Photo: Dominic Germain · CC BY-SA 3.0More of Nicolet’s 15-to-64s are in work than in 88% of Canadian towns
The median household in Nicolet had $65,500 before tax in 2020, and the middle of Canadian towns sits at $85,900. Getting to work from Nicolet takes 19.6 minutes on average, an hour or more for 3.4%. Joblessness at the 2021 census: 4% of Nicolet’s labour force, against 9.9% in the middle of Canadian towns.
The short version on work in Nicolet
More people in work than most towns
At the 2021 census 83% of the 15-to-64s were in work (73% in the middle of Canadian towns); across all ages 15 and over, 60%. In work ↓
Less unemployment than most towns
Unemployment was 4% at the 2021 census, against 9.9% in the middle of Canadian towns. The Labour Force Survey for the wider area read 3.4% in October 2026. Unemployment ↓
Lower incomes than most towns
Half of households had more than $65,500 before tax in 2020, where the middle of Canadian towns is $85,900. Household income ↓
A local job centre
3,605 people work in Nicolet and 2,865 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 19.6 minutes on average, against 26 in the middle of Canadian towns; 3.4% 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 Nicolet earn A−
Better than 76% of Canadian towns on three measures together, #134 of 507 in Quebec.
Its strongest measure is the share of 15-to-64s in work; 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.
In Nicolet, 83% of people aged 15 to 64 have a job
Participation, the share of residents 15 and over working or looking for work, came to 62%. Counting retirees, 60% of everyone aged 15 and over was working. A more recent figure, for the wider area: 60% in work in October 2026, by the Labour Force Survey. Statistics Canada counted on 11 May 2021, with much of the country under pandemic rules: more people were out of work or at home than usual.
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.
How Nicolet’s household incomes compare
Before tax, 2020: lower than in 77% of Canadian towns.
The middle of Quebec’s towns is $74,100, and Nicolet is 12% below it. In 2020 emergency benefits topped up many low incomes, and the census counts them here.
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 Nicolet gains 22% in workers
About 2 people arrive to work in Nicolet for each resident who goes out. Of those who commute, 53% stay within the municipality; the middle of Canadian towns is 70%.
People with no fixed workplace are in neither count.
Commuting times in Nicolet
The middle of Quebec’s towns averages 26.5 minutes. Trips under 15 minutes: 51%, more than the 31% in the middle of Quebec’s towns. Statistics Canada’s own average, timed exactly rather than by band, is 17.6 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.
2,089 people come into Nicolet to work, most from Trois-Rivières and Bécancour
- Trois-Rivières700
- Bécancour425
- Baie-du-Febvre125
- Shawinigan65
- Grand-Saint-Esprit65
- Pierreville60
- Sainte-Monique50
- Saint-Léonard-d'Aston45
- Saint-François-du-Lac45
- La Visitation-de-Yamaska30
- Trois-Rivières570
- Bécancour255
- Drummondville65
- Saint-Léonard-d'Aston60
- Baie-du-Febvre55
- Saint-François-du-Lac45
- Saint-Célestin40
- Sorel-Tracy30
- Saint-Étienne-des-Grès20
- Québec15
Of everyone working in Nicolet, 58% come in from elsewhere; 700 make the 14 km trip from Trois-Rivières. Going the other way, Trois-Rivières is the biggest single destination (570).
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census (98-10-0459): commuting flows between municipalities (census subdivisions), rounded to 5; linked names have their own pages.
Leaving the car at home: 6.9% of commuters in Nicolet
Nearly everyone drives: 92% of commuters go by car, truck or van. Fewer worked at home than in the middle of Canadian towns: 13% against 21%. Transit takes 0.4% of commuters, 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).
EI claims in the Nicolet-Yamaska census division run 21% above their 2019 level
For each 100 residents of working age in the division, about 4.1 are on EI. Compared with a year earlier, the count in August 2026 fell by 5%. At its peak, in January 2021, 1,420 people were on EI, 2.8 times the 2019 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). Nicolet doesn’t get its own EI beneficiaries figures; the ones here come from the Nicolet-Yamaska census division.
