Photo: TOBound · Public domainMatagami’s household incomes are higher than in 81% of Canadian towns
Of everyone in Matagami working or looking for work in May 2021, 4.9% were unemployed, next to 9.9% for the middle of Canadian towns. Most commutes from Matagami take well under an hour: the average is 11.3 minutes, and 1.6% take 60 minutes or longer. With 73% of its 15-to-64s in work in 2021, Matagami matches the middle of Canadian towns.
What Matagami’s work numbers say
Less unemployment than most towns
The Labour Force Survey had the area at 4.3% in June 2026; on census day in 2021 the town’s own rate was 4.9%, where the middle of Canadian towns had 9.9%. Unemployment ↓
A local job centre
630 people work in Matagami and 545 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 11.3 minutes on average, against 26 in the middle of Canadian towns; 1.6% 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.
The Jobs & income grade for Matagami: A
Better than 92% 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.
Work and the working-age population of Matagami
Of the 5 other places of 2,500 people or more in the Nord-du-Québec census division, 3 have a smaller share of 15-to-64s in work.
Counting those looking for work too, 63% of people aged 15 and over were in the labour force. Across all ages 15 and over the share in work falls to 59%: many residents are past working age. By June 2026, the Labour Force Survey had 63% of the wider area’s adults in work. 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.
Each working day, Matagami’s workforce swells by 14%
545 residents of Matagami had a usual place of work at the 2021 census, and 630 people had theirs in Matagami, wherever they lived.
Each resident commuting out of Matagami is matched by about 2 coming in. The job is inside the municipality for 88% of its commuters (70% in the middle of Canadian towns).
People with no fixed workplace are in neither count.
How long the commute from Matagami takes
The middle of Quebec’s towns averages 26.5 minutes. A quarter-hour or less for 80% of commuters, against 31% in the middle of Quebec’s towns. Timed exactly, the average is 11.2 minutes (Statistics Canada).
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.
152 people come into Matagami to work, most from Rouyn-Noranda and Val-d'Or
- Rouyn-Noranda20
- Val-d'Or20
- Montréal15
- La Sarre15
- Lebel-sur-Quévillon15
- Eeyou Istchee Baie-James15
- Amos10
- Pikogan10
- Waskaganish10
Of everyone working in Matagami, 24% come in from elsewhere; 20 make the 199 km trip from Rouyn-Noranda. The main destination the other way is Waskaganish, with 15.
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census (98-10-0459): commuting flows between municipalities (census subdivisions), rounded to 5; linked names have their own pages.
2021 Census, people with a usual place of work: where residents of Matagami work and where people who work there live, the ten largest each way.
The median household in Matagami had $95,000 in 2020
Set beside Quebec’s towns, where the median is $74,100, Matagami sits 28% above. Of the 5 other places of 2,500 or more in the Nord-du-Québec census division, 4 have a higher median. 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).
19% of commuters from Matagami go without a car
The car takes 79% of commuters here, under the 90% in the middle of Quebec’s towns. Only 9.6% worked at home on census day, against 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).
How residents who commute got to work, 2021 Census; working at home is counted apart.
About as many people are on EI in the Nord-du-Québec census division as in 2019
Over the year to August 2026, the count fell by 10%. In July 2021 it reached 1,810, the most in the series and 2.5 times the 2019 average. That works out to around 2.5 beneficiaries per 100 people aged 15 to 64 across 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). Matagami shares its EI beneficiaries numbers with the rest of the Nord-du-Québec census division.
Walking in Matagami earns A+
Better than 98% of Canadian towns on two measures together.
OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL); active commuting from the 2021 Census.
Work in and around Matagami
The nearest places to Matagami with figures are 92–138 km away.
| Place | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Household income | Average trip | Jobs | Walk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Matagami | 73% | 4.9% | $95K | 11.3 min | A | A+ |
| Lebel-sur-Quévillon 91.7 km | 83% | 3.6% | $90K | 15.7 min | A+ | A+ |
| Waswanipi 119.5 km | 59% | 8.1% | $113K | 16.9 min | B+ | — |
| Saint-Félix-de-Dalquier 125.9 km | 80% | 5.5% | $91K | 21.6 min | A | C− |
| Amos 136.2 km | 80% | 6.1% | $71K | 17 min | A− | A |
| Trécesson 137.5 km | 78% | 8.5% | $93K | 25.3 min | A− | D |
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 Matagami, where it comes from, and what it leaves out.
- 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. Statistics Canada’s monthly survey, published for metro areas and economic regions rather than towns: it gives a current rate beside the census’s 2021 one.
- 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. Unemployed people over the labour force (in work or looking), aged 15 and over, on census day.
- Household income. What the median household took in during 2020 before tax, as the census recorded it; an estimate built from income groups when the place is a neighbourhood.
- 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.
- 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 Matagami
How do people in Matagami get to work?
79% of commuters go by car, 19% walk. On census day 9.6% of everyone in work stayed home to work.
How long is the commute from Matagami?
On average 11.3 minutes; 80% take under 15 minutes and 1.6% take an hour or longer.
Where do people in Matagami work?
88% work in Matagami itself; of those who leave, the most go to Waskaganish (15), then Val-d'Or (10).
How many jobs are there in Matagami?
About 630 people had their usual place of work in Matagami at the 2021 census, 1.2 for each working resident with a fixed workplace. Statistics Canada counted 63 businesses with employees in June 2026.
What is the unemployment rate in Matagami?
At the 2021 census 4.9% of the labour force had no job and was looking (9.9% in the middle of Canadian towns). The latest monthly survey, for the Côte-Nord and Nord-du-Québec economic region, gives 4.3% in June 2026.
What is the average household income in Matagami?
The median household in Matagami had $95,000 before tax in 2020, 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) · 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).