Photo: Joe Mabel (on Flickr as Joe Mabel from Seattle, US) · CC BY-SA 3.0Wasaga Beach has fewer jobs than residents in work: 0.5 for each
Workers in Wasaga Beach spend 31.5 minutes on the way to work on average, and 13% need an hour or more. The 2021 census put unemployment in Wasaga Beach at 14%; the middle of Canadian towns is 9.9%. In 2020, a household at the middle of Wasaga Beach had $75,800 before tax, next to $85,900 for the middle of Canadian towns.
The work figures that set Wasaga Beach apart
Fewer people in work than most towns
With 66% of its 15-to-64s in work in 2021, against 73% in the middle of Canadian towns, it has 41% of all adults employed. In work ↓
More unemployment than most towns
Census day in 2021 put 14% out of work (9.9% in the middle of Canadian towns), and the area’s monthly survey gave 6.5% in October 2026. Unemployment ↓
Longer trips than most towns
The average trip to work is 31.5 minutes (26 in the middle of Canadian towns), and 13% 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.
Jobs & income in Wasaga Beach: graded D
Better than 9% of Canadian towns on three measures together, #759 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.
The share of 15-to-64s in work in Wasaga Beach: 66%
Of the 17 other places of 2,500 people or more in the Simcoe census division, 2 have a smaller share of 15-to-64s in work.
In October 2026, 64% 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 47%. Take in all adults, retirees with them, and only 41% were working. 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.
Time on the road to work from Wasaga Beach
Statistics Canada’s own average, timed exactly rather than by band, is 30.1 minutes. The middle of Ontario’s towns averages 28.6 minutes. Only 27% 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.
The daily tide in Wasaga Beach runs outward
About 4 residents leave for work for each person who comes in. The job is inside the municipality for 30% of its commuters (70% in the middle of Canadian towns).
People with no fixed workplace are in neither count.
70% of Wasaga Beach’s residents in work leave it to work; Collingwood takes the most
- Collingwood160
- Stayner140
- Springwater130
- Barrie115
- Tiny100
- Oro-Medonte30
- Angus25
- Brampton20
- Thornbury20
- Mississauga15
- Collingwood1,250
- Barrie550
- Stayner350
- Alliston285
- Angus245
- Toronto155
- Vaughan125
- Brampton105
- Thornbury105
- Mississauga90
Collingwood sends the largest group the other way, 160 people.
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census (98-10-0459): commuting flows between municipalities (census subdivisions), rounded to 5; linked names have their own pages.
Earnings at home in Wasaga Beach: households
Before tax, 2020: lower than in 53% of Canadian towns.
14 of the 17 other places of 2,500+ in the Simcoe census division have a higher median. The middle of Ontario’s towns is $91,600, and Wasaga Beach is 17% below it. Incomes are for 2020, the first pandemic year, so CERB and other emergency payments are part of them.
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census: median total income of households in 2020, before tax (a neighbourhood’s estimated from its dissemination areas’ income groups).
Walking, cycling or transit: 4.7% of Wasaga Beach’s commuters
Working at home: 20%, close to the middle of Canadian towns. Transit takes 1.5% of commuters, against 3.5% in the middle of Canadian towns. Nearly everyone drives: 93% 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).
EI claims in the Simcoe census division run 38% above their 2019 level
Roughly 4.4 in every 100 people aged 15 to 64 in the division draw EI. Compared with a year earlier, the count in August 2026 rose by 5%. The count topped out in February 2021 at 31,440 people, 3.2 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 Simcoe 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).
Walking in Wasaga Beach earns B−
Better than 51% of Canadian towns on two measures together, #681 of 866 in Ontario.
OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL); active commuting from the 2021 Census.
How Wasaga Beach ranks: 237th of 291 Canadian towns of 20,100 to 38,800
| # | Place | People | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Household income | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Yellowknife Northwest Territories | 22,858 | 80% | 5.8% | $148K | A+ |
| 2 | Whitehorse Yukon | 34,129 | 82% | 5.6% | $112K | A+ |
| 3 | Arcola East Saskatchewan | 33,823 | 79% | 7.7% | $123K | A+ |
| 4 | Woolwich Ontario | 31,382 | 82% | 6.2% | $115K | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 9 | Wilmot Ontario | 22,890 | 81% | 6.8% | $115K | A |
| … | ||||||
| 19 | Middlesex Centre Ontario | 21,689 | 79% | 7.7% | $125K | A |
| … | ||||||
| 235 | Vieux-Rosemont Quebec | 28,353 | 77% | 8.5% | $58K | D |
| 236 | Agincourt South-Malvern West Ontario | 24,438 | 64% | 15% | $81K | D |
| 237 | Wasaga Beach Ontario | 28,736 | 66% | 14% | $76K | D |
| 238 | Verdun-Centre Quebec | 30,304 | 74% | 9.9% | $62K | D |
| 239 | Steeles Ontario | 22,943 | 58% | 19% | $82K | D |
| … | ||||||
| 291 | Parc-Extension Quebec | 29,066 | 61% | 16% | $48K | D− |
Ordered by Jobs & income Grade: the top three, the places either side of Wasaga Beach, and others among Ontario’s towns.
The work picture around Wasaga Beach
| Place | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Household income | Average trip | Jobs | Walk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wasaga Beach | 66% | 14% | $76K | 31.5 min | D | B− |
| Stayner 10 km | 78% | 9.4% | $97K | 30.2 min | B | B− |
| Collingwood 14.3 km | 73% | 13% | $82K | 21.6 min | B | 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 Wasaga Beach, where it comes from, and what it leaves out.
- 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. 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. 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. Monthly EI recipients across the census division: a pulse of the local job market rather than a measure of who is out of work.
- 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.
- 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. A census-day figure: people without a job who were looking, divided by all those working or looking, ages 15 and up.
- 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 Wasaga Beach
What is the unemployment rate in Wasaga Beach?
At the 2021 census 14% of the labour force had no job and was looking (9.9% in the middle of Canadian towns). The latest monthly survey, for the Kitchener-Waterloo-Barrie economic region, gives 6.5% in October 2026.
What is the average household income in Wasaga Beach?
At $75,800 before tax in 2020, the median household in Wasaga Beach compares with $85,900 in the middle of Canadian towns.
How do people in Wasaga Beach get to work?
By car: 93% of commuters, 1.5% take public transit, 2.3% walk and 0.9% cycle; on census day 20% of those in work worked from home.
How long is the commute from Wasaga Beach?
31.5 minutes is the average trip, with 27% of commuters there in under 15 minutes and 13% taking an hour or more.
Where do people in Wasaga Beach work?
30% work in Wasaga Beach itself. Of those who leave, the most go to Collingwood (1,250), then Barrie (550).
How many jobs are there in Wasaga Beach?
In June 2026, 516 businesses with employees were on Statistics Canada’s count.
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).