Photo: P199 · CC BY-SA 3.0Household incomes in Low are lower than in 72% of Canadian towns
Working at home: 33% of its workers, where the middle of Canadian towns has 21%. Commutes from Low average 44.5 minutes, and 27% take an hour or more. With 73% of its 15-to-64s in work in 2021, Low matches the middle of Canadian towns.
What Low’s work numbers say
Lower incomes than most towns
Household income at the median was $67,500 in 2020, before tax; Canadian towns have $85,900 at the middle. Household income ↓
Longer trips than most towns
The average trip to work is 44.5 minutes (26 in the middle of Canadian towns), and 27% last an hour or longer. The trip to work ↓
Many work from home
33% of workers worked at home on census day, against 21% in the middle of Canadian towns. Getting 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 & income in Low: graded D
Better than 7% of Canadian towns on three measures together.
Its strongest measure is the share of 15-to-64s in work; its weakest, trip times.
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.
Before tax, the median household in Low had $67,500
The middle of Quebec’s towns is $74,100, and Low is 9% below it. Read the incomes as 2020’s, before tax: pandemic benefits such as CERB are in them, and they raised many low incomes for that year.
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census: median total income of households in 2020, before tax (a neighbourhood’s estimated from its dissemination areas’ income groups).
How long the commute from Low takes
In the middle of Quebec’s towns, the average commute is 26.5 minutes. Trips under 15 minutes: 14%, fewer than the 31% in the middle of Quebec’s towns. Statistics Canada’s own average, timed exactly rather than by band, is 40.8 minutes.
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.
3.2% of commuters in Low walk, cycle or take transit
The car is the way to work for 95% of commuters.
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.
Work and the working-age population of Low
A smaller share in work than in 58% of Canadian towns.
The participation rate, everyone 15 and over working or looking for work, was 61%. Take in all adults, retirees with them, and only 53% were working. For the wider area, the Labour Force Survey had 58% in work in October 2026. 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.
In the La Vallée-de-la-Gatineau census division, 28% more people receive EI than in 2019
Set against the same month a year before, the count in August 2026 rose by 3%. The count topped out in January 2021 at 1,700 people, 2.3 times the 2019 average. For each 100 residents of working age in the division, about 6.4 are on EI.
Statistics Canada, Employment Insurance beneficiaries by census division (14-10-0323): all income benefits, not seasonally adjusted. Area behind the EI beneficiaries figures: the La Vallée-de-la-Gatineau 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 Low: graded D
Better than 14% of Canadian towns on two measures together.
OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL); active commuting from the 2021 Census.
Work next door to Low
The nearest places to Low with figures are 16–35 km away.
| Place | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Household income | Average trip | Jobs | Walk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Low | 73% | 12% | $68K | 44.5 min | D | D |
| La Pêche 16.3 km | 80% | 6.2% | $88K | 34.9 min | B− | B− |
| Kazabazua 20.5 km | 58% | 20% | $63K | 37.6 min | D− | C |
| Gracefield 32.3 km | 69% | 6.9% | $57K | 32.9 min | D− | B+ |
| Chelsea 33.4 km | 80% | 6.1% | $146K | 25.7 min | A | B− |
| Cantley 34.6 km | 80% | 5.5% | $130K | 29.4 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 Low, where it comes from, and what it leaves out.
- Unemployment. It counts only people who wanted work and had none in May 2021, as a share of those working or searching; students and retirees who weren’t looking stay out of both sides.
- 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. 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.
- 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. Sampled each month and released for regions rather than towns, so its rate describes the area around 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.
- 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 Low
How long is the commute from Low?
44.5 minutes is the average trip, with 14% of commuters there in under 15 minutes and 27% taking an hour or more.
What is the unemployment rate in Low?
The census put unemployment at 12% in May 2021, where the middle of Canadian towns was 9.9%. More recently, in October 2026, the Labour Force Survey had the Outaouais economic region at 6.4%.
What is the average household income in Low?
Low’s middle household had $67,500 in 2020, before tax; Canadian towns have $85,900 at their middle.
How do people in Low get to work?
By car: 95% of commuters, 3.2% take public transit; on census day 33% 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).