Photo: busand2003 · CC BY 3.0L'Islet’s household incomes are lower than in 79% of Canadian towns
In May 2021, unemployment in L'Islet reached 6.2%, next to 9.9% for the middle of Canadian towns. For 3.3% of commuters in L'Islet, the trip to work lasts an hour or more; the average is 19 minutes. At the 2021 census, 78% of L'Islet’s 15-to-64s were in work, against 73% in the middle of Canadian towns.
Work in L'Islet, in a few figures
Less unemployment than most towns
On census day in 2021 6.2% were unemployed, against 9.9% in the middle of Canadian towns; by October 2026 the Labour Force Survey put the area at 2.3%. Unemployment ↓
Lower incomes than most towns
Half the households here had more than $64,500 in 2020, against $85,900 in the middle of Canadian towns. Household income ↓
More jobs than the typical town
1,485 people work in L'Islet and 1,310 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 19 minutes on average, against 26 in the middle of Canadian towns; 3.3% 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 L'Islet earn B
Better than 58% of Canadian towns on three measures together, #225 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 L'Islet has a job
A larger share in work than in 65% of Canadian towns.
Take in all adults, retirees with them, and only 57% were working. A more recent figure, for the wider area: 61% in work in October 2026, by the Labour Force Survey. Working or looking, 61% of everyone 15 and over was in the labour force. 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.
Half the households in L'Islet had more than $64,500 in 2020
Set beside Quebec’s towns, where the median is $74,100, L'Islet sits 13% below. That year, 2020, brought emergency benefits that count in these totals, before tax.
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 L'Islet gains 11% in workers
46% 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.
At 19 minutes, commutes from L'Islet are shorter than in the middle of Canadian towns
Statistics Canada’s own average, timed exactly rather than by band, is 16 minutes. In the middle of Quebec’s towns, the average commute is 26.5 minutes. Trips under 15 minutes: 49%, 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.
884 people come into L'Islet to work, most from Cap-Saint-Ignace and Montmagny
- Cap-Saint-Ignace160
- Montmagny160
- Saint-Jean-Port-Joli95
- Saint-Cyrille-de-Lessard80
- Saint-Aubert55
- La Pocatière40
- Lévis35
- Sainte-Perpétue25
- Saint-François-de-la-Rivière-du-Sud25
- Québec25
- Montmagny270
- Saint-Jean-Port-Joli225
- Cap-Saint-Ignace80
- La Pocatière25
- Saint-François-de-la-Rivière-du-Sud15
- Lévis15
- Saint-Pamphile10
- Saint-Aubert10
- Saint-Roch-des-Aulnaies10
- Québec10
Of everyone working in L'Islet, 60% come in from elsewhere; 160 make the 12 km trip from Cap-Saint-Ignace. Of residents who leave for work, most head to Montmagny (270).
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census (98-10-0459): commuting flows between municipalities (census subdivisions), rounded to 5; linked names have their own pages.
On foot, by bike, bus or train: 8.4% of L'Islet’s commuters
Fewer worked at home than in the middle of Canadian towns: 14% against 21%. Transit takes 0.7% of commuters, against 3.5% in the middle of Canadian towns. The middle of Quebec’s towns has 4.2% walking; here, 7.7% do. The car is the way to work for 90% of commuters.
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census: main mode of commuting; average durations by mode from table 98-10-0458 (whole municipalities only).
In the L'Islet census division, 23% more people receive EI than in 2019
Set against the same month a year before, the count in August 2026 rose by 3%. January 2021 was the busiest month, with 950 people on EI, 2.5 times 2019’s average. That is about 3.8 people on EI for every 100 aged 15 to 64 in the division.
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). For EI beneficiaries, the only official count covers all of the L'Islet census division, L'Islet included.
Getting around L'Islet on foot earns B
Better than 56% of Canadian towns on two measures together, #353 of 507 in Quebec.
OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL); active commuting from the 2021 Census.
Out of 773 Canadian towns of 2,700 to 5,200, L'Islet comes 317th on jobs and income
| # | Place | People | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Household income | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Upper Mount Royal Alberta | 2,758 | 83% | 12% | $188K | A+ |
| 2 | Central River Heights Manitoba | 2,736 | 84% | 5.4% | $137K | A+ |
| 3 | Crescentwood Manitoba | 3,060 | 87% | 5% | $123K | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 6 | Kuujjuaq Quebec | 2,766 | 78% | 4.2% | $112K | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 11 | Saint-Christophe-d'Arthabaska Quebec | 3,307 | 85% | 4.8% | $91K | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 19 | Saint-Elzéar Quebec | 2,842 | 90% | 3.8% | $89K | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 315 | Shaughnessy Park Manitoba | 5,169 | 72% | 11% | $88K | B |
| 316 | Saint-Pascal Quebec | 3,516 | 78% | 6% | $61K | B |
| 317 | L'Islet Quebec | 3,874 | 78% | 6.2% | $65K | B |
| 318 | Saint-Mathias-sur-Richelieu Quebec | 4,598 | 83% | 3.2% | $84K | B |
| 319 | Pincher Creek Alberta | 3,890 | 73% | 7.5% | $74K | B |
| … | ||||||
| 773 | Division No. 8, Subdivision L Newfoundland and Labrador | 2,724 | 43% | 30% | $51K | D− |
Ordered by Jobs & income Grade: the top three, the places either side of L'Islet, and others among Quebec’s towns.
Around L'Islet: jobs, pay and the commute
| Place | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Household income | Average trip | Jobs | Walk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| L'Islet | 78% | 6.2% | $65K | 19 min | B | B |
| Cap-Saint-Ignace 11.8 km | 84% | 4.8% | $65K | 21 min | B+ | B− |
| Saint-Jean-Port-Joli 13.5 km | 83% | 7.6% | $63K | 17.4 min | B+ | A |
| Saint-Aubert 15.1 km | 83% | 5.6% | $68K | 19.4 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 L'Islet, where it comes from, and what it leaves out.
- 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. Unemployed people over the labour force (in work or looking), aged 15 and over, on census day.
- Household income. Before-tax total income of the middle household for 2020, from the census. Neighbourhood medians are worked out from bracket counts, since Statistics Canada publishes none of their own.
- 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. 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. People receiving EI benefits each month, counted for the census division. It follows the local job market; it isn’t an unemployment rate.
- 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 L'Islet
What is the average household income in L'Islet?
L'Islet’s middle household had $64,500 in 2020, before tax; Canadian towns have $85,900 at their middle.
How do people in L'Islet get to work?
Driving takes 90% of commuters to work, 0.7% take public transit and 7.7% walk, and on census day 14% of those in work were at home.
How long is the commute from L'Islet?
About 19 minutes on average, with 49% under a quarter-hour and 3.3% at an hour or longer.
Where do people in L'Islet work?
Only 46% work in L'Islet itself; the rest go first to Montmagny (270) and Saint-Jean-Port-Joli (225).
How many jobs are there in L'Islet?
Some 1,485 people worked in L'Islet at the 2021 census: 1.1 jobs per working resident with a fixed workplace. Statistics Canada counted 122 businesses with employees in June 2026.
What is the unemployment rate in L'Islet?
The census put unemployment at 6.2% in May 2021, where the middle of Canadian towns was 9.9%. More recently, in October 2026, the Labour Force Survey had the Chaudière-Appalaches economic region at 2.3%.
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).