Photo: SDCJ · Public domainJoliette’s household incomes are lower than in 97% of Canadian towns
When the 2021 census was taken, 8.4% of people in Joliette who wanted a job had none, against 9.9% in the middle of Canadian towns. Joliette is the usual workplace of 14,515 people, and 6,625 of its own residents commute to a job. The 2021 census found 67% of working-age people in Joliette employed, next to 73% for the middle of Canadian towns.
Work in Joliette, in a few figures
Fewer people in work than most towns
67% 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 49%. In work ↓
Lower incomes than most towns
The middle of Canadian towns is $85,900, and the median household here had $53,100 before tax in 2020. Household income ↓
A local job centre
14,515 people work in Joliette and 6,625 residents commute to a fixed workplace; the middle of Canadian towns has 0.8 jobs per working resident. The daily tide ↓
Shorter trips than most towns
Commutes take 22 minutes on average, against 26 in the middle of Canadian towns; 7.1% take an hour or more. 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.
Jobs and income in Joliette earn D
Better than 13% of Canadian towns on three measures together, #419 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 Joliette has a job
None of the 8 other places of 2,500 people or more in the Joliette census division has a smaller share of 15-to-64s in work.
Working or looking, 54% of everyone 15 and over was in the labour force. Counting retirees, 49% of everyone aged 15 and over was working. For the wider area, the Labour Force Survey had 60% in work in October 2026. 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.
Household income in Joliette: $53,100 at the median
Set beside Quebec’s towns, where the median is $74,100, Joliette sits 28% below. Every other place of 2,500 or more in the Joliette census division has a higher median. Pandemic benefits paid in 2020 lifted the incomes at the bottom, and they are counted here.
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census: median total income of households in 2020, before tax (a neighbourhood’s estimated from its dissemination areas’ income groups).
On a working day, 15,421 people work in Joliette, 2 times its working residents
For every resident who leaves Joliette for work, about 3 people come in. The job is inside the municipality for 46% of its commuters (70% in the middle of Canadian towns).
People with no fixed workplace are in neither count.
A shorter commute than the middle of Canadian towns: 22 minutes from Joliette
Timed exactly, the average is 19.7 minutes (Statistics Canada). The middle of Quebec’s towns averages 26.5 minutes. Trips under 15 minutes: 52%, more than the 31% in the middle of Quebec’s towns. 7.1% spend an hour or longer getting to work; the middle of Quebec’s towns has 5.3%.
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.
11,448 people come into Joliette to work, most from Saint-Charles-Borromée and Notre-Dame-des-Prairies
Of everyone working in Joliette, 79% come in from elsewhere; 1,510 make the 4 km trip from Saint-Charles-Borromée. Saint-Charles-Borromée is where the largest group of commuters out goes, 815 of them.
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census (98-10-0459): commuting flows between municipalities (census subdivisions), rounded to 5; linked names have their own pages.
13% of commuters from Joliette go without a car
The car takes 85% of commuters here, under the 90% in the middle of Quebec’s towns. Home was the workplace for 11%, under the 21% in the middle of Canadian towns. Few ride transit: 1%, where the middle of Canadian towns has 3.5%. On foot: 10% of commuters, well above the 4.2% in the middle of Quebec’s towns.
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census: main mode of commuting; average durations by mode from table 98-10-0458 (whole municipalities only).
In the Joliette census division, 35% more people receive EI than in 2019
The count topped out in January 2021 at 4,040 people, 3.4 times the 2019 average. That is about 4 people on EI for every 100 aged 15 to 64 in the division. Compared with a year earlier, the count in August 2026 rose by 1%.
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). Nobody publishes EI beneficiaries for Joliette alone, so this card uses the figure for the Joliette census division.
The Walkability grade for Joliette: A−
Better than 84% of Canadian towns on two measures together, #201 of 507 in Quebec.
OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL); active commuting from the 2021 Census.
