Photo: Misspixels (Isabelle Gagné) · CC BY-SA 4.0Val-David has fewer jobs than residents in work: 0.5 for each
From Val-David, the drive or ride to work averages 27.3 minutes, with 7.7% going an hour or longer. In 2020, a household at the middle of Val-David had $64,100 before tax, against $85,900 in the middle of Canadian towns. With 73% of its 15-to-64s in work in 2021, Val-David matches the middle of Canadian towns.
What the numbers say about work in Val-David
Work near the middle
The 2021 census found 73% of 15-to-64s with a job (73% in the middle of Canadian towns). Count every adult, retirees too, and the figure is 52%. In work ↓
Lower incomes than most towns
Household income at the median was $64,100 in 2020, before tax; Canadian towns have $85,900 at the middle. Household income ↓
Written from the data on this page: Statistics Canada’s 2021 Census, its commuting tables, Employment Insurance and the Labour Force Survey.
Jobs & income in Val-David: graded C−
Better than 16% of Canadian towns on three measures together, #412 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.
What households in Val-David earn
Before tax, 2020: lower than in 79% of Canadian towns.
Of the 5 other places of 2,500 or more in the Les Laurentides census division, 3 have a higher median. Against the middle of Quebec’s towns ($74,100), Val-David’s median is 13% below. Read the incomes as 2020’s, before tax: pandemic benefits such as CERB are in them, and they raised many low incomes for that year.
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census: median total income of households in 2020, before tax (a neighbourhood’s estimated from its dissemination areas’ income groups).
More go out than come in: the working day in Val-David
1,615 residents of Val-David had a usual place of work at the 2021 census, and 795 people had theirs in Val-David, wherever they lived.
Each person commuting in is matched by about 3 residents going out. Of those who commute, 20% stay within the municipality; the middle of Canadian towns is 70%.
People with no fixed workplace are in neither count.
80% of Val-David’s residents in work leave it to work; Sainte-Agathe-des-Monts takes the most
Coming the other way, Sainte-Agathe-des-Monts sends 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 Val-David work and where people who work there live, the ten largest each way.
Work and the working-age population of Val-David
Of the 5 other places of 2,500 people or more in the Les Laurentides census division, 3 have a smaller share of 15-to-64s in work.
The Labour Force Survey’s employment rate for the wider area was 60% in October 2026. Working or looking, 59% of everyone 15 and over was in the labour force. Take in all adults, retirees with them, and only 52% were working. These are census figures from May 2021, during COVID’s third wave; jobs have recovered since, which the Labour Force Survey shows.
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.
Leaving the car at home: 6.7% of commuters in Val-David
Transit takes 0.5% of commuters, against 3.5% in the middle of Canadian towns. The car is the way to work for 92% of commuters. 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).
How residents who commute got to work, 2021 Census; working at home is counted apart.
Time on the road to work from Val-David
Statistics Canada’s own average, timed exactly rather than by band, is 24.1 minutes. Within a quarter-hour: 31% of commuters, much as 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.
EI claims in the Les Laurentides census division run 29% above their 2019 level
In the twelve months to August 2026 the number fell by 2%. The count topped out in January 2021 at 4,300 people, 3.3 times the 2019 average. Roughly 4 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 published for the Les Laurentides census division, not by town. 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 Val-David earns B
Better than 60% of Canadian towns on two measures together, #338 of 507 in Quebec.
OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL); active commuting from the 2021 Census.
Ranked on jobs and income, Val-David is 621st among 712 Canadian towns of 4,100 to 8,000
| # | Place | People | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Household income | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Labrador City Newfoundland and Labrador | 7,965 | 79% | 5.5% | $146K | A+ |
| 2 | Cornwallis Manitoba | 4,705 | 85% | 2.1% | $99K | A+ |
| 3 | New Maryland New Brunswick | 4,455 | 81% | 6.5% | $118K | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 21 | Chibougamau Quebec | 7,273 | 82% | 3.7% | $85K | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 25 | Shannon Quebec | 7,088 | 81% | 3.7% | $113K | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 32 | Saint-Antonin Quebec | 4,633 | 85% | 3.9% | $76K | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 619 | Pollard Meadows Alberta | 4,361 | 63% | 14% | $80K | C− |
| 620 | Bannerman Alberta | 5,187 | 59% | 15% | $80K | C− |
| 621 | Val-David Quebec | 5,920 | 73% | 12% | $64K | C− |
| 622 | Raleigh Ontario | 7,113 | 66% | 14% | $74K | C− |
| 623 | Bancroft Ontario | 4,331 | 63% | 12% | $57K | C− |
| … | ||||||
| 712 | Chertsey Quebec | 5,678 | 64% | 8.6% | $58K | D− |
Ordered by Jobs & income Grade: the top three, the places either side of Val-David, and others among Quebec’s towns.
Jobs and income in the places around Val-David
| Place | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Household income | Average trip | Jobs | Walk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Val-David | 73% | 12% | $64K | 27.3 min | C− | B |
| Val-Morin 2.8 km | 73% | 11% | $67K | 26.9 min | C− | C+ |
| Sainte-Agathe-des-Monts 6.6 km | 73% | 9.7% | $59K | 21.3 min | C | A− |
| Sainte-Lucie-des-Laurentides 8.4 km | 74% | 11% | $62K | 34.9 min | D | D |
| Sainte-Adèle 9.3 km | 78% | 9% | $69K | 30.2 min | C− | B |
| Sainte-Marguerite-du-Lac-Masson 11 km | 68% | 7.5% | $67K | 32.4 min | D | C |
| Saint-Adolphe-d'Howard 13.9 km | 72% | 11% | $65K | 36.9 min | D | 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 Val-David, where it comes from, and what it leaves out.
- 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. 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. A monthly household survey by Statistics Canada, reported for metro areas and economic regions only. It supplies a recent rate next to the 2021 census figure.
- 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.
- 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 Val-David
How long is the commute from Val-David?
About 27.3 minutes on average, with 31% under a quarter-hour and 7.7% at an hour or longer.
Where do people in Val-David work?
20% work in Val-David itself. Of those who leave, the most go to Sainte-Agathe-des-Monts (450), then Saint-Jérôme (205).
How many jobs are there in Val-David?
Statistics Canada counted 202 businesses with employees in June 2026.
What is the unemployment rate in Val-David?
In October 2026 the Labour Force Survey put the Laurentides economic region at 4.5%; the 2021 census, which counts the town itself, found 12%, against 9.9% in the middle of Canadian towns.
What is the average household income in Val-David?
The median household in Val-David had $64,100 before tax in 2020, against $85,900 in the middle of Canadian towns.
How do people in Val-David get to work?
Driving takes 92% of commuters to work, 0.5% take public transit, 5.2% walk and 1% cycle, and on census day 17% of those in work were at 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).