Nicolet earns B+ for walkability
Better than 72% of Canadian towns on two measures together, #270 of 507 in Quebec.
OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL); active commuting from the 2021 Census.
Out of 680 Canadian towns of 6,100 to 11,800, Nicolet comes 159th on jobs and income
| # | Place | People | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Household income | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Labrador City Newfoundland and Labrador | 7,965 | 79% | 5.5% | $146K | A+ |
| 2 | Silverwood Heights Saskatchewan | 8,153 | 81% | 5.8% | $118K | A+ |
| 3 | North River Heights Manitoba | 7,228 | 82% | 8.4% | $143K | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 12 | Boischatel Quebec | 9,250 | 85% | 4.8% | $118K | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 15 | Chibougamau Quebec | 7,273 | 82% | 3.7% | $85K | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 18 | Shannon Quebec | 7,088 | 81% | 3.7% | $113K | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 157 | Elizabethtown-Kitley Ontario | 9,886 | 78% | 8.3% | $92K | A− |
| 158 | Kingsway South Ontario | 8,935 | 79% | 8.3% | $197K | A− |
| 159 | Nicolet Quebec | 8,737 | 83% | 4% | $66K | A− |
| 160 | Lethbridge County Alberta | 10,988 | 73% | 4.6% | $100K | A− |
| 161 | Colborne Ontario | 7,447 | 77% | 9.1% | $121K | A− |
| … | ||||||
| 680 | René-Goupil Quebec | 11,663 | 58% | 15% | $54K | D− |
Ordered by Jobs & income Grade: the top three, the places either side of Nicolet, and others among Quebec’s towns.
Nicolet and its neighbours: work and income
| Place | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Household income | Average trip | Jobs | Walk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nicolet | 83% | 4% | $66K | 19.6 min | A− | B+ |
| Trois-Rivières 13.7 km | 75% | 6.6% | $61K | 19.7 min | C+ | A− |
| Bécancour 14.4 km | 81% | 4.4% | $75K | 22.6 min | B+ | B− |
| Baie-du-Febvre 16 km | 85% | 2% | $63K | 25.4 min | B− | D |
| Yamachiche 19 km | 77% | 7% | $68K | 21.3 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 Nicolet, where it comes from, and what it leaves out.
- Unemployment. A census-day figure: people without a job who were looking, divided by all those working or looking, ages 15 and up.
- 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. How long getting to work normally takes, averaged from the census’s time bands at their middles; expect it to read slightly high against the timed figure.
- Where people commute. Jobs count everyone whose usual workplace lies in the municipality, residents or commuters from elsewhere, from Statistics Canada’s home-by-workplace table.
- Employment Insurance. Monthly EI recipients across the census division: a pulse of the local job market rather than a measure of who is out of work.
- 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. 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.
- Which towns we compare. Towns and city neighbourhoods of 2,500 people or more, never a whole city and never a First Nations reserve. Middles are medians.
Questions about work in Nicolet
How long is the commute from Nicolet?
19.6 minutes is the average trip, with 51% of commuters there in under 15 minutes and 3.4% taking an hour or more.
Where do people in Nicolet work?
Most stay: 53% work in Nicolet. The rest go first to Trois-Rivières (570) and Bécancour (255).
How many jobs are there in Nicolet?
The 2021 census counted about 3,605 people working in Nicolet: 1.3 jobs for every resident who commutes to a fixed workplace. Statistics Canada counted 289 businesses with employees in June 2026.
What is the unemployment rate in Nicolet?
The 2021 census found 4% unemployed, against 9.9% in the middle of Canadian towns; the Labour Force Survey’s latest, for the Centre-du-Québec economic region, is 3.4% (October 2026).
What is the average household income in Nicolet?
The median household in Nicolet had $65,500 before tax in 2020, against $85,900 in the middle of Canadian towns.
How do people in Nicolet get to work?
By car: 92% of commuters, 0.4% take public transit, 5.5% walk and 1% cycle; on census day 13% 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).