Photo: Wilfredor · CC0Québec has a larger share of its working-age people in jobs than 84% of Canadian towns
Joblessness at the 2021 census: 7.1% of Québec’s labour force, next to 9.9% for the middle of Canadian towns. Workers in Québec spend 22.1 minutes on the way to work on average, and 2.6% need an hour or more. Half the households in Québec had more than $70,600 in 2020, before tax; the middle of Canadian towns is $85,900.
What stands out about work in Québec
More people in work than most towns
The 2021 census found 79% of 15-to-64s with a job (73% in the middle of Canadian towns). Count every adult, retirees too, and the figure is 60%. In work ↓
Less unemployment than most towns
On census day in 2021 7.1% were unemployed, against 9.9% in the middle of Canadian towns; by October 2026 the Labour Force Survey put the area at 4.5%. Unemployment ↓
Lower incomes than most towns
Half of households had more than $70,600 before tax in 2020, where the middle of Canadian towns is $85,900. Household income ↓
A local job centre
With 204,775 jobs based in Québec and 175,265 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 22.1 minutes (26 in the middle of Canadian towns), and 2.6% 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.
Jobs and income in Québec: the grade’s measures
Four census measures, each read against Canadian towns of 2,500 people or more, will set the letter: the in-work share of 15-to-64s, median household income, unemployment and commute length.
In Québec, 79% of people aged 15 to 64 have a job
Of the 37 other places of 2,500 people or more in the Québec census division, 13 have a smaller share of 15-to-64s in work.
Counting those looking for work too, 65% of people aged 15 and over were in the labour force. An older population pulls the all-ages rate down: 60% of residents 15 and over were in work. A more recent figure, for the wider area: 63% in work in October 2026, by the Labour Force Survey. The figures are a snapshot of 11 May 2021, when pandemic rules still kept many people out of work or at home.
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.
What households in Québec earn
Before tax, 2020: lower than in 77% of Canadian towns.
Set beside Quebec’s towns, where the median is $74,100, Québec sits 5% below. 19 of the 37 other places of 2,500+ in the Québec census division have a higher median. Because 2020 was the first year of the pandemic, emergency benefits make up part of these before-tax incomes.
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, Québec’s workforce grows by 12%
Inbound commuters outnumber outbound ones about 2 to 1 in Québec. 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.
Commuting times in Québec
Trips under 15 minutes: 32%, more than the 31% in the middle of Quebec’s towns. Statistics Canada’s own average, timed exactly rather than by band, is 19.5 minutes. In the middle of Quebec’s towns, the average commute is 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.
51,418 people come into Québec to work, most from Lévis and L'Ancienne-Lorette
- Lévis14,105
- L'Ancienne-Lorette4,070
- Saint-Augustin-de-Desmaures3,775
- Stoneham-et-Tewkesbury2,350
- Boischatel2,230
- Sainte-Brigitte-de-Laval2,170
- Lac-Beauport1,990
- Sainte-Catherine-de-la-Jacques-Cartier1,160
- Pont-Rouge1,135
- L'Ange-Gardien955
- Lévis5,415
- Saint-Augustin-de-Desmaures3,300
- L'Ancienne-Lorette2,310
- Saint-Gabriel-de-Valcartier2,280
- Wendake420
- Stoneham-et-Tewkesbury375
- Notre-Dame-des-Anges (PE)365
- Montréal355
- Boischatel330
- Lac-Beauport315
25% of the people who work in Québec live outside it, 14,105 of them in Lévis, 11 km away. Outbound, Lévis takes the most: 5,415 people.
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census (98-10-0459): commuting flows between municipalities (census subdivisions), rounded to 5; linked names have their own pages.
Household incomes across Québec: $48K to $126K
Median household income in each of Québec’s 35 neighbourhoods: the highest is 2.7 times the lowest. The share of 15-to-64s in work runs from 67% in Cité-Universitaire to 85% in Notre-Dame-des-Laurentides.
