Photo: Cantons-de-l'Est · CC BY-SA 4.0With 0.4 jobs for each resident in work, most of Durham-Sud commutes out
The 2021 census found 79% of working-age people in Durham-Sud employed, against 73% in the middle of Canadian towns. Half the households in Durham-Sud had more than $63,800 in 2020, before tax; the middle of Canadian towns is $85,900. For 6.4% of commuters in Durham-Sud, the trip to work lasts an hour or more; the average is 27 minutes.
Durham-Sud and work: the main findings
More people in work than most towns
With 79% of its 15-to-64s in work in 2021, against 73% in the middle of Canadian towns, it has 60% of all adults employed. In work ↓
Lower incomes than most towns
Household income at the median was $63,800 in 2020, before tax; Canadian towns have $85,900 at the middle. Household income ↓
Written from the data on this page: Statistics Canada’s 2021 Census, its commuting tables, Employment Insurance and the Labour Force Survey.
Durham-Sud grades C for jobs and income
Better than 31% 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.
How many in Durham-Sud were working in 2021
Of the 4 other places of 2,500 people or more in the Drummond census division, one has a smaller share of 15-to-64s in work.
For the wider area, the Labour Force Survey had 60% in work in October 2026. The labour force, people 15 and over with a job or seeking one, took in 66% of residents that age. Across all ages 15 and over the share in work falls to 60%: many residents are past working age. 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.
What households in Durham-Sud earn
Before tax, 2020: lower than in 80% of Canadian towns.
3 of the 4 other places of 2,500+ in the Drummond census division have a higher median. The middle of Quebec’s towns is $74,100, and Durham-Sud is 14% below it. The year is 2020: emergency benefits like CERB count in these incomes, and they raised the bottom of the range.
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census: median total income of households in 2020, before tax (a neighbourhood’s estimated from its dissemination areas’ income groups).
The daily tide in Durham-Sud runs outward
For every person who comes in to work, about 6 residents travel out. The job is inside the municipality for 25% of its commuters (70% in the middle of Canadian towns).
People with no fixed workplace are in neither count.
75% of Durham-Sud’s residents in work leave it to work; Drummondville takes the most
- Drummondville15
- Brigham10
- Lefebvre10
Of those coming in, Drummondville supplies the most: 15.
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census (98-10-0459): commuting flows between municipalities (census subdivisions), rounded to 5; linked names have their own pages.
Durham-Sud gets to work without a car for 5.1% of commuters
21% worked at home on census day, about the same as in the middle of Canadian towns. Hardly anyone takes transit to work, where the middle of Canadian towns has 3.5%. The car is the way to work for 94% of commuters.
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census: main mode of commuting; average durations by mode from table 98-10-0458 (whole municipalities only).
Close to the middle of Canadian towns: commutes from Durham-Sud average 27 minutes
Statistics Canada’s own average, timed exactly rather than by band, is 24.4 minutes. Trips under 15 minutes: 35%, more than the 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.
In the Drummond census division, 36% more people receive EI than in 2019
The count topped out in January 2021 at 6,830 people, 3.3 times the 2019 average. Roughly 4.1 in every 100 people aged 15 to 64 in the division draw EI. Set against the same month a year before, the count in August 2026 fell by 3%.
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). Durham-Sud shares its EI beneficiaries numbers with the rest of the Drummond census division.
Getting around Durham-Sud on foot earns C
Better than 29% of Canadian towns on two measures together.
OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL); active commuting from the 2021 Census.
Durham-Sud and its neighbours: work and income
| Place | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Household income | Average trip | Jobs | Walk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Durham-Sud | 79% | 9.1% | $64K | 27 min | C | C |
| Melbourne 12.3 km | 76% | 3.8% | $81K | 25.9 min | B− | D |
| L'Avenir 13 km | 81% | 2.9% | $73K | 26.4 min | B− | B |
| Richmond 13.6 km | 78% | 4.8% | $52K | 22 min | C | A |
| Cleveland 15.5 km | 76% | 5.8% | $74K | 22.5 min | B− | C− |
| Saint-Félix-de-Kingsey 16.9 km | 79% | 10% | $63K | 26.9 min | C | C+ |
| Valcourt 17.4 km | 82% | 3.9% | $74K | 18.3 min | A | 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 Durham-Sud, where it comes from, and what it leaves out.
- 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. The most recent unemployment rate on the page comes from this monthly survey, which covers the wider metro area or economic region, not the town.
- In work. Everyone with a job, whatever their age, divided by the residents aged 15 to 64 at the 2021 Census: below the municipality the census doesn’t split work by age, and this is the one rate every town and neighbourhood can be given.
- Unemployment. Of everyone 15 or older who was working or job-hunting in the census week, the part still looking. Someone not seeking work isn’t in it at all.
- 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. Commuters picked a band for their usual trip (under 15 minutes, 15 to 29, and so on). We place each person at the middle of their band, which lands a little above Statistics Canada’s own timed average.
- 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.
- Which towns we compare. Towns and city neighbourhoods of 2,500 people or more, never a whole city and never a First Nations reserve. Middles are medians.
Questions about work in Durham-Sud
How long is the commute from Durham-Sud?
27 minutes is the average trip, with 35% of commuters there in under 15 minutes and 6.4% taking an hour or more.
Where do people in Durham-Sud work?
Only 25% work in Durham-Sud itself; the rest go first to Drummondville (75) and Wickham (25).
How many jobs are there in Durham-Sud?
In June 2026, 37 businesses with employees were on Statistics Canada’s count.
What is the unemployment rate in Durham-Sud?
The census put unemployment at 9.1% in May 2021, where the middle of Canadian towns was 9.9%. More recently, in October 2026, the Labour Force Survey had the Centre-du-Québec economic region at 3.4%.
What is the average household income in Durham-Sud?
Before tax, half the households in Durham-Sud had more than $63,800 in 2020; the middle of Canadian towns is $85,900.
How do people in Durham-Sud get to work?
By car: 94% of commuters, 5.1% walk; on census day 21% 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).