Photo: Krisco75 · CC BY-SA 3.0Working-age people in Ayer's Cliff are more likely to have a job than in 98% of Canadian towns
Unemployment in Ayer's Cliff stood at 3.8% on census day 2021; the middle of Canadian towns is 9.9%. The census counted 795 people working in Ayer's Cliff and 380 residents commuting to a fixed workplace. Before tax, the typical household in Ayer's Cliff brought in $76,400 in 2020, next to $85,900 for the middle of Canadian towns.
What the numbers say about work in Ayer's Cliff
More people in work than most towns
89% 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 63%. In work ↓
Less unemployment than most towns
The Labour Force Survey had the area at 3.7% in October 2026; on census day in 2021 the town’s own rate was 3.8%, where the middle of Canadian towns had 9.9%. Unemployment ↓
A local job centre
With 795 jobs based in Ayer's Cliff and 380 working residents, the ratio compares with 0.8 in the middle of Canadian towns. The daily tide ↓
Written from the data on this page: Statistics Canada’s 2021 Census, its commuting tables, Employment Insurance and the Labour Force Survey.
Jobs and income in Ayer's Cliff earn A−
Better than 82% of Canadian towns on three measures together.
Its strongest measure is the share of 15-to-64s in work; 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.
Ayer's Cliff at work: 89% of people aged 15 to 64
Of the 6 other places of 2,500 people or more in the Memphrémagog census division, 5 have a smaller share of 15-to-64s in work.
The monthly Labour Force Survey, which covers the wider area, put its employment rate at 58% in October 2026. The participation rate, everyone 15 and over working or looking for work, was 65%. An older population pulls the all-ages rate down: 63% of residents 15 and over were in work. The figures are a snapshot of 11 May 2021, when pandemic rules still kept many people out of work or at home.
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.
Every working day, Ayer's Cliff’s workforce grows by 86%
Inbound commuters outnumber outbound ones about 3 to 1 in Ayer's Cliff. Of those who commute, 36% stay within the municipality; the middle of Canadian towns is 70%.
People with no fixed workplace are in neither count.
657 people come into Ayer's Cliff to work, most from Sherbrooke and Coaticook
- Sherbrooke135
- Coaticook105
- Magog85
- Stanstead70
- Hatley45
- Barnston-Ouest30
- Stanstead-Est30
- Ogden20
- Sainte-Catherine-de-Hatley20
- Compton15
83% of the people who work in Ayer's Cliff live outside it, 135 of them in Sherbrooke, 26 km away. Going the other way, Magog is the biggest single destination (75).
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 Ayer's Cliff work and where people who work there live, the ten largest each way.
What households in Ayer's Cliff earn
Before tax, 2020: lower than in 51% of Canadian towns.
The middle of Quebec’s towns is $74,100, and Ayer's Cliff is 3% above it. Of the 6 other places of 2,500 or more in the Memphrémagog census division, 4 have a higher median. 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).
Walk, cycle or ride transit: the choice of 13% of Ayer's Cliff’s commuters
Hardly anyone takes transit to work, where the middle of Canadian towns has 3.5%. On foot: 11% of commuters, well above the 4.2% in the middle of Quebec’s towns. Fewer drive than in the middle of Quebec’s towns: 85% against 90%. Fewer worked at home than in the middle of Canadian towns: 16% against 21%.
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.
24.2 minutes from Ayer's Cliff to work, about the middle of Canadian towns
Timed exactly, the average is 20.6 minutes (Statistics Canada). In the middle of Quebec’s towns, the average commute is 26.5 minutes. A quarter-hour or less for 32% 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.
Commuting time at the 2021 Census, to work only, for people who travel to a usual workplace or have none fixed.
In the Memphrémagog census division, 21% more people receive EI than in 2019
In the twelve months to August 2026 the number fell by 5%. The count topped out in January 2021 at 3,050 people, 3.2 times the 2019 average. That works out to around 3.3 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 Memphrémagog census division, with Ayer's Cliff one part of it.
The Walkability grade for Ayer's Cliff: A
Better than 94% of Canadian towns on two measures together.
OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL); active commuting from the 2021 Census.
Work next door to Ayer's Cliff
| Place | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Household income | Average trip | Jobs | Walk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ayer's Cliff | 89% | 3.8% | $76K | 24.2 min | A− | A |
| Sainte-Catherine-de-Hatley 9.3 km | 81% | 4% | $91K | 27 min | A− | D− |
| Stanstead 10.6 km | 76% | 8.2% | $77K | 30.5 min | C | C+ |
| Magog 12.9 km | 78% | 7.8% | $63K | 21.4 min | B− | B+ |
| Compton 18.4 km | 86% | 4.6% | $75K | 23.4 min | A− | B |
| Waterville 18.8 km | 84% | 4.9% | $74K | 23 min | A− | B |
| Stanstead 19.1 km | 72% | 6.8% | $55K | 21.9 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 Ayer's Cliff, 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. A census-day figure: people without a job who were looking, divided by all those working or looking, ages 15 and up.
- Household income. Taken from the 2021 Census, which asked about 2020: wages, pensions, investment income and government transfers together, before income tax, for the median household.
- 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. 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. 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 Ayer's Cliff
How long is the commute from Ayer's Cliff?
On average 24.2 minutes; 32% take under 15 minutes and 3.8% take an hour or longer.
Where do people in Ayer's Cliff work?
36% work in Ayer's Cliff itself. Of those who leave, the most go to Magog (75), then Sherbrooke (70).
How many jobs are there in Ayer's Cliff?
About 795 people had their usual place of work in Ayer's Cliff at the 2021 census, 2.1 for each working resident with a fixed workplace. Statistics Canada counted 68 businesses with employees in June 2026.
What is the unemployment rate in Ayer's Cliff?
In October 2026 the Labour Force Survey put the Estrie economic region at 3.7%; the 2021 census, which counts the town itself, found 3.8%, against 9.9% in the middle of Canadian towns.
What is the average household income in Ayer's Cliff?
The census puts Ayer's Cliff at $76,400 for 2020, before tax and at the median, against $85,900 in the middle of Canadian towns.
How do people in Ayer's Cliff get to work?
85% of commuters go by car, 11% walk and 1.9% cycle. On census day 16% of everyone in work stayed home to work.
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).