Photo: Johny-le-cowboy · CC BY-SA 3.0Households in Alma earn less than those in 72% of Canadian towns
76% of people aged 15 to 64 in Alma had a job at the 2021 census, against 73% in the middle of Canadian towns. Workers in Alma spend 18.6 minutes on the way to work on average, and 4.3% need an hour or more. When the 2021 census was taken, 5.3% of people in Alma who wanted a job had none, next to 9.9% for the middle of Canadian towns.
Alma at work: what stands out
Less unemployment than most towns
The Labour Force Survey had the area at 3.6% in October 2026; on census day in 2021 the town’s own rate was 5.3%, where the middle of Canadian towns had 9.9%. Unemployment ↓
Lower incomes than most towns
Half the households here had more than $67,600 in 2020, against $85,900 in the middle of Canadian towns. Household income ↓
A local job centre
With 12,115 jobs based in Alma and 10,555 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 18.6 minutes (26 in the middle of Canadian towns), and 4.3% 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, Alma grades B−
Better than 55% of Canadian towns on three measures together, #246 of 507 in Quebec.
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 Alma has a job
None of the 3 other places of 2,500 people or more in the Lac-Saint-Jean-Est census division has a smaller share of 15-to-64s in work.
The Labour Force Survey’s employment rate for the wider area was 59% in October 2026. The labour force, people 15 and over with a job or seeking one, took in 59% of residents that age. Counting retirees, 56% of everyone aged 15 and over was 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.
The median household in Alma had $67,600 in 2020
Every other place of 2,500 or more in the Lac-Saint-Jean-Est census division has a higher median. The middle of Quebec’s towns is $74,100, and Alma is 9% below it. 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).
Every working day, Alma’s workforce grows by 13%
Each resident commuting out of Alma is matched by about 2 coming in. 73% 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.
Time on the road to work from Alma
Statistics Canada’s own average, timed exactly rather than by band, is 16.8 minutes. The middle of Quebec’s towns averages 26.5 minutes. A quarter-hour or less for 62% of commuters, against 31% in the middle of Quebec’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.
4,420 people come into Alma to work, most from Saguenay and Saint-Bruno
- Saguenay1,155
- Saint-Bruno330
- Saint-Nazaire200
- Roberval150
- Métabetchouan--Lac-à-la-Croix125
- L'Ascension-de-Notre-Seigneur115
- Saint-Gédéon90
- Hébertville60
- Dolbeau-Mistassini50
- Saint-Ludger-de-Milot50
36% of the people who work in Alma live outside it, 1,055 of them in Saguenay, 44 km away. Of residents who leave for work, most head to Saguenay (1,155).
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census (98-10-0459): commuting flows between municipalities (census subdivisions), rounded to 5; linked names have their own pages.
6.4% of commuters from Alma go without a car
Nearly everyone drives: 92% of commuters go by car, truck or van. Transit takes 0.3% of commuters, against 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).
In the Lac-Saint-Jean-Est census division, 5% more people receive EI than in 2019
Compared with a year earlier, the count in August 2026 fell by 1%. The count topped out in January 2021 at 4,270 people, 2.5 times the 2019 average. That is about 4.8 people on EI for every 100 aged 15 to 64 in 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). For EI beneficiaries, the only official count covers all of the Lac-Saint-Jean-Est census division, Alma included.
On getting around on foot, Alma grades B+
OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL); active commuting from the 2021 Census.
Alma is 95th of 257 Canadian towns of 21,500 to 41,400 people for jobs and income
| # | 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+ |
| … | ||||||
| 5 | Val-Bélair Quebec | 30,003 | 84% | 4.3% | $96K | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 7 | Sainte-Julie Quebec | 30,981 | 84% | 4.7% | $107K | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 11 | Neufchatel Est—Lebourgneuf Quebec | 37,164 | 83% | 6.2% | $83K | A |
| … | ||||||
| 93 | South Frontenac Ontario | 21,599 | 76% | 9% | $104K | B |
| 94 | Thetford Mines Quebec | 27,155 | 78% | 6.6% | $57K | B− |
| 95 | Alma Quebec | 30,659 | 76% | 5.3% | $68K | B− |
| 96 | High Park-Swansea Ontario | 22,970 | 77% | 11% | $104K | B− |
| 97 | Campbell River British Columbia | 38,300 | 73% | 8.7% | $78K | B− |
| … | ||||||
| 257 | Parc-Extension Quebec | 29,066 | 61% | 16% | $48K | D− |
Ordered by Jobs & income Grade: the top three, the places either side of Alma, and others among Quebec’s towns.
Neighbouring places to Alma, compared
| Place | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Household income | Average trip | Jobs | Walk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alma | 76% | 5.3% | $68K | 18.6 min | B− | B+ |
| Saint-Nazaire 6.7 km | 83% | 5.1% | $80K | 25.6 min | B+ | D |
| Saint-Bruno 9.2 km | 85% | 2.9% | $79K | 21 min | A | B− |
| Saint-Gédéon 9.8 km | 81% | 5.4% | $86K | 23.5 min | A | C |
| Hébertville-Station 12.1 km | 86% | 3.7% | $67K | 24.2 min | B | C+ |
| L'Ascension-de-Notre-Seigneur 15.3 km | 72% | 5.6% | $73K | 25.7 min | C | B |
| Larouche 15.8 km | 78% | 3.6% | $87K | 29.5 min | B− | 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 Alma, where it comes from, and what it leaves out.
- 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. 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 census-week jobless rate for residents 15 and over. Its base is the labour force, those employed plus those actively looking.
- 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. 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.
- Which towns we compare. Any town of 2,500 or more counts, and so does any city neighbourhood that size; the city as a whole and First Nations reserves don’t. The middle is the median.
Questions about work in Alma
What is the unemployment rate in Alma?
Two figures answer it: 5.3% on census day in May 2021 (9.9% in the middle of Canadian towns), and 3.6% for the Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean economic region in the Labour Force Survey of October 2026.
What is the average household income in Alma?
The census puts Alma at $67,600 for 2020, before tax and at the median, against $85,900 in the middle of Canadian towns.
How do people in Alma get to work?
By car: 92% of commuters, 0.3% take public transit, 5.5% walk and 0.6% cycle; on census day 9.9% of those in work worked from home.
How long is the commute from Alma?
18.6 minutes is the average trip, with 62% of commuters there in under 15 minutes and 4.3% taking an hour or more.
Where do people in Alma work?
73% work in Alma itself; of those who leave, the most go to Saguenay (1,155), then Saint-Bruno (330).
How many jobs are there in Alma?
The 2021 census counted about 12,115 people working in Alma: 1.2 jobs for every resident who commutes to a fixed workplace. Statistics Canada counted 1,029 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).