Photo: P199 · CC BY-SA 3.0The share of 15-to-64s with a job in Coaticook tops that of 90% of Canadian towns
Of everyone in Coaticook working or looking for work in May 2021, 4.1% were unemployed, and the middle of Canadian towns sits at 9.9%. For 3.2% of commuters in Coaticook, the trip to work lasts an hour or more; the average is 19.2 minutes. Before tax, the typical household in Coaticook brought in $61,800 in 2020, against $85,900 in the middle of Canadian towns.
Work in Coaticook: the figures worth knowing
More people in work than most towns
In work at the 2021 census: 84% of people aged 15 to 64, against 73% in the middle of Canadian towns, and 60% of everyone 15 and over. In work ↓
Less unemployment than most towns
Unemployment was 4.1% at the 2021 census, against 9.9% in the middle of Canadian towns. The Labour Force Survey for the wider area read 3.7% in October 2026. Unemployment ↓
Lower incomes than most towns
The median household had $61,800 before tax in 2020; the middle of Canadian towns is $85,900. Household income ↓
A local job centre
With 4,025 jobs based in Coaticook and 3,260 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 19.2 minutes (26 in the middle of Canadian towns), and 3.2% 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.
Coaticook earns B+ for jobs and income
Better than 72% of Canadian towns on three measures together, #156 of 507 in Quebec.
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.
84% of working-age people in Coaticook have jobs
62% of residents aged 15 and over were in the labour force, in work or seeking it. Many residents are past working age, so among everyone 15 and over the share in work drops to 60%. In October 2026, 58% of the wider area’s adults had a job, on the Labour Force Survey’s count. 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.
How Coaticook’s household incomes compare
Before tax, 2020: lower than in 85% of Canadian towns.
Against the middle of Quebec’s towns ($74,100), Coaticook’s median is 17% below. Incomes are for 2020, the first pandemic year, so CERB and other emergency payments are part of them.
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census: median total income of households in 2020, before tax (a neighbourhood’s estimated from its dissemination areas’ income groups).
A working day adds 20% to the people at work in Coaticook
3,260 residents of Coaticook had a usual place of work at the 2021 census, and 4,025 people had theirs in Coaticook, wherever they lived.
Inbound commuters outnumber outbound ones about 2 to 1 in Coaticook. 71% 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.
The length of the trip to work in Coaticook
Timed exactly, the average is 16.9 minutes (Statistics Canada). In the middle of Quebec’s towns, the average commute is 26.5 minutes. A quarter-hour or less for 59% 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.
1,727 people come into Coaticook to work, most from Sherbrooke and Compton
- Sherbrooke505
- Compton290
- Dixville140
- Saint-Herménégilde105
- Waterville85
- Sainte-Edwidge-de-Clifton70
- Cookshire-Eaton65
- Saint-Malo55
- Magog50
- Barnston-Ouest45
- Sherbrooke335
- Magog110
- Ayer's Cliff105
- Compton75
- Dixville65
- Waterville50
- Stanstead45
- Sainte-Edwidge-de-Clifton25
- Saint-Malo20
- East Hereford15
43% of the people who work in Coaticook live outside it, 505 of them in Sherbrooke, 32 km away. The main destination the other way is Sherbrooke, with 335.
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 Coaticook work and where people who work there live, the ten largest each way.
8.1% of commuters in Coaticook walk, cycle or take transit
Only 13% worked at home on census day, against 21% in the middle of Canadian towns. Few ride transit: 0.4%, where the middle of Canadian towns has 3.5%. The middle of Quebec’s towns has 4.2% walking; here, 7% do.
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.
EI claims in the Coaticook census division run 58% above their 2019 level
The highest month was January 2021: 950 people, 2.8 times the 2019 level. Per 100 residents aged 15 to 64, about 4.4 receive EI. Set against the same month a year before, the count in August 2026 rose by 2%.
Statistics Canada, Employment Insurance beneficiaries by census division (14-10-0323): all income benefits, not seasonally adjusted. Not measured by town: EI beneficiaries (the Coaticook census division). EI counts are context, not part of any grade.
People receiving Employment Insurance each month, as a share of the 2019 average (100).
Walkability in Coaticook: graded A−
Better than 76% of Canadian towns on two measures together, #250 of 507 in Quebec.
OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL); active commuting from the 2021 Census.
Ranked on jobs and income, Coaticook is 175th among 673 Canadian towns of 6,300 to 12,200
| # | Place | People | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Household income | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Labrador City Newfoundland and Labrador | 7,965 | 79% | 5.5% | $146K | A+ |
| 2 | Silverwood Heights Saskatchewan | 8,153 | 81% | 5.8% | $118K | A+ |
| 3 | North River Heights Manitoba | 7,228 | 82% | 8.4% | $143K | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 11 | Boischatel Quebec | 9,250 | 85% | 4.8% | $118K | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 15 | Chibougamau Quebec | 7,273 | 82% | 3.7% | $85K | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 18 | Shannon Quebec | 7,088 | 81% | 3.7% | $113K | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 173 | Baie-Saint-Paul Quebec | 7,760 | 79% | 5.2% | $65K | B+ |
| 174 | Saint-Zotique Quebec | 10,445 | 83% | 5% | $87K | B+ |
| 175 | Coaticook Quebec | 9,027 | 84% | 4.1% | $62K | B+ |
| 176 | Laurentian Valley Ontario | 9,714 | 73% | 9.1% | $94K | B+ |
| 177 | Old Ottawa East Ontario | 8,308 | 73% | 11% | $96K | B+ |
| … | ||||||
| 673 | René-Goupil Quebec | 11,663 | 58% | 15% | $54K | D− |
Ordered by Jobs & income Grade: the top three, the places either side of Coaticook, and others among Quebec’s towns.
Work in and around Coaticook
| Place | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Household income | Average trip | Jobs | Walk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coaticook | 84% | 4.1% | $62K | 19.2 min | B+ | A− |
| Compton 13.8 km | 86% | 4.6% | $75K | 23.4 min | A− | B |
| Ayer's Cliff 19.3 km | 89% | 3.8% | $76K | 24.2 min | A− | 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 Coaticook, where it comes from, and what it leaves out.
- 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. 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.
- In work. We divide the number of employed residents by the number aged 15 to 64. Workers past 64 still count on top, because the 2021 Census crosses work with age only for whole municipalities; in return, a retirement town’s pensioners don’t drag the rate down.
- 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. 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.
- 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 Coaticook
How long is the commute from Coaticook?
The average commute is 19.2 minutes; 59% of trips take under 15 minutes and 3.2% an hour or more.
Where do people in Coaticook work?
Most stay: 71% work in Coaticook. The rest go first to Sherbrooke (335) and Magog (110).
How many jobs are there in Coaticook?
The 2021 census found about 4,025 people with their usual workplace in Coaticook, or 1.2 for each resident who travels to a fixed job. In June 2026, 404 businesses with employees were on Statistics Canada’s count.
What is the unemployment rate in Coaticook?
The census put unemployment at 4.1% in May 2021, where the middle of Canadian towns was 9.9%. More recently, in October 2026, the Labour Force Survey had the Estrie economic region at 3.7%.
What is the average household income in Coaticook?
Coaticook’s middle household had $61,800 in 2020, before tax; Canadian towns have $85,900 at their middle.
How do people in Coaticook get to work?
90% of commuters drive, 0.4% take public transit, 7% walk and 0.7% cycle; 13% 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).