Photo: Groupe de recherche en art du Québec · CC BY-SA 4.0Most of Stanstead works elsewhere: the town has 0.4 jobs for each resident in work
From Stanstead, the drive or ride to work averages 30.5 minutes, with 8.5% going an hour or longer. Working at home: 30% of its workers, where the middle of Canadian towns has 21%. Median household income in Stanstead was $76,700 in 2020, against $85,900 in the middle of Canadian towns.
What sets Stanstead apart on jobs and income
Work near the middle
Counting everyone 15 and over, 47% were in work at the 2021 census; among those aged 15 to 64 it was 76%, against 73% in the middle of Canadian towns. In work ↓
Longer trips than most towns
Commutes take 30.5 minutes on average, against 26 in the middle of Canadian towns; 8.5% 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.
On jobs and income, Stanstead grades C
Better than 28% 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.
The length of the trip to work in Stanstead
Timed exactly, the average is 26.5 minutes (Statistics Canada). In the middle of Quebec’s towns, the average commute is 26.5 minutes. Only 11% 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.
Commuting time at the 2021 Census, to work only, for people who travel to a usual workplace or have none fixed.
Stanstead empties a little on a working day
270 residents of Stanstead had a usual place of work at the 2021 census, and 100 people had theirs in Stanstead, wherever they lived.
About 3 residents leave for work for each person who comes in. 8.3% 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.
92% of Stanstead’s residents in work leave it to work; Magog takes the most
- Magog35
- Sherbrooke20
- Hatley10
- Varennes10
Inbound, the leader is Magog (35).
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 Stanstead work and where people who work there live, the ten largest each way.
In Stanstead, 76% of people aged 15 to 64 have a job
Of the 6 other places of 2,500 people or more in the Memphrémagog census division, one has a smaller share of 15-to-64s in work.
Working or looking, 52% of everyone 15 and over was in the labour force. Many residents are past working age, so among everyone 15 and over the share in work drops to 47%. For the wider area, the Labour Force Survey had 58% in work in October 2026. 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.
What households in Stanstead earn
Before tax, 2020: lower than in 51% of Canadian towns.
The middle of Quebec’s towns is $74,100, and Stanstead is 4% above it. 4 of the 6 other places of 2,500+ in the Memphrémagog census division have a higher median. 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).
Stanstead gets to work without a car for 7% of commuters
Hardly anyone takes transit to work, where the middle of Canadian towns has 3.5%. The car takes 89% of commuters here, under the 90% in the middle of Quebec’s 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.
How EI claims in the Memphrémagog census division have moved since 2019
The highest month was January 2021: 3,050 people, 3.2 times the 2019 level. Roughly 3.3 in every 100 people aged 15 to 64 in the division draw EI. Set against the same month a year before, the count in August 2026 fell by 5%.
Statistics Canada, Employment Insurance beneficiaries by census division (14-10-0323): all income benefits, not seasonally adjusted. Data for EI beneficiaries covers the Memphrémagog 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).
The walkability of Stanstead: C+
Better than 39% of Canadian towns on two measures together.
OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL); active commuting from the 2021 Census.
Neighbouring places to Stanstead, compared
| Place | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Household income | Average trip | Jobs | Walk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stanstead | 76% | 8.2% | $77K | 30.5 min | C | C+ |
| Ayer's Cliff 10.6 km | 89% | 3.8% | $76K | 24.2 min | A− | A |
| Stanstead 13.6 km | 72% | 6.8% | $55K | 21.9 min | C− | A− |
| Magog 15.8 km | 78% | 7.8% | $63K | 21.4 min | B− | B+ |
| Bolton-Est 16.5 km | 72% | 8.9% | $72K | 31.5 min | D | C |
| Austin 17.7 km | 75% | 5.9% | $85K | 28.3 min | C+ | C |
| Sainte-Catherine-de-Hatley 17.9 km | 81% | 4% | $91K | 27 min | A− | D− |
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 Stanstead, where it comes from, and what it leaves out.
- 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 census-week jobless rate for residents 15 and over. Its base is the labour force, those employed plus those actively looking.
- 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.
- Where people commute. Only people with a usual place of work are in it: those who work from home or have no fixed site are not. Home and work are both counted by municipality.
- 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. Monthly, and only for metro areas and economic regions. It is the up-to-date rate we set beside the census’s 2021 snapshot.
- Which towns we compare. Comparisons are with the median of Canadian towns and city neighbourhoods counting 2,500 people or more, reserves and entire cities excluded.
Questions about work in Stanstead
How long is the commute from Stanstead?
On average 30.5 minutes; 11% take under 15 minutes and 8.5% take an hour or longer.
Where do people in Stanstead work?
Only 8.3% work in Stanstead itself; the rest go first to Magog (110) and Stanstead (Quebec part) (45).
How many jobs are there in Stanstead?
About 100 people had their usual place of work in Stanstead at the 2021 census, 0.4 for each working resident with a fixed workplace. In June 2026, 46 businesses with employees were on Statistics Canada’s count.
What is the unemployment rate in Stanstead?
On census day in May 2021, unemployment stood at 8.2% of the labour force (9.9% in the middle of Canadian towns). For a recent figure, the Labour Force Survey put the Estrie economic region at 3.7% in October 2026.
What is the average household income in Stanstead?
The census puts Stanstead at $76,700 for 2020, before tax and at the median, against $85,900 in the middle of Canadian towns.
How do people in Stanstead get to work?
89% of commuters go by car, 7% walk. On census day 30% of everyone in work stayed home to work.
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).