Photo: JFVoll · CC BY-SA 3.0Waterloo has higher household incomes than 80% of Canadian towns
Jobs were held by 68% of people aged 15 to 64 in Waterloo in 2021; the middle of Canadian towns is 73%. Working at home: 40% of its workers, where the middle of Canadian towns has 21%. Census day 2021 found 12% of Waterloo’s labour force without a job, and the middle of Canadian towns sits at 9.9%.
Waterloo and work: the main findings
Fewer people in work than most towns
In work at the 2021 census: 68% of people aged 15 to 64, against 73% in the middle of Canadian towns, and 58% of everyone 15 and over. In work ↓
More jobs than the typical town
With 32,960 jobs based in Waterloo and 29,915 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 22.8 minutes (26 in the middle of Canadian towns), and 5.6% last an hour or longer. The trip to work ↓
Many work from home
On census day, 40% of those in work were working at home; the middle of Canadian towns is 21%. Getting to work ↓
Written from the data on this page: Statistics Canada’s 2021 Census, its commuting tables, Employment Insurance and the Labour Force Survey.
Waterloo grades B for jobs and income
Better than 55% of Canadian towns on three measures together, #256 of 866 in Ontario.
Its strongest measure is household income; 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.
Work and the working-age population of Waterloo
Of the 42 other places of 2,500 people or more in the Waterloo census division, 7 have a smaller share of 15-to-64s in work.
A more recent figure, for the wider area: 65% in work in October 2026, by the Labour Force Survey. 65% of residents aged 15 and over were in the labour force, in work or seeking it. 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.
Waterloo fills up on a working day: 6% more workers
29,915 residents of Waterloo had a usual place of work at the 2021 census, and 32,960 people had theirs in Waterloo, wherever they lived.
The job is inside the municipality for 45% of its commuters (70% in the middle of Canadian towns).
People with no fixed workplace are in neither count.
Waterloo has a quicker trip to work than the middle of Canadian towns: 22.8 minutes
An hour or more: 5.6% of commuters, under the 7.9% in the middle of Ontario’s towns. Timed exactly, the average is 20.8 minutes (Statistics Canada). In the middle of Ontario’s towns, the average commute is 28.6 minutes. Trips under 15 minutes: 37%, 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.
Commuting time at the 2021 Census, to work only, for people who travel to a usual workplace or have none fixed.
Walking, cycling or transit: 13% of Waterloo’s commuters
On foot: 5.6% of commuters, well above the 3.2% in the middle of Ontario’s towns. 84% drive to work, fewer than the 88% in the middle of Ontario’s towns. Transit takes 6.5% of commuters, above the 3.5% 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.
19,468 people come into Waterloo to work, most from Kitchener and Cambridge
- Kitchener12,010
- Cambridge1,420
- Elmira1,055
- New Hamburg870
- Guelph590
- Wellesley455
- Fergus200
- Toronto190
- Ayr175
- Mississauga155
- Kitchener8,200
- Cambridge2,440
- Elmira1,745
- Guelph1,150
- New Hamburg330
- Toronto295
- Ayr190
- Stratford190
- Mississauga175
- Wellesley145
59% of the people who work in Waterloo live outside it, 12,010 of them in Kitchener, 7 km away. Kitchener is where the largest group of commuters out goes, 8,200 of them.
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 Waterloo work and where people who work there live, the ten largest each way.
The median household in Waterloo had $93,900 in 2020
Of the 42 other places of 2,500 or more in the Waterloo census division, 16 have a higher median. Against the middle of Ontario’s towns ($91,600), Waterloo’s median is 3% above. In 2020 emergency benefits topped up many low incomes, and the census counts them here.
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census: median total income of households in 2020, before tax (a neighbourhood’s estimated from its dissemination areas’ income groups).
In the Waterloo census division, 47% more people receive EI than in 2019
Set against the same month a year before, the count in August 2026 rose by 2%. April 2021 was the busiest month, with 28,950 people on EI, 3 times 2019’s average. Per 100 residents aged 15 to 64, about 4.3 receive EI.
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). Nobody publishes EI beneficiaries for Waterloo alone, so this card uses the figure for the Waterloo census division.
The Walkability grade for Waterloo: A+
Better than 96% of Canadian towns on two measures together, #291 of 866 in Ontario.
OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL); active commuting from the 2021 Census.
Ranked on jobs and income, Waterloo is 18th among 39 Canadian towns of 99,700 to 192,300
| # | Place | People | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Household income | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lévis Quebec | 160,882 | 84% | 5.3% | $84K | A |
| 2 | Saanich British Columbia | 126,011 | 77% | 6.8% | $93K | A |
| 3 | Kelowna British Columbia | 167,654 | 78% | 7.9% | $83K | A |
| … | ||||||
| 9 | Guelph Ontario | 160,760 | 74% | 11% | $93K | B |
| … | ||||||
| 16 | Terrebonne Quebec | 126,872 | 80% | 5.9% | $95K | B |
| 17 | Moncton New Brunswick | 102,378 | 74% | 9.1% | $68K | B |
| 18 | Waterloo Ontario | 142,450 | 68% | 12% | $94K | B |
| 19 | Thunder Bay Ontario | 117,671 | 68% | 11% | $78K | B− |
| 20 | Maple Ridge British Columbia | 105,925 | 77% | 6.7% | $105K | B− |
| … | ||||||
| 23 | Greater Sudbury / Grand Sudbury Ontario | 188,504 | 71% | 10% | $84K | B− |
| 24 | Kingston Ontario | 149,527 | 68% | 13% | $79K | B− |
| … | ||||||
| 39 | Cape Breton Nova Scotia | 106,752 | 59% | 20% | $63K | C− |
Ordered by Jobs & income Grade: the top three, the places either side of Waterloo, and others among Ontario’s towns.
Around Waterloo: jobs, pay and the commute
| Place | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Household income | Average trip | Jobs | Walk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Waterloo | 68% | 12% | $94K | 22.8 min | B | A+ |
| Westmount 3.3 km | 76% | 9.2% | $88K | 24.7 min | B+ | A+ |
| Cherry Hill 3.4 km | 70% | 11% | $67K | 23.8 min | C− | A+ |
| Mt. Hope Huron Park 3.6 km | 74% | 10% | $75K | 23.7 min | C+ | A+ |
| Fairfield 3.7 km | 74% | 9.4% | $73K | 22.3 min | B− | A− |
| Victoria Hills 3.9 km | 63% | 15% | $69K | 28.2 min | D | A+ |
| Victoria Park 4.4 km | 68% | 13% | $65K | 23.1 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 Waterloo, where it comes from, and what it leaves out.
- The Labour Force Survey. Statistics Canada surveys households every month; the results come out for metro areas and economic regions, never for single towns, and keep the rate current after 2021.
- In work. People in work of any age over residents aged 15 to 64 (2021 Census). The census doesn’t cross work with age below the municipality, so this is the one rate every town and neighbourhood has; retirees don’t weigh on it.
- Unemployment. Unemployed people over the labour force (in work or looking), aged 15 and over, on census day.
- 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. 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. 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. People receiving EI benefits each month, counted for the census division. It follows the local job market; it isn’t an unemployment rate.
- Which towns we compare. Medians over towns and neighbourhoods of at least 2,500 residents. Whole cities would swamp them and reserves sit outside the rankings, so neither is in.
Questions about work in Waterloo
How long is the commute from Waterloo?
The average commute is 22.8 minutes; 37% of trips take under 15 minutes and 5.6% an hour or more.
Where do people in Waterloo work?
45% work in Waterloo itself. Of those who leave, the most go to Kitchener (8,200), then Cambridge (2,440).
How many jobs are there in Waterloo?
The 2021 census found about 32,960 people with their usual workplace in Waterloo, or 1.1 for each resident who travels to a fixed job. Statistics Canada counted 3,982 businesses with employees in June 2026.
What is the unemployment rate in Waterloo?
In October 2026 the Labour Force Survey put the Kitchener-Cambridge-Waterloo metro area at 7.1%; the 2021 census, which counts the town itself, found 12%, against 9.9% in the middle of Canadian towns.
What is the average household income in Waterloo?
The median household in Waterloo had $93,900 before tax in 2020, against $85,900 in the middle of Canadian towns.
How do people in Waterloo get to work?
84% of commuters drive, 6.5% take public transit, 5.6% walk and 1.3% cycle; 40% of everyone in work worked at home on census day.
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).