Photo: JFVoll · CC BY-SA 4.0Most of Wainfleet works elsewhere: the town has 0.3 jobs for each resident in work
The median household in Wainfleet had $95,600 before tax in 2020, next to $85,900 for the middle of Canadian towns. Getting to work from Wainfleet takes 29.9 minutes on average, an hour or more for 7.2%. In Wainfleet, 74% of residents aged 15 to 64 were working in May 2021, and the middle of Canadian towns sits at 73%.
What Wainfleet’s work numbers say
Work near the middle
Of residents aged 15 to 64, 74% held a job in 2021; the middle of Canadian towns is 73%, and over all adults the share is 56%. In work ↓
Longer trips than most towns
Commutes take 29.9 minutes on average, against 26 in the middle of Canadian towns; 7.2% 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.
Jobs & income in Wainfleet: graded B−
Better than 45% of Canadian towns on three measures together, #349 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.
Time on the road to work from Wainfleet
Statistics Canada’s own average, timed exactly rather than by band, is 26.9 minutes. The middle of Ontario’s towns averages 28.6 minutes. Trips under 15 minutes: 22%, fewer 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.
Commuting time at the 2021 Census, to work only, for people who travel to a usual workplace or have none fixed.
The daily tide in Wainfleet runs outward
2,025 residents of Wainfleet had a usual place of work at the 2021 census, and 640 people had theirs in Wainfleet, wherever they lived.
For every person who comes in to work, about 5 residents travel out. 14% 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.
86% of Wainfleet’s residents in work leave it to work; Port Colborne takes the most
- Port Colborne310
- Welland245
- Hamilton185
- St. Catharines170
- Smithville165
- Caledonia155
- Pelham115
- Beamsville90
- Niagara Falls80
- Thorold55
Of those coming in, Welland supplies the most: 125.
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 Wainfleet work and where people who work there live, the ten largest each way.
Work and the working-age population of Wainfleet
Of the 11 other places of 2,500 people or more in the Niagara census division, 7 have a smaller share of 15-to-64s in work.
Take in all adults, retirees with them, and only 56% were working. By October 2026, the Labour Force Survey had 55% of the wider area’s adults in work. Working or looking, 62% of everyone 15 and over was in the labour force. Pandemic rules were in force on census day, 11 May 2021; the Labour Force Survey shows how jobs have moved since.
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 Wainfleet earn
Before tax, 2020: higher than in 81% of Canadian towns.
Of the 11 other places of 2,500 or more in the Niagara census division, 5 have a higher median. Set beside Ontario’s towns, where the median is $91,600, Wainfleet sits 4% above. 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).
Walk, cycle or ride transit: the choice of 2% of Wainfleet’s commuters
22% of everyone in work worked at home on census day, against 21% in the middle of Canadian towns. Transit barely figures here, against 3.5% in the middle of Canadian towns. Nearly everyone drives: 97% 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).
How residents who commute got to work, 2021 Census; working at home is counted apart.
EI claims in the Niagara census division run 37% above their 2019 level
For each 100 residents of working age in the division, about 4.3 are on EI. Over the year to August 2026, the count rose by 1%. At its peak, in February 2021, 35,740 people were on EI, 4.3 times the 2019 average.
Statistics Canada, Employment Insurance beneficiaries by census division (14-10-0323): all income benefits, not seasonally adjusted. Area behind the EI beneficiaries figures: the Niagara 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).
Wainfleet grades D for walkability
Better than 8% of Canadian towns on two measures together, #856 of 866 in Ontario.
OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL); active commuting from the 2021 Census.
For jobs and income, Wainfleet is 403rd of 703 Canadian towns of 5,100 to 9,900
| # | Place | People | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Household income | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Labrador City Newfoundland and Labrador | 7,965 | 79% | 5.5% | $146K | A+ |
| 2 | Silverwood Heights Saskatchewan | 8,153 | 81% | 5.8% | $118K | A+ |
| 3 | North River Heights Manitoba | 7,228 | 82% | 8.4% | $143K | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 6 | Sioux Lookout Ontario | 6,122 | 79% | 5.7% | $103K | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 8 | Island Park-Wellington Village Ontario | 5,486 | 81% | 7% | $161K | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 20 | Alta Vista Ontario | 8,387 | 78% | 8.3% | $138K | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 401 | Buckingham Heights British Columbia | 8,794 | 71% | 7.9% | $118K | B− |
| 402 | Fatima Quebec | 6,213 | 82% | 6.6% | $69K | B− |
| 403 | Wainfleet Ontario | 7,329 | 74% | 9.2% | $96K | B− |
| 404 | Rushdale Ontario | 5,154 | 67% | 12% | $117K | B− |
| 405 | Douro-Dummer Ontario | 8,379 | 75% | 9% | $96K | C+ |
| … | ||||||
| 703 | Chertsey Quebec | 5,678 | 64% | 8.6% | $58K | D− |
Ordered by Jobs & income Grade: the top three, the places either side of Wainfleet, and others among Ontario’s towns.
The work picture around Wainfleet
| Place | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Household income | Average trip | Jobs | Walk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wainfleet | 74% | 9.2% | $96K | 29.9 min | B− | D |
| Port Colborne 13.7 km | 66% | 13% | $70K | 25.4 min | C− | B |
| Welland 14.3 km | 65% | 15% | $72K | 24.5 min | C− | A− |
| Pelham 15.4 km | 76% | 8.6% | $110K | 25 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 Wainfleet, 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. 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. Why 15 to 64? Otherwise retirees would pull the rate down in older towns. The census can’t say how old a neighbourhood’s workers are, so the count of people in work takes every age.
- 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. The census median total income of households in 2020, before tax; a neighbourhood’s is estimated from its dissemination areas’ income groups.
- Trip times. How long getting to work normally takes, averaged from the census’s time bands at their middles; expect it to read slightly high against the timed figure.
- Where people commute. Jobs count everyone whose usual workplace lies in the municipality, residents or commuters from elsewhere, from Statistics Canada’s home-by-workplace table.
- Which towns we compare. The comparison pool is places of 2,500 people or more, towns or neighbourhoods inside cities, without whole cities or reserves, and we compare with its median.
Questions about work in Wainfleet
What is the average household income in Wainfleet?
The median household in Wainfleet had $95,600 before tax in 2020, against $85,900 in the middle of Canadian towns.
How do people in Wainfleet get to work?
Driving takes 97% of commuters to work, 2% walk, and on census day 22% of those in work were at home.
How long is the commute from Wainfleet?
About 29.9 minutes on average, with 22% under a quarter-hour and 7.2% at an hour or longer.
Where do people in Wainfleet work?
Only 14% work in Wainfleet itself; the rest go first to Port Colborne (310) and Welland (245).
How many jobs are there in Wainfleet?
Statistics Canada counted 220 businesses with employees in June 2026.
What is the unemployment rate in Wainfleet?
At the 2021 census 9.2% of the labour force had no job and was looking (9.9% in the middle of Canadian towns). The latest monthly survey, for the St. Catharines-Niagara metro area, gives 7.1% in 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).