Photo: Normand Lemieux · CC BY-SA 4.0Saint-Claude has 0.1 jobs for every resident in work, so most commute out
When the 2021 census was taken, 6.6% of people in Saint-Claude who wanted a job had none, and the middle of Canadian towns sits at 9.9%. An hour or more each way is the commute for 5.2% of workers in Saint-Claude; the average is 30 minutes. In 2020, a household at the middle of Saint-Claude had $81,500 before tax, against $85,900 in the middle of Canadian towns.
What sets Saint-Claude apart on jobs and income
Less unemployment than most towns
On census day in 2021 6.6% were unemployed, against 9.9% in the middle of Canadian towns; by October 2026 the Labour Force Survey put the area at 3.7%. Unemployment ↓
Longer trips than most towns
Commutes take 30 minutes on average, against 26 in the middle of Canadian towns; 5.2% 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.
Saint-Claude grades C+ for jobs and income
Better than 38% of Canadian towns on three measures together.
Its strongest measure is household income; its weakest, trip times.
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.
The share of 15-to-64s in work in Saint-Claude: 77%
None of the 5 other places of 2,500 people or more in the Le Val-Saint-François census division has a smaller share of 15-to-64s in work.
Across all ages 15 and over the share in work falls to 63%: many residents are past working age. The Labour Force Survey’s employment rate for the wider area was 58% in October 2026. The participation rate, everyone 15 and over working or looking for work, was 67%. The census caught the labour market on 11 May 2021, deep in the pandemic, so unemployment and working from home both ran above normal.
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.
30 minutes from Saint-Claude to work, over the middle of Canadian towns
Timed exactly, the average is 26.7 minutes (Statistics Canada). In the middle of Quebec’s towns, the average commute is 26.5 minutes. Only 14% get to work within a quarter-hour, 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.
A commuter town: Saint-Claude sends out more workers than it takes in
About 26 residents leave for work for each person who comes in. 6% 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.
94% of Saint-Claude’s residents in work leave it to work; Sherbrooke takes the most
- Sherbrooke130
- Windsor110
- Richmond30
- Val-des-Sources20
- Val-Joli20
- Danville10
- Cleveland10
- Magog10
In the other direction the biggest source is Sherbrooke, with 10.
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census (98-10-0459): commuting flows between municipalities (census subdivisions), rounded to 5; linked names have their own pages.
How Saint-Claude’s household incomes compare
Before tax, 2020: higher than in 60% of Canadian towns.
Of the 5 other places of 2,500 or more in the Le Val-Saint-François census division, 2 have a higher median. Against the middle of Quebec’s towns ($74,100), Saint-Claude’s median is 10% above. 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).
Walking, cycling or transit: 2.1% of Saint-Claude’s commuters
Hardly anyone takes transit to work, where the middle of Canadian towns has 3.5%. The car is the way to work for 97% of commuters. Home was the workplace for 17%, under the 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 Le Val-Saint-François census division run 20% above their 2019 level
The highest month was January 2021: 1,560 people, 2.8 times the 2019 level. For each 100 residents of working age in the division, about 3.4 are on EI. Set against the same month a year before, the count in August 2026 fell by 15%.
Statistics Canada, Employment Insurance beneficiaries by census division (14-10-0323): all income benefits, not seasonally adjusted. Not measured by town: EI beneficiaries (the Le Val-Saint-François 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).
Saint-Claude on foot: a C− grade
Better than 24% of Canadian towns on two measures together.
OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL); active commuting from the 2021 Census.
Jobs and income in the places around Saint-Claude
| Place | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Household income | Average trip | Jobs | Walk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Saint-Claude | 77% | 6.6% | $82K | 30 min | C+ | C− |
| Val-Joli 3.1 km | 85% | 2.7% | $80K | 22.5 min | A | C |
| Windsor 7.2 km | 79% | 6.2% | $62K | 21 min | B− | A− |
| Saint-Georges-de-Windsor 11.8 km | 82% | 3.2% | $73K | 26 min | B | B− |
| Saint-François-Xavier-de-Brompton 12.1 km | 87% | 2.2% | $79K | 23.5 min | A | C− |
| Stoke 15.8 km | 79% | 6% | $88K | 23.5 min | A− | D |
| Cleveland 17.6 km | 76% | 5.8% | $74K | 22.5 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 Saint-Claude, where it comes from, and what it leaves out.
- 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. 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. Monthly, and only for metro areas and economic regions. It is the up-to-date rate we set beside the census’s 2021 snapshot.
- In work. We divide the number of employed residents by the number aged 15 to 64. Workers past 64 still count on top, because the 2021 Census crosses work with age only for whole municipalities; in return, a retirement town’s pensioners don’t drag the rate down.
- 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. Taken from the 2021 Census, which asked about 2020: wages, pensions, investment income and government transfers together, before income tax, for the median household.
- 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.
- 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 Saint-Claude
What is the average household income in Saint-Claude?
Saint-Claude’s middle household had $81,500 in 2020, before tax; Canadian towns have $85,900 at their middle.
How do people in Saint-Claude get to work?
97% of commuters drive, 2.1% walk; 17% of everyone in work worked at home on census day.
How long is the commute from Saint-Claude?
The average commute is 30 minutes; 14% of trips take under 15 minutes and 5.2% an hour or more.
Where do people in Saint-Claude work?
Only 6% work in Saint-Claude itself; the rest go first to Sherbrooke (130) and Windsor (110).
How many jobs are there in Saint-Claude?
The 2021 census found about 35 people with their usual workplace in Saint-Claude, or 0.1 for each resident who travels to a fixed job. Statistics Canada counted 26 businesses with employees in June 2026.
What is the unemployment rate in Saint-Claude?
The census put unemployment at 6.6% in May 2021, where the middle of Canadian towns was 9.9%. More recently, in October 2026, the Labour Force Survey had the Estrie economic region at 3.7%.
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).