Photo: Minoumi · CC BY 3.0Households in Matane have lower incomes than those in 94% of Canadian towns
Most commutes from Matane take well under an hour: the average is 13.4 minutes, and 2% take 60 minutes or longer. The 2021 census found 74% of working-age people in Matane employed; the middle of Canadian towns is 73%. Census day 2021 found 7.7% of Matane’s labour force without a job, and the middle of Canadian towns sits at 9.9%.
Work in Matane, in a few figures
Lower incomes than most towns
The middle of Canadian towns is $85,900, and the median household here had $56,400 before tax in 2020. Household income ↓
A local job centre
With 5,870 jobs based in Matane and 4,615 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 13.4 minutes (26 in the middle of Canadian towns), and 2% 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.
Matane grades C+ for jobs and income
Better than 44% of Canadian towns on three measures together, #295 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.
Matane households: $56,400 a year at the median
Matane’s median is 24% below the middle of Quebec’s towns ($74,100). 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).
Every working day, Matane’s workforce grows by 24%
For every resident who leaves Matane for work, about 4 people come in. 89% 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.
Commuting times in Matane
Timed exactly, the average is 12.1 minutes (Statistics Canada). In the middle of Quebec’s towns, the average commute is 26.5 minutes. A quarter-hour or less for 76% of commuters, against 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.
1,753 people come into Matane to work, most from Saint-Ulric and Sainte-Félicité
- Saint-Ulric425
- Sainte-Félicité270
- Saint-René-de-Matane225
- Sainte-Paule85
- Saint-Adelme80
- Les Méchins75
- Saint-Léandre70
- Rimouski70
- Baie-des-Sables50
- Sainte-Anne-des-Monts30
- Saint-Henri55
- Fredericton35
- Sayabec35
- Mont-Joli35
- Les Méchins30
- Rimouski30
- Amqui25
- Sainte-Félicité20
- Saint-Ulric20
- Fermont20
30% of the people who work in Matane live outside it, 425 of them in Saint-Ulric, 14 km away. Saint-Henri is where the largest group of commuters out goes, 55 of them.
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census (98-10-0459): commuting flows between municipalities (census subdivisions), rounded to 5; linked names have their own pages.
How many in Matane were working in 2021
A smaller share in work than in 56% of Canadian towns.
Counting those looking for work too, 55% of people aged 15 and over were in the labour force. Take in all adults, retirees with them, and only 50% were working. A more recent figure, for the wider area: 52% in work in October 2026, by the Labour Force Survey. These are census figures from May 2021, during COVID’s third wave; jobs have recovered since, which the Labour Force Survey shows.
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.
Without a car, 8.3% of Matane’s commuters get to work
Home was the workplace for 11%, under the 21% in the middle of Canadian towns. Few ride transit: 1.1%, where the middle of Canadian towns has 3.5%. The middle of Quebec’s towns has 4.2% walking; here, 6.7% do. By car, truck or van: 89% of commuters, much as 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 La Matanie census division, 14% fewer people receive EI than in 2019
Per 100 residents aged 15 to 64, about 5.5 receive EI. In the twelve months to August 2026 the number fell by 11%. January 2021 was the busiest month, with 2,040 people on EI, 2 times 2019’s average.
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 Matane alone, so this card uses the figure for the La Matanie census division.
Walking in Matane earns A−
Better than 82% of Canadian towns on two measures together, #218 of 507 in Quebec.
OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL); active commuting from the 2021 Census.
Out of 579 Canadian towns of 9,900 to 19,100, Matane comes 293rd on jobs and income
| # | Place | People | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Household income | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | North Saanich British Columbia | 12,986 | 85% | 5.9% | $121K | A+ |
| 2 | Sillery Quebec | 13,950 | 81% | 6.2% | $120K | A+ |
| 3 | Central Saanich British Columbia | 18,184 | 85% | 4.9% | $103K | A+ |
| 4 | Cap-Rouge Quebec | 17,139 | 81% | 4.3% | $126K | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 9 | L'Aéroport Quebec | 13,630 | 84% | 5.2% | $90K | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 291 | Yarmouth Nova Scotia | 10,637 | 73% | 13% | $69K | C+ |
| 292 | Snelgrove Ontario | 11,109 | 72% | 11% | $146K | C+ |
| 293 | Matane Quebec | 14,180 | 74% | 7.7% | $56K | C+ |
| 294 | Cityscape Alberta | 11,782 | 69% | 11% | $99K | C+ |
| 295 | L'Île-Perrot Quebec | 11,921 | 79% | 7.2% | $76K | C+ |
| … | ||||||
| 579 | René-Goupil Quebec | 11,663 | 58% | 15% | $54K | D− |
Ordered by Jobs & income Grade: the top three, the places either side of Matane, and others among Quebec’s towns.
The places around Matane, side by side
| Place | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Household income | Average trip | Jobs | Walk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Matane | 74% | 7.7% | $56K | 13.4 min | C+ | A− |
| Sainte-Félicité 14.3 km | 69% | 8.6% | $57K | 25.7 min | D | D− |
| Saint-Ulric 14.5 km | 82% | 4.6% | $61K | 20.5 min | B | 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 Matane, where it comes from, and what it leaves out.
- Employment Insurance. Beneficiaries of Employment Insurance, month by month, for the census division rather than the town. Many jobless people don’t qualify, so it isn’t an unemployment 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. 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.
- 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. The census asks how long the trip to work usually takes, in bands; our average uses each band’s middle, so it runs a little above Statistics Canada’s 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.
- 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.
Questions about work in Matane
How long is the commute from Matane?
The average commute is 13.4 minutes; 76% of trips take under 15 minutes and 2% an hour or more.
Where do people in Matane work?
89% work in Matane itself; of those who leave, the most go to Saint-Henri (55), then Fredericton (35).
How many jobs are there in Matane?
The 2021 census found about 5,870 people with their usual workplace in Matane, or 1.3 for each resident who travels to a fixed job. In June 2026, 490 businesses with employees were on Statistics Canada’s count.
What is the unemployment rate in Matane?
On census day in May 2021, unemployment stood at 7.7% of the labour force (9.9% in the middle of Canadian towns). For a recent figure, the Labour Force Survey put the Bas-Saint-Laurent economic region at 4.3% in October 2026.
What is the average household income in Matane?
Matane’s middle household had $56,400 in 2020, before tax; Canadian towns have $85,900 at their middle.
How do people in Matane get to work?
89% of commuters drive, 1.1% take public transit, 6.7% walk and 0.5% cycle; 11% of everyone in work worked at home on census day.
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).