| Neighbourhood | People | Household income | In work, 15–64 | Average trip |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Neufchatel Est—Lebourgneuf | 37,164 | $83,000 | 83% | 20.1 min |
| Val-Bélair | 30,003 | $96,300 | 84% | 23.3 min |
| Duberger—Les Saules | 27,419 | $70,600 | 83% | 19.1 min |
| Cité-Universitaire | 22,546 | $54,200 | 67% | 20.6 min |
| Sainte-Thérèse-de-Lisieux | 17,558 | $100,800 | 81% | 24.3 min |
| Saint-Michel | 17,303 | $97,800 | 83% | 22.1 min |
| Cap-Rouge | 17,139 | $126,000 | 81% | 21.2 min |
| Saint-Émile | 16,893 | $104,800 | 82% | 22.6 min |
| Chutes-Montmorency | 16,273 | $73,400 | 78% | 22 min |
| Notre-Dame-des-Laurentides | 16,222 | $97,400 | 85% | 23.8 min |
| Saint-Sauveur | 16,104 | $48,600 | 73% | 21.3 min |
| Vieux-Moulin | 15,935 | $53,300 | 76% | 20.8 min |
| Jésuites | 15,792 | $70,600 | 82% | 20.8 min |
| Saint-Louis | 15,792 | $78,300 | 81% | 21.7 min |
| Loretteville | 15,653 | $74,000 | 81% | 23.1 min |
| Lairet | 15,251 | $49,400 | 77% | 21.3 min |
| Des Châtels | 14,836 | $89,200 | 82% | 22.1 min |
| Vieux-Bourg | 14,774 | $67,300 | 82% | 20.7 min |
| Orsainville | 14,751 | $75,200 | 81% | 23 min |
| Maizerets | 14,571 | $47,500 | 70% | 22.4 min |
| Pointe-de-Sainte-Foy | 14,541 | $67,900 | 81% | 22 min |
| Bourg-Royal | 14,430 | $84,200 | 80% | 22 min |
| Vieux-Limoilou | 14,347 | $51,900 | 76% | 21.6 min |
| Plateau | 14,176 | $67,000 | 80% | 21.1 min |
| Sillery | 13,950 | $119,800 | 81% | 19.5 min |
| L'Aéroport | 13,630 | $90,300 | 84% | 19.8 min |
| Montcalm | 13,572 | $69,600 | 80% | 20.7 min |
| Vanier | 13,494 | $49,400 | 73% | 19.8 min |
| Saint-Rodrigue | 12,018 | $53,800 | 78% | 20.7 min |
| Saint-Sacrement | 10,650 | $62,200 | 79% | 21.2 min |
| Lac-Saint-Charles | 9,985 | $92,500 | 82% | 24.4 min |
| Charlesbourg | 9,660 | $77,400 | 80% | 20.4 min |
| Saint-Jean-Baptiste | 8,882 | $52,500 | 76% | 21.1 min |
| Saint-Roch | 8,381 | $47,800 | 72% | 21.1 min |
| Vieux-Québec—Cap-Blanc—Colline parlementaire | 5,764 | $59,600 | 77% | 21.1 min |
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census: each neighbourhood summed from its dissemination areas; incomes are 2020’s.
Leaving the car at home: 20% of commuters in Québec
The middle of Quebec’s towns has 1.5% on transit; here it is 11%. 79% drive to work, fewer than the 90% in the middle of Quebec’s towns. 26% of everyone in work 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).
EI claims in the Québec census division run 36% above their 2019 level
Roughly 2.6 in every 100 people aged 15 to 64 in the division draw EI. In the twelve months to August 2026 the number fell by 3%. January 2021 was the busiest month, with 30,440 people on EI, 4.8 times 2019’s average.
Statistics Canada, Employment Insurance beneficiaries by census division (14-10-0323): all income benefits, not seasonally adjusted. EI beneficiaries: one figure for all of the Québec 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).
Québec and its neighbours: work and income
| Place | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Household income | Average trip | Jobs | Walk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Québec | 79% | 7.1% | $71K | 22.1 min | — | — |
| Neufchatel Est—Lebourgneuf 1.4 km | 83% | 6.2% | $83K | 20.1 min | A | A |
| Charlesbourg 2.7 km | 80% | 5.3% | $77K | 20.4 min | A− | A+ |
| Saint-Rodrigue 2.7 km | 78% | 9.3% | $54K | 20.7 min | C+ | A+ |
| Duberger—Les Saules 2.9 km | 83% | 6.7% | $71K | 19.1 min | A− | A+ |
| Vanier 3.5 km | 73% | 11% | $49K | 19.8 min | C | A+ |
| Lairet 3.7 km | 77% | 10% | $49K | 21.3 min | C | A+ |
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 Québec, where it comes from, and what it leaves out.
- Household income. The census median total income of households in 2020, before tax; a neighbourhood’s is estimated from its dissemination areas’ income groups.
- Trip times. Our average assumes everyone in, say, the 15-to-29-minute band takes 22 minutes. Across all the bands that runs a shade above Statistics Canada’s measured 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.
- 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. A monthly household survey by Statistics Canada, reported for metro areas and economic regions only. It supplies a recent rate next to the 2021 census figure.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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 Québec
How many jobs are there in Québec?
Some 204,775 people worked in Québec at the 2021 census: 1.2 jobs per working resident with a fixed workplace. In June 2026, 17,543 businesses with employees were on Statistics Canada’s count.
What is the unemployment rate in Québec?
In October 2026 the Labour Force Survey put the Québec metro area at 4.5%; the 2021 census, which counts the town itself, found 7.1%, against 9.9% in the middle of Canadian towns.
What is the average household income in Québec?
Before tax, half the households in Québec had more than $70,600 in 2020; the middle of Canadian towns is $85,900.
How do people in Québec get to work?
Driving takes 79% of commuters to work, 11% take public transit, 7.6% walk and 1.4% cycle, and on census day 26% of those in work were at home.
How long is the commute from Québec?
About 22.1 minutes on average, with 32% under a quarter-hour and 2.6% at an hour or longer.
Where do people in Québec work?
Most stay: 88% work in Québec. The rest go first to Lévis (5,415) and Saint-Augustin-de-Desmaures (3,300).
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). 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).