Photo: Metalex · CC BY-SA 3.0The share of 15-to-64s with a job in Saint-Esprit tops that of 94% of Canadian towns
Before tax, the typical household in Saint-Esprit brought in $69,200 in 2020, and the middle of Canadian towns sits at $85,900. Saint-Esprit is the usual workplace of 1,750 people, and 655 of its own residents commute to a job. The 2021 census put unemployment in Saint-Esprit at 5.6%, against 9.9% in the middle of Canadian towns.
The short version on work in Saint-Esprit
More people in work than most towns
At the 2021 census 86% of the 15-to-64s were in work (73% in the middle of Canadian towns); across all ages 15 and over, 66%. In work ↓
Less unemployment than most towns
Census day in 2021 put 5.6% out of work (9.9% in the middle of Canadian towns), and the area’s monthly survey gave 2.9% in October 2026. Unemployment ↓
Lower incomes than most towns
Half of households had more than $69,200 before tax in 2020, where the middle of Canadian towns is $85,900. Household income ↓
A local job centre
With 1,750 jobs based in Saint-Esprit and 655 working residents, the ratio compares with 0.8 in the middle of Canadian towns. The daily tide ↓
Longer trips than most towns
The average trip to work is 29.2 minutes (26 in the middle of Canadian towns), and 10% 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 Saint-Esprit earn B−
Better than 46% of Canadian towns on three measures together.
Its strongest measure is the share of 15-to-64s in work; 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.
Saint-Esprit at work: 86% of people aged 15 to 64
All 5 other places of 2,500 people or more in the Montcalm census division have a smaller share of 15-to-64s in work.
A more recent figure, for the wider area: 60% in work in October 2026, by the Labour Force Survey. Working or looking, 70% of everyone 15 and over was in the labour force. Take in all adults, retirees with them, and only 66% were working. 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 Saint-Esprit’s household incomes compare
Before tax, 2020: lower than in 68% of Canadian towns.
Of the 5 other places of 2,500 or more in the Montcalm census division, 4 have a higher median. The middle of Quebec’s towns is $74,100, and Saint-Esprit is 7% below it. The year is 2020: emergency benefits like CERB count in these incomes, and they raised the bottom of the range.
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, 1,935 people work in Saint-Esprit, 2.3 times its working residents
Inbound commuters outnumber outbound ones about 3 to 1 in Saint-Esprit. 29% 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.
At 29.2 minutes, commutes from Saint-Esprit are longer than in the middle of Canadian towns
Statistics Canada’s own average, timed exactly rather than by band, is 25.2 minutes. The middle of Quebec’s towns averages 26.5 minutes. A quarter-hour or less for 32% of commuters, against 31% in the middle of Quebec’s towns. 10% spend an hour or longer getting to work; the middle of Quebec’s towns has 5.3%.
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.
1,562 people come into Saint-Esprit to work, most from Montréal and Sainte-Julienne
89% of the people who work in Saint-Esprit live outside it, 185 of them in Montréal, 41 km away. Montréal is where the largest group of commuters out goes, 60 of them.
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census (98-10-0459): commuting flows between municipalities (census subdivisions), rounded to 5; linked names have their own pages.
Walk, cycle or ride transit: the choice of 7.1% of Saint-Esprit’s commuters
Transit takes 1.1% of commuters, against 3.5% in the middle of Canadian towns. Nearly everyone drives: 92% of commuters go by car, truck or van. Fewer worked at home than in the middle of Canadian towns: 17% against 21%.
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census: main mode of commuting; average durations by mode from table 98-10-0458 (whole municipalities only).
58% more people are on EI in the Montcalm census division than in 2019
The count topped out in January 2021 at 4,590 people, 3.3 times the 2019 average. That works out to around 4.9 beneficiaries per 100 people aged 15 to 64 across the division. Compared with a year earlier, the count in August 2026 rose by 4%.
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). Saint-Esprit doesn’t get its own EI beneficiaries figures; the ones here come from the Montcalm census division.
Walking in Saint-Esprit earns B
Better than 63% of Canadian towns on two measures together.
OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL); active commuting from the 2021 Census.
How the places next to Saint-Esprit compare on work
| Place | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Household income | Average trip | Jobs | Walk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Saint-Esprit | 86% | 5.6% | $69K | 29.2 min | B− | B |
| Saint-Alexis 6.2 km | 79% | 7.2% | $84K | 33.1 min | C+ | B− |
| Saint-Roch-de-l'Achigan 7.8 km | 79% | 5.6% | $81K | 32.5 min | C+ | B− |
| Sainte-Julienne 8.2 km | 73% | 7.1% | $74K | 37.5 min | D | C |
| Saint-Lin--Laurentides 9.4 km | 77% | 6.3% | $78K | 37 min | C− | B− |
| Saint-Jacques 9.7 km | 79% | 4.6% | $70K | 28.1 min | C+ | B+ |
| Sainte-Marie-Salomé 13.6 km | 77% | 8.6% | $71K | 29.2 min | C | 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-Esprit, where it comes from, and what it leaves out.
- 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. Working residents per resident of working age (15 to 64), from the 2021 Census.
- 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. 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. Built from banded answers: each commuter’s usual one-way trip counts as the midpoint of the band they chose, and the result tends to sit slightly higher than Statistics Canada’s average.
- Where people commute. Counts of workers with a fixed workplace, by where they live and where they work, both taken as whole municipalities; the jobs figure takes everyone who works here, wherever home is.
- Which towns we compare. Every town and city neighbourhood with 2,500 residents or more; whole cities and First Nations reserves are left out. Each middle figure is a median.
Questions about work in Saint-Esprit
How long is the commute from Saint-Esprit?
29.2 minutes is the average trip, with 32% of commuters there in under 15 minutes and 10% taking an hour or more.
Where do people in Saint-Esprit work?
29% work in Saint-Esprit itself. Of those who leave, the most go to Montréal (60), then Laval (55).
How many jobs are there in Saint-Esprit?
The 2021 census counted about 1,750 people working in Saint-Esprit: 2.7 jobs for every resident who commutes to a fixed workplace. Statistics Canada counted 134 businesses with employees in June 2026.
What is the unemployment rate in Saint-Esprit?
Two figures answer it: 5.6% on census day in May 2021 (9.9% in the middle of Canadian towns), and 2.9% for the Lanaudière economic region in the Labour Force Survey of October 2026.
What is the average household income in Saint-Esprit?
Saint-Esprit’s middle household had $69,200 in 2020, before tax; Canadian towns have $85,900 at their middle.
How do people in Saint-Esprit get to work?
By car: 92% of commuters, 1.1% take public transit and 6% walk; on census day 17% 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).