Photo: P199 · Public domainHouseholds in Lac Simon have lower incomes than those in 94% of Canadian towns
The 2021 census found 32% of working-age people in Lac Simon employed, and the middle of Canadian towns sits at 73%. Getting to work from Lac Simon takes 14.1 minutes on average, an hour or more for 0%. 12% of the labour force in Lac Simon was out of work at the 2021 census; the middle of Canadian towns is 9.9%.
What stands out about work in Lac Simon
Fewer people in work than most towns
With 32% of its 15-to-64s in work in 2021, against 73% in the middle of Canadian towns, it has 31% of all adults employed. In work ↓
Lower incomes than most towns
Household income at the median was $56,200 in 2020, before tax; Canadian towns have $85,900 at the middle. Household income ↓
A local job centre
With 275 jobs based in Lac Simon and 205 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 14.1 minutes (26 in the middle of Canadian towns), and 0% 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.
Jobs and income in Lac Simon earn C−
Better than 19% of Canadian towns on three measures together.
Its strongest measure is trip times; its weakest, the share of 15-to-64s in work.
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.
In and out of work in Lac Simon
None of the 3 other places of 2,500 people or more in the La Vallée-de-l'Or census division has a smaller share of 15-to-64s in work.
Participation, the share of residents 15 and over working or looking for work, came to 36%. For the wider area, the Labour Force Survey had 60% in work in October 2026. Pandemic rules were in force on census day, 11 May 2021; the Labour Force Survey shows how jobs have moved since.
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.
The median household in Lac Simon had $56,200 in 2020
Every other place of 2,500 or more in the La Vallée-de-l'Or census division has a higher median. The middle of Quebec’s towns is $74,100, and Lac Simon is 24% below it. Incomes here are 2020’s and include the pandemic payments, CERB among them, that propped up the lower end.
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census: median total income of households in 2020, before tax (a neighbourhood’s estimated from its dissemination areas’ income groups).
Lac Simon fills up on a working day: 33% more workers
About 2 people arrive to work in Lac Simon for each resident who goes out. Of those who commute, 71% stay within the municipality; the middle of Canadian towns is 70%.
People with no fixed workplace are in neither count.
How long the commute from Lac Simon takes
Statistics Canada’s own average, timed exactly rather than by band, is 12.9 minutes. The middle of Quebec’s towns averages 26.5 minutes. Trips under 15 minutes: 71%, 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.
130 people come into Lac Simon to work, most from Val-d'Or and Senneterre
- Val-d'Or105
- Senneterre15
47% of the people who work in Lac Simon live outside it, 105 of them in Val-d'Or, 33 km away. The main destination the other way is Saguenay, with 20.
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census (98-10-0459): commuting flows between municipalities (census subdivisions), rounded to 5; linked names have their own pages.
Lac Simon gets to work without a car for 40% of commuters
The car takes 56% of commuters here, under the 90% in the middle of Quebec’s towns. Home was the workplace for 3.9%, under the 21% in the middle of Canadian towns. Transit barely figures here, against 3.5% in the middle of Canadian towns.
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census: main mode of commuting; average durations by mode from table 98-10-0458 (whole municipalities only).
3% more people are on EI in the La Vallée-de-l'Or census division than in 2019
Over the year to August 2026, the count fell by 8%. January 2021 was the busiest month, with 2,170 people on EI, 2.6 times 2019’s average. For each 100 residents of working age in the division, about 3.5 are on EI.
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). Lac Simon shares its EI beneficiaries numbers with the rest of the La Vallée-de-l'Or census division.
Walking in Lac Simon earns A−
Better than 85% of Canadian towns on two measures together.
OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL); active commuting from the 2021 Census.
Around Lac Simon: jobs, pay and the commute
No closer places have figures: these lie 23–47 km from Lac Simon.
| Place | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Household income | Average trip | Jobs | Walk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lac Simon | 32% | 12% | $56K | 14.1 min | C− | A− |
| Senneterre 22.8 km | 73% | 13% | $76K | 30.8 min | C− | D |
| Val-d'Or 33.2 km | 81% | 4.5% | $76K | 17.2 min | A | B |
| Senneterre 36.9 km | 69% | 6.5% | $59K | 23.5 min | D | A |
| Barraute 46.7 km | 81% | 7.4% | $68K | 31.6 min | C | B+ |
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 Lac Simon, where it comes from, and what it leaves out.
- Household income. The 2020 income of the household at the midpoint, all sources and before tax. Inside a city we rebuild it from the dissemination areas’ income bands, so there it is an estimate.
- 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. 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. Statistics Canada counts EI beneficiaries each month by census division. Seasonal work makes it swing, so read it as a trend, not a jobless rate.
- The Labour Force Survey. A monthly household survey by Statistics Canada, reported for metro areas and economic regions only. It supplies a recent rate next to the 2021 census figure.
- 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. 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.
- Which towns we compare. Medians over towns and neighbourhoods of at least 2,500 residents. Whole cities would swamp them and reserves sit outside the rankings, so neither is in.
- A First Nations reserve. Lac Simon’s figures are its own, though Statistics Canada rounds or suppresses some for small communities. A reserve has no overall grade and sits in no ranked list.
Questions about work in Lac Simon
How do people in Lac Simon get to work?
By car: 56% of commuters, 40% walk; on census day 3.9% of those in work worked from home.
How long is the commute from Lac Simon?
14.1 minutes is the average trip, with 71% of commuters there in under 15 minutes and 0% taking an hour or more.
Where do people in Lac Simon work?
71% work in Lac Simon itself; of those who leave, the most go to Saguenay (20), then Val-d'Or (15).
How many jobs are there in Lac Simon?
The 2021 census counted about 275 people working in Lac Simon: 1.3 jobs for every resident who commutes to a fixed workplace.
What is the unemployment rate in Lac Simon?
Two figures answer it: 12% on census day in May 2021 (9.9% in the middle of Canadian towns), and 2.5% for the Abitibi-Témiscamingue economic region in the Labour Force Survey of October 2026.
What is the average household income in Lac Simon?
The census puts Lac Simon at $56,200 for 2020, before tax and at the median, against $85,900 in the middle of Canadian towns.
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) · 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).