Photo: Roncanada · CC BY 4.0Working-age people in Saint-Thomas have jobs more often than in 85% of Canadian towns
Jobs located in Saint-Thomas: 840, for 1,245 residents with a usual workplace. Before tax, the typical household in Saint-Thomas brought in $77,600 in 2020, next to $85,900 for the middle of Canadian towns. In May 2021, unemployment in Saint-Thomas reached 6.1%; the middle of Canadian towns is 9.9%.
The work figures that set Saint-Thomas apart
More people in work than most towns
83% of people aged 15 to 64 had a job at the 2021 census, against 73% in the middle of Canadian towns; counting everyone 15 and over, retirees included, it was 62%. In work ↓
Less unemployment than most towns
6.1% of the labour force was out of work at the 2021 census (9.9% in the middle of Canadian towns); the Labour Force Survey had the area at 2.9% in October 2026. Unemployment ↓
Shorter trips than most towns
The average trip to work is 23 minutes (26 in the middle of Canadian towns), and 5.3% 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.
The Jobs & income grade for Saint-Thomas: A−
Better than 81% of Canadian towns on three measures together, #101 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.
The share of 15-to-64s in work in Saint-Thomas: 83%
Of the 8 other places of 2,500 people or more in the Joliette census division, 7 have a smaller share of 15-to-64s in work.
In October 2026, 60% of the wider area’s adults had a job, on the Labour Force Survey’s count. The participation rate, everyone 15 and over working or looking for work, was 66%. Counting retirees, 62% of everyone aged 15 and over was working. Census day was 11 May 2021, in the pandemic’s third wave: unemployment ran high and many worked from home, so these figures describe that spring rather than today.
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.
23 minutes from Saint-Thomas to work, under the middle of Canadian towns
Timed exactly, the average is 20.2 minutes (Statistics Canada). In the middle of Quebec’s towns, the average commute is 26.5 minutes. Trips under 15 minutes: 39%, more than the 31% in the middle of Quebec’s towns. Long trips, an hour or more, are about as common as in the middle of Quebec’s towns: 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.
Commuting time at the 2021 Census, to work only, for people who travel to a usual workplace or have none fixed.
More of Saint-Thomas’ workers leave each day than arrive
1,245 residents of Saint-Thomas had a usual place of work at the 2021 census, and 840 people had theirs in Saint-Thomas, wherever they lived.
For every person who comes in to work, about 2 residents travel out. 18% 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.
82% of Saint-Thomas’ residents in work leave it to work; Joliette takes the most
Of those coming in, Lavaltrie supplies the most: 60.
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 Saint-Thomas work and where people who work there live, the ten largest each way.
Household income in Saint-Thomas
Before tax, 2020: higher than in 51% of Canadian towns.
2 of the 8 other places of 2,500+ in the Joliette census division have a higher median. Saint-Thomas’ median is 5% above the middle of Quebec’s towns ($74,100). Incomes here are 2020’s and include the pandemic payments, CERB among them, that propped up the lower end.
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census: median total income of households in 2020, before tax (a neighbourhood’s estimated from its dissemination areas’ income groups).
Walk, cycle or ride transit: the choice of 4.4% of Saint-Thomas’ commuters
Home was the workplace for 14%, under the 21% in the middle of Canadian towns. Hardly anyone takes transit to work, where the middle of Canadian towns has 3.5%. The car is the way to work for 94% of commuters.
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.
In the Joliette census division, 35% more people receive EI than in 2019
For each 100 residents of working age in the division, about 4 are on EI. Set against the same month a year before, the count in August 2026 rose by 1%. January 2021 was the busiest month, with 4,040 people on EI, 3.4 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 Joliette 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-Thomas on foot: a B grade
Better than 59% of Canadian towns on two measures together, #341 of 507 in Quebec.
OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL); active commuting from the 2021 Census.
Saint-Thomas places 173rd of 757 on jobs and income among Canadian towns of 2,500 to 4,700
| # | 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+ |
| … | ||||||
| 6 | Kuujjuaq Quebec | 2,766 | 78% | 4.2% | $112K | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 11 | Hatley Quebec | 2,512 | 89% | 4.1% | $103K | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 13 | Saint-Christophe-d'Arthabaska Quebec | 3,307 | 85% | 4.8% | $91K | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 171 | Waskaganish Quebec | 2,726 | 53% | 11% | $115K | A− |
| 172 | Paisley Alberta | 2,897 | 80% | 8.1% | $120K | A− |
| 173 | Saint-Thomas Quebec | 3,477 | 83% | 6.1% | $78K | A− |
| 174 | Saint-Paul-d'Abbotsford Quebec | 2,891 | 81% | 4.2% | $79K | A− |
| 175 | Fairview Alberta | 2,918 | 74% | 7.6% | $81K | A− |
| … | ||||||
| 757 | 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 Saint-Thomas, and others among Quebec’s towns.
Jobs near Saint-Thomas: the places around it
| Place | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Household income | Average trip | Jobs | Walk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Saint-Thomas | 83% | 6.1% | $78K | 23 min | A− | B |
| Joliette 7.2 km | 67% | 8.4% | $53K | 22 min | D | A− |
| Saint-Paul 7.3 km | 82% | 3.9% | $86K | 26.1 min | A− | C |
| Notre-Dame-des-Prairies 7.9 km | 77% | 6.4% | $71K | 22.8 min | B− | B |
| Saint-Charles-Borromée 9.8 km | 75% | 7.2% | $61K | 21.1 min | C+ | B+ |
| Sainte-Élisabeth 10.5 km | 87% | 5% | $72K | 27.1 min | B | D− |
| Lanoraie 10.9 km | 77% | 6.1% | $77K | 32.4 min | C | 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 Saint-Thomas, where it comes from, and what it leaves out.
- 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. 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. Built from the census table that pairs each worker’s home municipality with their workplace municipality. A job here means someone who usually works in the municipality, local or not.
- Employment Insurance. Statistics Canada counts EI beneficiaries each month by census division. Seasonal work makes it swing, so read it as a trend, not a jobless rate.
- 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. Unemployed people over the labour force (in work or looking), aged 15 and over, on census day.
- Which towns we compare. Medians over towns and neighbourhoods of at least 2,500 residents. Whole cities would swamp them and reserves sit outside the rankings, so neither is in.
Questions about work in Saint-Thomas
What is the unemployment rate in Saint-Thomas?
The census put unemployment at 6.1% in May 2021, where the middle of Canadian towns was 9.9%. More recently, in October 2026, the Labour Force Survey had the Lanaudière economic region at 2.9%.
What is the average household income in Saint-Thomas?
The median household in Saint-Thomas had $77,600 before tax in 2020, against $85,900 in the middle of Canadian towns.
How do people in Saint-Thomas get to work?
94% of commuters go by car, 3.7% walk and 0.7% cycle. On census day 14% of everyone in work stayed home to work.
How long is the commute from Saint-Thomas?
On average 23 minutes; 39% take under 15 minutes and 5.3% take an hour or longer.
Where do people in Saint-Thomas work?
18% work in Saint-Thomas itself. Of those who leave, the most go to Joliette (300), then Saint-Charles-Borromée (95).
How many jobs are there in Saint-Thomas?
About 840 people had their usual place of work in Saint-Thomas at the 2021 census, 0.7 for each working resident with a fixed workplace. In June 2026, 145 businesses with employees were on Statistics Canada’s count.
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).