Photo: abdallahh · CC BY 2.0Households in Westmount earn more than those in 96% of Canadian towns
In Westmount, 77% of residents aged 15 to 64 were working in May 2021, next to 73% for the middle of Canadian towns. Westmount is the usual workplace of 9,515 people, and 4,110 of its own residents commute to a job. Home was the workplace for 46% of its workers in May 2021; the middle of Canadian towns is 21%.
What Westmount’s work numbers say
Higher incomes than most towns
The middle of Canadian towns is $85,900, and the median household here had $117,500 before tax in 2020. Household income ↓
A local job centre
With 9,515 jobs based in Westmount and 4,110 working residents, the ratio compares with 0.8 in the middle of Canadian towns. The daily tide ↓
Many work from home
On census day, 46% of those in work were working at home; the middle of Canadian towns is 21%. Getting to work ↓
Written from the data on this page: Statistics Canada’s 2021 Census, its commuting tables, Employment Insurance and the Labour Force Survey.
Westmount grades A for jobs and income
Better than 87% of Canadian towns on three measures together, #59 of 507 in Quebec.
Its strongest measure is household income; 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 Westmount: $117,500 at the median
Of the 89 other places of 2,500 or more in the Montréal census division, 6 have a higher median. Against the middle of Quebec’s towns ($74,100), Westmount’s median is 59% above. 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).
A working day adds 67% to the people at work in Westmount
Inbound commuters outnumber outbound ones about 3 to 1 in Westmount. 24% 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.
Westmount gets to work without a car for 35% of commuters
The middle of Quebec’s towns has 1.5% on transit; here it is 14%. 61% drive to work, fewer than 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.
8,520 people come into Westmount to work, most from Montréal and Laval
- Montréal5,285
- Laval550
- Côte-Saint-Luc320
- Longueuil290
- Brossard185
- Dollard-Des Ormeaux140
- Dorval115
- Hampstead110
- Pointe-Claire100
- Châteauguay90
90% of the people who work in Westmount live outside it, 5,285 of them in Montréal, 6 km away. Montréal is where the largest group of commuters out goes, 2,595 of them.
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 Westmount work and where people who work there live, the ten largest each way.
How many in Westmount were working in 2021
Of the 89 other places of 2,500 people or more in the Montréal census division, 72 have a smaller share of 15-to-64s in work.
Many residents are past working age, so among everyone 15 and over the share in work drops to 53%. A more recent figure, for the wider area: 62% in work in October 2026, by the Labour Force Survey. The participation rate, everyone 15 and over working or looking for work, was 57%. 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.
24.4 minutes from Westmount to work, about the middle of Canadian towns
An hour or more: 3.9% of commuters, under the 5.3% in the middle of Quebec’s towns. Timed exactly, the average is 21.1 minutes (Statistics Canada). In the middle of Quebec’s towns, the average commute is 26.5 minutes. Trips under 15 minutes: 29%, fewer than the 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.
52% more people are on EI in the Montréal census division than in 2019
That works out to around 2.6 beneficiaries per 100 people aged 15 to 64 across the division. Set against the same month a year before, the count in August 2026 fell by 7%. January 2021 was the busiest month, with 103,570 people on EI, 5.2 times 2019’s average.
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). Westmount doesn’t get its own EI beneficiaries figures; the ones here come from the Montréal census division.
Walking in Westmount earns A+
Better than almost every Canadian town on two measures together, #43 of 507 in Quebec.
OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL); active commuting from the 2021 Census.
Among Canadian towns of 14,300 to 27,500, Westmount ranks 34th of 448 for jobs and income
| # | Place | People | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Household income | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Yellowknife Northwest Territories | 22,858 | 80% | 5.8% | $148K | A+ |
| 2 | Central Saanich British Columbia | 18,184 | 85% | 4.9% | $103K | A+ |
| 3 | Cap-Rouge Quebec | 17,139 | 81% | 4.3% | $126K | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 5 | Saint-Augustin-de-Desmaures Quebec | 20,864 | 82% | 5.3% | $111K | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 8 | Saint-Michel Quebec | 17,303 | 83% | 4.7% | $98K | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 32 | Petawawa Ontario | 19,606 | 71% | 6.3% | $102K | A |
| 33 | Cold Lake Alberta | 17,798 | 75% | 7.8% | $105K | A |
| 34 | Westmount Quebec | 20,377 | 77% | 7.7% | $118K | A |
| 35 | Bourg-Royal Quebec | 14,430 | 80% | 6.3% | $84K | A |
| 36 | Byron Ontario | 15,277 | 76% | 10% | $113K | A |
| … | ||||||
| 448 | South Parkdale Ontario | 21,663 | 64% | 17% | $57K | D− |
Ordered by Jobs & income Grade: the top three, the places either side of Westmount, and others among Quebec’s towns.
Neighbouring places to Westmount, compared
| Place | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Household income | Average trip | Jobs | Walk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Westmount | 77% | 7.7% | $118K | 24.4 min | A | A+ |
| Saint-Henri 1.4 km | 74% | 11% | $65K | 29.4 min | D | A+ |
| Montagne 1.9 km | 67% | 15% | $46K | 29.4 min | D− | A+ |
| Côte-Saint-Antoine 2 km | 78% | 8.8% | $89K | 28.5 min | B | A+ |
| Édouard-Montpetit 2.2 km | 66% | 14% | $49K | 31.7 min | D− | A+ |
| Snowdon 2.4 km | 72% | 11% | $66K | 30.2 min | D | A+ |
| Upper Lachine 2.5 km | 70% | 12% | $51K | 32.5 min | D− | A+ |
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 Westmount, where it comes from, and what it leaves out.
- 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. Beneficiaries of Employment Insurance, month by month, for the census division rather than the town. Many jobless people don’t qualify, so it isn’t an unemployment rate.
- The Labour Force Survey. Statistics Canada’s monthly survey, published for metro areas and economic regions rather than towns: it gives a current rate beside the census’s 2021 one.
- 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. Of everyone 15 or older who was working or job-hunting in the census week, the part still looking. Someone not seeking work isn’t in it at all.
- 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. The census asks how long the trip to work usually takes, in bands; our average uses each band’s middle, so it runs a little above Statistics Canada’s timed average.
- Which towns we compare. Any town of 2,500 or more counts, and so does any city neighbourhood that size; the city as a whole and First Nations reserves don’t. The middle is the median.
Questions about work in Westmount
How do people in Westmount get to work?
61% of commuters go by car, 14% take public transit, 17% walk and 3.8% cycle. On census day 46% of everyone in work stayed home to work.
How long is the commute from Westmount?
On average 24.4 minutes; 29% take under 15 minutes and 3.9% take an hour or longer.
Where do people in Westmount work?
24% work in Westmount itself. Of those who leave, the most go to Montréal (2,595), then Mont-Royal (90).
How many jobs are there in Westmount?
About 9,515 people had their usual place of work in Westmount at the 2021 census, 2.3 for each working resident with a fixed workplace. Statistics Canada counted 1,875 businesses with employees in June 2026.
What is the unemployment rate in Westmount?
The census put unemployment at 7.7% in May 2021, where the middle of Canadian towns was 9.9%. More recently, in October 2026, the Labour Force Survey had the Montréal metro area at 6.9%.
What is the average household income in Westmount?
At $117,500 before tax in 2020, the median household in Westmount compares with $85,900 in the middle of Canadian towns.
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).