 15-to-64s with a job (73% in the middle of Canadian towns). Count every adult, retirees too, and the figure is 44%. In work ↓
Longer trips than most towns
The average trip to work is 32.8 minutes (26 in the middle of Canadian towns), and 16% 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.
On jobs and income, St. Joseph grades C−
Better than 19% of Canadian towns on three measures together.
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.
Time on the road to work from St. Joseph
Trips under 15 minutes: 33%, more than the 31% in the middle of Ontario’s towns. Statistics Canada’s own average, timed exactly rather than by band, is 30.5 minutes. 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.
Commuting time at the 2021 Census, to work only, for people who travel to a usual workplace or have none fixed.
St. Joseph is quieter on a working day than at night
320 residents of St. Joseph had a usual place of work at the 2021 census, and 230 people had theirs in St. Joseph, wherever they lived.
Outbound commuters outnumber inbound ones about 2 to 1.
People with no fixed workplace are in neither count.
53% of St. Joseph’s residents in work leave it to work; Sault Ste. Marie takes the most
- Hilton20
- Johnson15
- Tarbutt and Tarbutt Additional10
- Bruce Mines10
- Macdonald, Meredith and Aberdeen Additional10
- Sault Ste. Marie125
- Johnson30
In the other direction the biggest source is Hilton, with 20.
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 St. Joseph work and where people who work there live, the ten largest each way.
In St. Joseph, 71% of the working-age population has a job
Of the 5 other places of 2,500 people or more in the Algoma census division, 4 have a smaller share of 15-to-64s in work.
A more recent figure, for the wider area: 56% in work in October 2026, by the Labour Force Survey. Working or looking, 51% of everyone 15 and over was in the labour force. Across all ages 15 and over the share in work falls to 44%: many residents are past working age. Census day was 11 May 2021, in the pandemic’s third wave: unemployment ran high and many worked from home, so these figures describe that spring rather than today.
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.
How St. Joseph’s household incomes compare
Before tax, 2020: higher than in 61% of Canadian towns.
Set beside Ontario’s towns, where the median is $91,600, St. Joseph sits 10% below. No other place of 2,500 or more in the Algoma census division has a higher median. 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).
On foot, by bike, bus or train: 3.6% of St. Joseph’s commuters
Hardly anyone takes transit to work, where the middle of Canadian towns has 3.5%. The car is the way to work for 91% of commuters. 21% worked at home on census day, about the same as 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 Algoma census division run 4% above their 2019 level
The count topped out in April 2021 at 7,740 people, 2.4 times the 2019 average. That works out to around 5 beneficiaries per 100 people aged 15 to 64 across the division. Set against the same month a year before, the count in August 2026 rose by 6%.
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). St. Joseph doesn’t get its own EI beneficiaries figures; the ones here come from the Algoma census division.
Everyday places on foot in St. Joseph: C−
Better than 18% of Canadian towns on two measures together.
OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL); active commuting from the 2021 Census.
St. Joseph and its neighbours: work and income
No closer places have figures: these lie 14–39 km from St. Joseph.
| Place | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Household income | Average trip | Jobs | Walk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| St. Joseph | 71% | 12% | $82K | 32.8 min | C− | C− |
| Laird 13.8 km | 72% | 9.8% | $99K | 32.4 min | C | D− |
| Macdonald, Meredith and Aberdeen Additional 22.5 km | 73% | 8.7% | $96K | 33.8 min | C | D− |
| Garden River 14 31.5 km | 53% | 14% | $54K | 20.1 min | D | C+ |
| Sault Ste. Marie 35.4 km | 66% | 13% | $73K | 14.5 min | B− | A− |
| Thessalon 38.9 km | 56% | 14% | $59K | 14 min | C− | A− |
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 St. Joseph, where it comes from, and what it leaves out.
- Household income. The 2020 income of the household at the midpoint, all sources and before tax. Inside a city we rebuild it from the dissemination areas’ income bands, so there it is an estimate.
- 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. How many people in the census division drew Employment Insurance each month; it moves with layoffs and hiring, yet people who don’t qualify are absent from it.
- The Labour Force Survey. A monthly household survey by Statistics Canada, reported for metro areas and economic regions only. It supplies a recent rate next to the 2021 census figure.
- 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. The census-week jobless rate for residents 15 and over. Its base is the labour force, those employed plus those actively looking.
- 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 St. Joseph
How many jobs are there in St. Joseph?
Some 230 people worked in St. Joseph at the 2021 census: 0.7 jobs per working resident with a fixed workplace. In June 2026, 53 businesses with employees were on Statistics Canada’s count.
What is the unemployment rate in St. Joseph?
The census put unemployment at 12% in May 2021, where the middle of Canadian towns was 9.9%. More recently, in October 2026, the Labour Force Survey had the Northeast economic region at 6%.
What is the average household income in St. Joseph?
The median household in St. Joseph had $82,200 before tax in 2020, against $85,900 in the middle of Canadian towns.
How do people in St. Joseph get to work?
Driving takes 91% of commuters to work, 3.6% walk, and on census day 21% of those in work were at home.
How long is the commute from St. Joseph?
About 32.8 minutes on average, with 33% under a quarter-hour and 16% at an hour or longer.
Where do people in St. Joseph work?
47% work in St. Joseph itself. Of those who leave, the most go to Sault Ste. Marie (125), then Johnson (30).
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).