Photo: Roncanada · CC BY 4.0Thurso has 0.5 jobs for every resident in work, so most leave town for work
In Thurso, 72% of residents aged 15 to 64 were working in May 2021; the middle of Canadian towns is 73%. Before tax, the typical household in Thurso brought in $62,800 in 2020, against $85,900 in the middle of Canadian towns. Most commutes from Thurso take well under an hour: the average is 32.6 minutes, and 11% take 60 minutes or longer.
What stands out about work in Thurso
Lower incomes than most towns
Household income at the median was $62,800 in 2020, before tax; Canadian towns have $85,900 at the middle. Household income ↓
Longer trips than most towns
Commutes take 32.6 minutes on average, against 26 in the middle of Canadian towns; 11% 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.
Thurso earns D for jobs and income
Better than 6% of Canadian towns on three measures together, #467 of 507 in Quebec.
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.
Household income in Thurso
Before tax, 2020: lower than in 83% of Canadian towns.
The middle of Quebec’s towns is $74,100, and Thurso is 15% below it. Pandemic support paid in 2020, CERB first among it, is 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).
The length of the trip to work in Thurso
In the middle of Quebec’s towns, the average commute is 26.5 minutes. Trips under 15 minutes: 18%, fewer than the 31% in the middle of Quebec’s towns. Statistics Canada’s own average, timed exactly rather than by band, is 28.2 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.
Commuting time at the 2021 Census, to work only, for people who travel to a usual workplace or have none fixed.
More of Thurso’s workers leave each day than arrive
935 residents of Thurso had a usual place of work at the 2021 census, and 485 people had theirs in Thurso, wherever they lived.
Outbound commuters outnumber inbound ones about 2 to 1. The job is inside the municipality for 20% of its commuters (70% in the middle of Canadian towns).
People with no fixed workplace are in neither count.
80% of Thurso’s residents in work leave it to work; Gatineau takes the most
- Gatineau120
- L'Ange-Gardien30
- Saint-André-Avellin20
- Papineauville20
- Lochaber20
- Lochaber-Partie-Ouest20
- Ripon20
- Notre-Dame-de-la-Paix15
- Plaisance15
- Mayo10
- Gatineau535
- Ottawa55
- Papineauville45
- Saint-André-Avellin30
- Plaisance25
- L'Ange-Gardien25
- Montebello15
- Val-des-Bois10
Of those coming in, Gatineau supplies the most: 120.
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 Thurso work and where people who work there live, the ten largest each way.
Who in Thurso has a job
A smaller share in work than in 64% of Canadian towns.
In October 2026, 59% 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 61%. Counting retirees, 55% 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.
Without a car, 6.9% of Thurso’s commuters get to work
Transit takes 1.6% of commuters, against 3.5% in the middle of Canadian towns. The car is the way to work for 91% 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.
EI claims in the Papineau census division run 40% above their 2019 level
Set against the same month a year before, the count in August 2026 rose by 5%. The count topped out in January 2021 at 1,600 people, 3 times the 2019 average. Roughly 4.2 in every 100 people aged 15 to 64 in the division draw EI.
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 Papineau 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).
Walking in Thurso earns A
Better than 87% of Canadian towns on two measures together, #184 of 507 in Quebec.
OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL); active commuting from the 2021 Census.
How Thurso compares with Canadian towns of 2,500 to 4,600 people
| # | 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+ |
| … | ||||||
| 694 | Industrial Sector A and Keith Ontario | 3,723 | 59% | 16% | $68K | D |
| 695 | Cedar Hill Ontario | 3,190 | 67% | 11% | $51K | D |
| 696 | Thurso Quebec | 3,439 | 72% | 10% | $63K | D |
| 697 | Chase British Columbia | 2,591 | 70% | 9.4% | $61K | D |
| 698 | French River / Rivière des Français Ontario | 3,178 | 67% | 14% | $69K | D |
| … | ||||||
| 742 | 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 Thurso, and others among Quebec’s towns.
Work next door to Thurso
| Place | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Household income | Average trip | Jobs | Walk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thurso | 72% | 10% | $63K | 32.6 min | D | A |
| Lochaber-Partie-Ouest 6.8 km | 76% | 5.9% | $108K | 29.9 min | B | C |
| Rockland 7.7 km | 77% | 6.5% | $107K | 32.9 min | B− | B |
| Plaisance 10.3 km | 73% | 9.9% | $69K | 32.5 min | D | C |
| L'Ange-Gardien 13.5 km | 79% | 5.8% | $119K | 29.8 min | B+ | C |
| Vallée-de-la-Lièvre 14.4 km | 75% | 7.6% | $73K | 28.3 min | C | A− |
| Cumberland 16.6 km | 76% | 6% | $142K | 28.2 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 Thurso, where it comes from, and what it leaves out.
- The Labour Force Survey. Sampled each month and released for regions rather than towns, so its rate describes the area around the town.
- In work. Why 15 to 64? Otherwise retirees would pull the rate down in older towns. The census can’t say how old a neighbourhood’s workers are, so the count of people in work takes every age.
- Unemployment. Unemployed people over the labour force (in work or looking), aged 15 and over, on census day.
- 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. 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. 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.
- 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 Thurso
What is the unemployment rate in Thurso?
On census day in May 2021, unemployment stood at 10% of the labour force (9.9% in the middle of Canadian towns). For a recent figure, the Labour Force Survey put the Ottawa-Gatineau, Quebec part metro area at 6.3% in October 2026.
What is the average household income in Thurso?
Before tax, half the households in Thurso had more than $62,800 in 2020; the middle of Canadian towns is $85,900.
How do people in Thurso get to work?
By car: 91% of commuters, 1.6% take public transit, 4.1% walk and 1.2% cycle; on census day 11% of those in work worked from home.
How long is the commute from Thurso?
32.6 minutes is the average trip, with 18% of commuters there in under 15 minutes and 11% taking an hour or more.
Where do people in Thurso work?
Only 20% work in Thurso itself; the rest go first to Gatineau (535) and Ottawa (55).
How many jobs are there in Thurso?
Statistics Canada counted 55 businesses with employees in June 2026.
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).