302nd of 386: where Joliette ranks among Canadian towns of 15,700 to 30,300
| # | Place | People | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Household income | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Yellowknife Northwest Territories | 22,858 | 80% | 5.8% | $148K | A+ |
| 2 | Central Saanich British Columbia | 18,184 | 85% | 4.9% | $103K | A+ |
| 3 | Cap-Rouge Quebec | 17,139 | 81% | 4.3% | $126K | A+ |
| 4 | Saint-Augustin-de-Desmaures Quebec | 20,864 | 82% | 5.3% | $111K | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 7 | Saint-Michel Quebec | 17,303 | 83% | 4.7% | $98K | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 300 | Oakwood Village Ontario | 20,830 | 71% | 13% | $80K | D |
| 301 | DT Fairview Ontario | 18,209 | 67% | 15% | $80K | D |
| 302 | Joliette Quebec | 22,408 | 67% | 8.4% | $53K | D |
| 303 | Overbrook Ontario | 19,953 | 58% | 15% | $71K | D |
| 304 | Downtown Yonge East Ontario | 18,251 | 69% | 14% | $71K | D |
| … | ||||||
| 386 | Parc-Extension Quebec | 29,066 | 61% | 16% | $48K | D− |
Ordered by Jobs & income Grade: the top three, the places either side of Joliette, and others among Quebec’s towns.
Work in the places around Joliette
| Place | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Household income | Average trip | Jobs | Walk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Joliette | 67% | 8.4% | $53K | 22 min | D | A− |
| Saint-Paul 3 km | 82% | 3.9% | $86K | 26.1 min | A− | C |
| Saint-Charles-Borromée 3.6 km | 75% | 7.2% | $61K | 21.1 min | C+ | B+ |
| Notre-Dame-des-Prairies 3.9 km | 77% | 6.4% | $71K | 22.8 min | B− | B |
| Crabtree 6.3 km | 79% | 6% | $69K | 26.4 min | C+ | B+ |
| Saint-Thomas 7.2 km | 83% | 6.1% | $78K | 23 min | A− | B |
| Notre-Dame-de-Lourdes 8.1 km | 74% | 9.8% | $71K | 26.3 min | C | 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 Joliette, where it comes from, and what it leaves out.
- 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. 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. Statistics Canada surveys households every month; the results come out for metro areas and economic regions, never for single towns, and keep the rate current after 2021.
- In work. How many residents held a job in May 2021, set against how many were 15 to 64. It reads a little high where many people work past 65, since below the municipality the census gives no breakdown of workers by age.
- Unemployment. The share of people 15 and over in the labour force, working or looking for work, who had no job on census day in May 2021.
- Household income. Half of households had more than this before tax in 2020, half less, counting every source of income. For a neighbourhood we estimate the median from the income brackets of its dissemination areas.
- Which towns we compare. The comparison pool is places of 2,500 people or more, towns or neighbourhoods inside cities, without whole cities or reserves, and we compare with its median.
Questions about work in Joliette
What is the average household income in Joliette?
At $53,100 before tax in 2020, the median household in Joliette compares with $85,900 in the middle of Canadian towns.
How do people in Joliette get to work?
85% of commuters go by car, 1% take public transit, 10% walk and 1.6% cycle. On census day 11% of everyone in work stayed home to work.
How long is the commute from Joliette?
On average 22 minutes; 52% take under 15 minutes and 7.1% take an hour or longer.
Where do people in Joliette work?
Only 46% work in Joliette itself; the rest go first to Saint-Charles-Borromée (815) and Notre-Dame-des-Prairies (340).
How many jobs are there in Joliette?
About 14,515 people had their usual place of work in Joliette at the 2021 census, 2.2 for each working resident with a fixed workplace. Statistics Canada counted 1,015 businesses with employees in June 2026.
What is the unemployment rate in Joliette?
At the 2021 census 8.4% of the labour force had no job and was looking (9.9% in the middle of Canadian towns). The latest monthly survey, for the Lanaudière economic region, gives 2.9% in October 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).