Photo: Ken Lund from Reno, Nevada, USA · CC BY-SA 2.0How Stratford works: jobs, income and commuting
Commutes from Stratford average 18.4 minutes, and 4.3% take an hour or more. In 2020, a household at the middle of Stratford had $77,100 before tax; the middle of Canadian towns is $85,900. The 2021 census found 76% of working-age people in Stratford employed, against 73% in the middle of Canadian towns.
What sets Stratford apart on jobs and income
A local job centre
15,015 people work in Stratford and 10,765 residents commute to a fixed workplace; the middle of Canadian towns has 0.8 jobs per working resident. The daily tide ↓
Shorter trips than most towns
Commutes take 18.4 minutes on average, against 26 in the middle of Canadian towns; 4.3% 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, Stratford grades B+
Better than 71% of Canadian towns on three measures together, #139 of 866 in Ontario.
Its strongest measure is trip times; its weakest, household income.
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.
Each working day, Stratford’s workforce swells by 31%
Each resident commuting out of Stratford is matched by about 3 coming in. The job is inside the municipality for 75% of its commuters (70% in the middle of Canadian towns).
People with no fixed workplace are in neither count.
The length of the trip to work in Stratford
Timed exactly, the average is 16.8 minutes (Statistics Canada). In the middle of Ontario’s towns, the average commute is 28.6 minutes. Trips under 15 minutes: 63%, more than the 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.
6,898 people come into Stratford to work, most from Perth East and London
- Perth East1,035
- London920
- Mitchell795
- Kitchener570
- St. Marys475
- Perth South420
- Tavistock320
- Woodstock280
- New Hamburg220
- Waterloo190
- Kitchener330
- Perth East240
- Elmira225
- Perth South195
- Mitchell170
- New Hamburg145
- Tavistock145
- Cambridge140
- St. Marys135
- Waterloo130
Of everyone working in Stratford, 46% come in from elsewhere; 1,035 make the 15 km trip from Perth East. Of residents who leave for work, most head to Kitchener (330).
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census (98-10-0459): commuting flows between municipalities (census subdivisions), rounded to 5; linked names have their own pages.
Who in Stratford has a job
None of the 5 other places of 2,500 people or more in the Perth census division has a smaller share of 15-to-64s in work.
In October 2026, 54% of the wider area’s adults had a job, on the Labour Force Survey’s count. Participation, the share of residents 15 and over working or looking for work, came to 63%. Across all ages 15 and over the share in work falls to 56%: many residents are past working age. The figures are a snapshot of 11 May 2021, when pandemic rules still kept many people out of work or at home.
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.
Earnings at home in Stratford: households
Before tax, 2020: lower than in 50% of Canadian towns.
Every other place of 2,500 or more in the Perth census division has a higher median. Against the middle of Ontario’s towns ($91,600), Stratford’s median is 16% below. That year, 2020, brought emergency benefits that count in these totals, before tax.
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census: median total income of households in 2020, before tax (a neighbourhood’s estimated from its dissemination areas’ income groups).
11% of commuters from Stratford go without a car
Driving to work is about as common as in the middle of Ontario’s towns, at 87%. Home was the workplace for 20%, under the 21% in the middle of Canadian towns. Few ride transit: 1.8%, where the middle of Canadian towns has 3.5%. More people walk to work here than in the middle of Ontario’s towns: 7.2% against 3.2%.
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census: main mode of commuting; average durations by mode from table 98-10-0458 (whole municipalities only).
30% more people are on EI in the Perth census division than in 2019
In April 2021 it reached 3,460, the most in the series and 2.7 times the 2019 average. That works out to around 3.8 beneficiaries per 100 people aged 15 to 64 across the division. In the twelve months to August 2026 the number fell by 3%.
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). Stratford shares its EI beneficiaries numbers with the rest of the Perth census division.
How walkable Stratford is: A
Better than 91% of Canadian towns on two measures together, #374 of 866 in Ontario.
OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL); active commuting from the 2021 Census.
Among Canadian towns of 25,300 to 48,700, Stratford ranks 34th of 182 for 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+ |
| … | ||||||
| 14 | Bridlewood - Emerald Meadows Ontario | 25,824 | 77% | 8.9% | $136K | A |
| … | ||||||
| 17 | Centre Wellington Ontario | 34,565 | 81% | 7.2% | $101K | A− |
| … | ||||||
| 32 | Wellington Place Ontario | 25,729 | 83% | 7.8% | $90K | B+ |
| 33 | Lincoln Ontario | 28,356 | 76% | 9.5% | $103K | B+ |
| 34 | Stratford Ontario | 36,097 | 76% | 11% | $77K | B+ |
| 35 | Brant Ontario | 45,565 | 78% | 8.8% | $107K | B+ |
| 36 | La Prairie Quebec | 27,159 | 80% | 6.1% | $91K | B+ |
| … | ||||||
| 182 | Parc-Extension Quebec | 29,066 | 61% | 16% | $48K | D− |
Ordered by Jobs & income Grade: the top three, the places either side of Stratford, and others among Ontario’s towns.
Work in and around Stratford
| Place | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Household income | Average trip | Jobs | Walk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stratford | 76% | 11% | $77K | 18.4 min | B+ | A |
| Perth South 14.2 km | 87% | 7.3% | $102K | 21.5 min | A+ | C− |
| Perth East 15.5 km | 86% | 3.9% | $96K | 22.2 min | A+ | B |
| St. Marys 18.3 km | 76% | 10% | $86K | 20.2 min | A− | 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 Stratford, where it comes from, and what it leaves out.
- 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. We divide the number of employed residents by the number aged 15 to 64. Workers past 64 still count on top, because the 2021 Census crosses work with age only for whole municipalities; in return, a retirement town’s pensioners don’t drag the rate down.
- 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. What the median household took in during 2020 before tax, as the census recorded it; an estimate built from income groups when the place is a neighbourhood.
- Trip times. One way, on a usual day, from the census’s travel-time bands. Band midpoints overstate it a little next to the figure Statistics Canada times.
- Where people commute. Built from the census table that pairs each worker’s home municipality with their workplace municipality. A job here means someone who usually works in the municipality, local or not.
- 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 Stratford
What is the unemployment rate in Stratford?
The census put unemployment at 11% in May 2021, where the middle of Canadian towns was 9.9%. More recently, in October 2026, the Labour Force Survey had the Stratford-Bruce Peninsula economic region at 3.8%.
What is the average household income in Stratford?
At $77,100 before tax in 2020, the median household in Stratford compares with $85,900 in the middle of Canadian towns.
How do people in Stratford get to work?
87% of commuters go by car, 1.8% take public transit, 7.2% walk and 2% cycle. On census day 20% of everyone in work stayed home to work.
How long is the commute from Stratford?
On average 18.4 minutes; 63% take under 15 minutes and 4.3% take an hour or longer.
Where do people in Stratford work?
75% work in Stratford itself; of those who leave, the most go to Kitchener (330), then Perth East (240).
How many jobs are there in Stratford?
About 15,015 people had their usual place of work in Stratford at the 2021 census, 1.4 for each working resident with a fixed workplace. Statistics Canada counted 1,208 businesses with employees in June 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).