Photo: P199 · CC BY-SA 3.0Working-age people in Bristol are less likely to have a job than in 78% of Canadian towns
Most commutes from Bristol take well under an hour: the average is 45.8 minutes, and 42% take 60 minutes or longer. Half the households in Bristol had more than $67,000 in 2020, before tax; the middle of Canadian towns is $85,900. Census day 2021 found 6.9% of Bristol’s labour force without a job, next to 9.9% for the middle of Canadian towns.
What Bristol’s work numbers say
Fewer people in work than most towns
At the 2021 census 68% of the 15-to-64s were in work (73% in the middle of Canadian towns); across all ages 15 and over, 48%. In work ↓
Less unemployment than most towns
Census day in 2021 put 6.9% out of work (9.9% in the middle of Canadian towns), and the area’s monthly survey gave 6.4% in October 2026. Unemployment ↓
Lower incomes than most towns
Household income at the median was $67,000 in 2020, before tax; Canadian towns have $85,900 at the middle. Household income ↓
Longer trips than most towns
The average trip to work is 45.8 minutes (26 in the middle of Canadian towns), and 42% 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.
Bristol grades D− for jobs and income
Better than 4% of Canadian towns on three measures together.
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.
How many in Bristol have a job: 68% of 15-to-64s
Add those looking for a job to those with one, and 52% of residents 15 and over were in the labour force. Many residents are past working age, so among everyone 15 and over the share in work drops to 48%. The monthly Labour Force Survey, which covers the wider area, put its employment rate at 58% in October 2026. 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.
What households in Bristol earn
Before tax, 2020: lower than in 73% of Canadian towns.
That puts Bristol 10% below the median of Quebec’s towns, $74,100. CERB and the other emergency payments of 2020 are counted in these incomes, which lifted the lower ones that year.
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census: median total income of households in 2020, before tax (a neighbourhood’s estimated from its dissemination areas’ income groups).
The length of the trip to work in Bristol
In the middle of Quebec’s towns, the average commute is 26.5 minutes. Only 20% get to work within a quarter-hour, against 31% in the middle of Quebec’s towns. Statistics Canada’s own average, timed exactly rather than by band, is 44.6 minutes.
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.
Bristol is quieter on a working day than at night
225 residents of Bristol had a usual place of work at the 2021 census, and 130 people had theirs in Bristol, wherever they lived.
For every person who comes in to work, about 2 residents travel out. Of those who commute, 20% stay within the municipality; the middle of Canadian towns is 70%.
People with no fixed workplace are in neither count.
80% of Bristol’s residents in work leave it to work; Shawville takes the most
Inbound, the leader is Clarendon (25).
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 Bristol work and where people who work there live, the ten largest each way.
Leaving the car at home: 6.8% of commuters in Bristol
Home was the workplace for 22%, where the middle of Canadian towns has 21%. Transit takes 2.7% of commuters, close to the middle of Canadian towns. The car is the way to work for 93% of commuters.
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.
In the Pontiac census division, 33% more people receive EI than in 2019
That works out to around 4.2 beneficiaries per 100 people aged 15 to 64 across the division. Set against the same month a year before, the count in August 2026 fell by 5%. The count topped out in January 2021 at 850 people, 2.4 times the 2019 average.
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). Bristol doesn’t get its own EI beneficiaries figures; the ones here come from the Pontiac census division.
On getting around on foot, Bristol grades C+
Better than 38% of Canadian towns on two measures together.
OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL); active commuting from the 2021 Census.
How Bristol compares with the places nearby
| Place | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Household income | Average trip | Jobs | Walk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bristol | 68% | 6.9% | $67K | 45.8 min | D− | C+ |
| Arnprior 10.3 km | 72% | 9.4% | $76K | 28.8 min | C− | A |
| Shawville 11.6 km | 65% | 5.5% | $55K | 27.2 min | D− | A |
| McNab/Braeside 13 km | 77% | 9.5% | $99K | 32 min | B− | C− |
| Horton 13.9 km | 75% | 8% | $91K | 25.8 min | B | D− |
| Clarendon 17.6 km | 83% | 9.1% | $66K | 30 min | C | 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 Bristol, where it comes from, and what it leaves out.
- Where people commute. Only people with a usual place of work are in it: those who work from home or have no fixed site are not. Home and work are both counted by municipality.
- Employment Insurance. Beneficiaries of Employment Insurance, month by month, for the census division rather than the town. Many jobless people don’t qualify, so it isn’t an unemployment rate.
- The Labour Force Survey. Sampled each month and released for regions rather than towns, so its rate describes the area around 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. Unemployed people over the labour force (in work or looking), aged 15 and over, on census day.
- 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. The census asks how long the trip to work usually takes, in bands; our average uses each band’s middle, so it runs a little above Statistics Canada’s timed 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 Bristol
How long is the commute from Bristol?
45.8 minutes is the average trip, with 20% of commuters there in under 15 minutes and 42% taking an hour or more.
Where do people in Bristol work?
20% work in Bristol itself. Of those who leave, the most go to Shawville (90), then Ottawa (55).
How many jobs are there in Bristol?
The 2021 census counted about 130 people working in Bristol: 0.6 jobs for every resident who commutes to a fixed workplace. Statistics Canada counted 19 businesses with employees in June 2026.
What is the unemployment rate in Bristol?
In October 2026 the Labour Force Survey put the Outaouais economic region at 6.4%; the 2021 census, which counts the town itself, found 6.9%, against 9.9% in the middle of Canadian towns.
What is the average household income in Bristol?
Bristol’s middle household had $67,000 in 2020, before tax; Canadian towns have $85,900 at their middle.
How do people in Bristol get to work?
By car: 93% of commuters, 2.7% take public transit and 4.1% walk; on census day 22% of those in work worked from home.
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).