Photo: P199 · CC BY-SA 3.0Whitestone’s household incomes are lower than in 88% of Canadian towns
115 people have their usual place of work in Whitestone, against 200 residents who travel to a job. The 2021 census found 66% of working-age people in Whitestone employed, and the middle of Canadian towns sits at 73%. Whitestone had an unemployment rate of 8.4% at the 2021 census; the middle of Canadian towns is 9.9%.
The work figures that set Whitestone apart
Fewer people in work than most towns
66% of people aged 15 to 64 had a job at the 2021 census, against 73% in the middle of Canadian towns; counting everyone 15 and over, retirees included, it was 39%. In work ↓
Lower incomes than most towns
The middle of Canadian towns is $85,900, and the median household here had $60,000 before tax in 2020. Household income ↓
Longer trips than most towns
The average trip to work is 30.8 minutes (26 in the middle of Canadian towns), and 6.7% 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, Whitestone grades D−
Better than 3% of Canadian towns on three measures together.
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.
Who in Whitestone has a job
Of the 7 other places of 2,500 people or more in the Parry Sound census division, one has a smaller share of 15-to-64s in work.
Counting retirees, 39% of everyone aged 15 and over was working. A more recent figure, for the wider area: 56% in work in October 2026, by the Labour Force Survey. Participation, the share of residents 15 and over working or looking for work, came to 43%. The census caught the labour market on 11 May 2021, deep in the pandemic, so unemployment and working from home both ran above normal.
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.
$60,000 a year: the median household in Whitestone
Whitestone’s median is 34% below the middle of Ontario’s towns ($91,600). Of the 7 other places of 2,500 or more in the Parry Sound census division, 6 have 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).
Whitestone has a slower trip to work than the middle of Canadian towns: 30.8 minutes
Timed exactly, the average is 28 minutes (Statistics Canada). In the middle of Ontario’s towns, the average commute is 28.6 minutes. Trips under 15 minutes: 32%, close to the middle of Ontario’s towns. An hour or more: 6.7% of commuters, under the 7.9% 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.
More of Whitestone’s workers leave each day than arrive
Outbound commuters outnumber inbound ones about 3 to 1. 32% 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.
68% of Whitestone’s residents in work leave it to work; Parry Sound takes the most
Inbound, the leader is Parry Sound (20).
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census (98-10-0459): commuting flows between municipalities (census subdivisions), rounded to 5; linked names have their own pages.
Walking, cycling or transit: 0% of Whitestone’s commuters
The car is the way to work for 95% of commuters. Fewer worked at home than in the middle of Canadian towns: 18% against 21%. Hardly anyone takes transit to work, where the middle of Canadian towns has 3.5%.
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census: main mode of commuting; average durations by mode from table 98-10-0458 (whole municipalities only).
In the Parry Sound census division, the count on EI is close to where it was in 2019
Set against the same month a year before, the count in August 2026 fell by 5%. The count topped out in February 2021 at 3,090 people, 2.1 times the 2019 average. That works out to around 4 beneficiaries per 100 people aged 15 to 64 across the division.
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). Behind EI beneficiaries sits data gathered across the Parry Sound census division, with Whitestone one part of it.
Walkability in Whitestone: graded D−
Better than 2% of Canadian towns on two measures together.
OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL); active commuting from the 2021 Census.
Next to Whitestone: how nearby places compare
No closer places have figures: these lie 20–28 km from Whitestone.
| Place | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Household income | Average trip | Jobs | Walk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Whitestone | 66% | 8.4% | $60K | 30.8 min | D− | D− |
| Magnetawan 20.2 km | 60% | 11% | $66K | 28.4 min | D | C− |
| McKellar 21.2 km | 64% | 9.2% | $79K | 32 min | D | D− |
| McDougall 28 km | 82% | 9.6% | $93K | 20.7 min | A+ | D |
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 Whitestone, where it comes from, and what it leaves out.
- 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. 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. Half of households had more than this before tax in 2020, half less, counting every source of income. For a neighbourhood we estimate the median from the income brackets of its dissemination areas.
- 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. 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.
- 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. 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.
- 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 Whitestone
What is the average household income in Whitestone?
Whitestone’s middle household had $60,000 in 2020, before tax; Canadian towns have $85,900 at their middle.
How do people in Whitestone get to work?
95% of commuters go by car. On census day 18% of everyone in work stayed home to work.
How long is the commute from Whitestone?
On average 30.8 minutes; 32% take under 15 minutes and 6.7% take an hour or longer.
Where do people in Whitestone work?
32% work in Whitestone itself. Of those who leave, the most go to Parry Sound (90), then Seguin (20).
How many jobs are there in Whitestone?
About 115 people had their usual place of work in Whitestone at the 2021 census, 0.6 for each working resident with a fixed workplace. Statistics Canada counted 26 businesses with employees in June 2026.
What is the unemployment rate in Whitestone?
On census day in May 2021, unemployment stood at 8.4% of the labour force (9.9% in the middle of Canadian towns). For a recent figure, the Labour Force Survey put the Northeast economic region at 6% 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).