Photo: Andre Carrotflower · CC BY-SA 4.0Household incomes in Percé are lower than in 94% of Canadian towns
Out of work in May 2021: 17% of Percé’s labour force, and the middle of Canadian towns sits at 9.9%. 385 people have their usual place of work in Percé, against 665 residents who travel to a job. Getting to work from Percé takes 21.7 minutes on average, an hour or more for 2.6%.
What stands out about work in Percé
Fewer people in work than most towns
The 2021 census found 63% of 15-to-64s with a job (73% in the middle of Canadian towns). Count every adult, retirees too, and the figure is 40%. In work ↓
More unemployment than most towns
Unemployment was 17% at the 2021 census, against 9.9% in the middle of Canadian towns. The Labour Force Survey for the wider area read 10% in October 2026. Unemployment ↓
Lower incomes than most towns
Half of households had more than $56,600 before tax in 2020, where the middle of Canadian towns is $85,900. Household income ↓
Shorter trips than most towns
Commutes take 21.7 minutes on average, against 26 in the middle of Canadian towns; 2.6% 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.
Jobs & income in Percé: graded D
Better than 12% of Canadian towns on three measures together, #426 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.
In Percé, 63% of people aged 15 to 64 have a job
A smaller share in work than in 89% of Canadian towns.
Counting retirees, 40% of everyone aged 15 and over was working. By October 2026, the Labour Force Survey had 45% of the wider area’s adults in work. Working or looking, 48% of everyone 15 and over was in the labour force. May 2021, when the census was taken, was a pandemic spring; unemployment has come down since, as the Labour Force Survey records.
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.
Percé households: $56,600 a year at the median
That puts Percé 24% below the median of Quebec’s towns, $74,100. 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).
Commuting times in Percé
Trips under 15 minutes: 39%, more than the 31% in the middle of Quebec’s towns. Statistics Canada’s own average, timed exactly rather than by band, is 20.2 minutes. The middle of Quebec’s towns averages 26.5 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.
Each working day, more people leave Percé for work than come in
It sends out some 3 workers for every one it takes in. 37% 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.
63% of Percé’s residents in work leave it to work; Gaspé takes the most
Coming the other way, Grande-Rivière sends the most (45).
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 Percé work and where people who work there live, the ten largest each way.
On foot, by bike, bus or train: 1% of Percé’s commuters
Transit barely figures here, against 3.5% in the middle of Canadian towns. Nearly everyone drives: 96% of commuters go by car, truck or van. Only 12% worked at home on census day, against 21% 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.
36% fewer people are on EI in the Le Rocher-Percé census division than in 2019
Compared with a year earlier, the count in August 2026 fell by 11%. The highest month was January 2021: 3,420 people, 1.5 times the 2019 level. Per 100 residents aged 15 to 64, about 10.8 receive EI.
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). Percé shares its EI beneficiaries numbers with the rest of the Le Rocher-Percé census division.
Percé earns D for walkability
Better than 5% of Canadian towns on two measures together, #505 of 507 in Quebec.
OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL); active commuting from the 2021 Census.
How Percé ranks: 557th of 639 Canadian towns of 2,500 to 4,200
| # | 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+ |
| … | ||||||
| 5 | Kuujjuaq Quebec | 2,766 | 78% | 4.2% | $112K | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 10 | Hatley Quebec | 2,512 | 89% | 4.1% | $103K | A+ |
| 11 | Saint-Christophe-d'Arthabaska Quebec | 3,307 | 85% | 4.8% | $91K | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 555 | Richmond County, Subdivision C Nova Scotia | 3,444 | 61% | 15% | $62K | D |
| 556 | Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré Quebec | 3,173 | 73% | 9.1% | $59K | D |
| 557 | Percé Quebec | 3,137 | 63% | 17% | $57K | D |
| 558 | Grenville-sur-la-Rouge Quebec | 3,040 | 75% | 10% | $62K | D |
| 559 | Weedon Quebec | 2,845 | 76% | 7.1% | $54K | D |
| … | ||||||
| 639 | 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 Percé, and others among Quebec’s towns.
How Percé compares with the places nearby
No closer places have figures: these lie 17–30 km from Percé.
| Place | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Household income | Average trip | Jobs | Walk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Percé | 63% | 17% | $57K | 21.7 min | D | D |
| Sainte-Thérèse-de-Gaspé 17.3 km | 84% | 6.6% | $65K | 16.6 min | A− | B− |
| Grande-Rivière 23.7 km | 68% | 12% | $61K | 16.7 min | C | C+ |
| Gaspé 29.7 km | 73% | 9.2% | $72K | 17.9 min | B− | 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 Percé, where it comes from, and what it leaves out.
- Trip times. One way, on a usual day, from the census’s travel-time bands. Band midpoints overstate it a little next to the figure Statistics Canada times.
- 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. A monthly count of Employment Insurance beneficiaries for the whole census division. It tracks the local job market, but it is not an unemployment rate.
- The Labour Force Survey. The most recent unemployment rate on the page comes from this monthly survey, which covers the wider metro area or economic region, not 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.
- Unemployment. The share of people 15 and over in the labour force, working or looking for work, who had no job on census day in May 2021.
- Household income. The census median total income of households in 2020, before tax; a neighbourhood’s is estimated from its dissemination areas’ income groups.
- 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 Percé
What is the average household income in Percé?
At $56,600 before tax in 2020, the median household in Percé compares with $85,900 in the middle of Canadian towns.
How do people in Percé get to work?
Driving takes 96% of commuters to work, 1% walk, and on census day 12% of those in work were at home.
How long is the commute from Percé?
About 21.7 minutes on average, with 39% under a quarter-hour and 2.6% at an hour or longer.
Where do people in Percé work?
Only 37% work in Percé itself; the rest go first to Gaspé (145) and Sainte-Thérèse-de-Gaspé (105).
How many jobs are there in Percé?
Some 385 people worked in Percé at the 2021 census: 0.6 jobs per working resident with a fixed workplace. Statistics Canada counted 172 businesses with employees in June 2026.
What is the unemployment rate in Percé?
Two figures answer it: 17% on census day in May 2021 (9.9% in the middle of Canadian towns), and 10% for the Gaspésie-Îles-de-la-Madeleine economic region in the Labour Force Survey of October 2026.
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).