Unemployment rate by city in Canada, Sept. 2026

Unemployment rates in Canadian cities ranged from 3.6 per cent in Saguenay, Que., to 9.3 per cent in Kelowna, B.C., in the three months ending September 2026, according to Statistics Canada. Toronto stood at 6.9 per cent, Montréal at 6.8 per cent and Vancouver at 6.5 per cent on that three-month basis.

Updated Oct. 27, 2026: figures reflect the Labour Force Survey released Oct. 9, 2026, covering September 2026.

Unemployment rate by city in Canada, Sept. 2026 — File photo: The Toronto skyline. Photo by Berkay Gumustekin / Unsplash

City (census metropolitan area)	Province	Unemployment rate, three months ending Sept. 2026	Unemployment rate, three months ending Aug. 2026	Change from Sept. 2025 (percentage points)	Source
St. John’s	N.L.	6.6%	6.7%	-0.4	Table 7
Halifax	N.S.	5.8%	5.5%	0.2	Table 7
Moncton	N.B.	7.6%	7.5%	0.4	Table 7
Saint John	N.B.	5.6%	5.5%	-2.0	Table 7
Fredericton	N.B.	6.0%	6.0%	-0.5	Table 7
Saguenay	Que.	3.6%	3.5%	-0.7	Table 7
Québec	Que.	4.3%	4.3%	-0.5	Table 7
Sherbrooke	Que.	4.0%	4.0%	-1.2	Table 7
Trois-Rivières	Que.	5.6%	5.8%	0.6	Table 7
Drummondville	Que.	4.8%	4.4%	-0.8	Table 7
Montréal	Que.	6.8%	6.3%	0.4	Table 7
Ottawa–Gatineau (whole)	Ont./Que.	7.0%	7.1%	0.0	Table 7
Ottawa–Gatineau, Quebec part	Que.	6.3%	6.2%	-0.6	Table 7
Ottawa–Gatineau, Ontario part	Ont.	7.2%	7.4%	0.1	Table 7
Kingston	Ont.	5.6%	5.5%	-0.5	Table 7
Belleville–Quinte West	Ont.	6.4%	5.4%	-0.2	Table 7
Peterborough	Ont.	6.8%	7.0%	1.0	Table 7
Oshawa	Ont.	8.9%	8.8%	0.2	Table 7
Toronto	Ont.	6.9%	6.8%	-1.9	Table 7
Hamilton	Ont.	6.9%	6.5%	-0.3	Table 7
St. Catharines–Niagara	Ont.	6.7%	6.3%	-0.4	Table 7
Kitchener–Cambridge–Waterloo	Ont.	7.7%	8.2%	0.4	Table 7
Brantford	Ont.	6.3%	6.2%	-3.3	Table 7
Guelph	Ont.	6.5%	7.2%	-1.9	Table 7
London	Ont.	8.4%	8.5%	2.1	Table 7
Windsor	Ont.	7.3%	7.5%	-3.1	Table 7
Barrie	Ont.	6.4%	7.1%	-1.3	Table 7
Greater Sudbury	Ont.	6.0%	6.2%	-0.7	Table 7
Thunder Bay	Ont.	4.3%	4.7%	-0.5	Table 7
Winnipeg	Man.	5.0%	5.4%	-1.4	Table 7
Regina	Sask.	6.4%	6.2%	-0.1	Table 7
Saskatoon	Sask.	5.9%	6.6%	0.6	Table 7
Lethbridge	Alta.	5.5%	5.6%	-2.7	Table 7
Calgary	Alta.	6.3%	6.7%	-1.8	Table 7
Red Deer	Alta.	6.3%	7.3%	-1.4	Table 7
Edmonton	Alta.	6.9%	6.9%	-1.7	Table 7
Kelowna	B.C.	9.3%	9.0%	2.2	Table 7
Kamloops	B.C.	4.4%	5.5%	-4.8	Table 7
Chilliwack	B.C.	5.2%	5.5%	-1.4	Table 7
Abbotsford–Mission	B.C.	6.8%	7.4%	-0.4	Table 7
Vancouver	B.C.	6.5%	6.4%	0.2	Table 7
Victoria	B.C.	5.3%	5.3%	0.6	Table 7
Nanaimo	B.C.	5.3%	5.7%	-2.7	Table 7

Rates are three-month moving averages, seasonally adjusted. The table covers the 41 census metropolitan areas in the Statistics Canada release. Cities outside that list are not included.

Which Canadian city has the highest unemployment rate?

Kelowna, B.C., had the highest rate among the 41 census metropolitan areas at 9.3 per cent in the three months ending September 2026, up 2.2 percentage points from a year earlier. Oshawa, Ont., followed at 8.9 per cent, then London, Ont., at 8.4 per cent, Kitchener–Cambridge–Waterloo, Ont., at 7.7 per cent and Moncton, N.B., at 7.6 per cent.

Which Canadian city has the lowest unemployment rate?

Saguenay, Que., had the lowest rate at 3.6 per cent. Sherbrooke, Que., was at 4.0 per cent, while Québec and Thunder Bay, Ont., were both at 4.3 per cent and Kamloops, B.C., was at 4.4 per cent. Kamloops also recorded the largest 12-month decline in the table, down 4.8 percentage points.

What is the unemployment rate in Toronto, Montréal and Vancouver?

On the three-month basis used in the table, Toronto was at 6.9 per cent, Montréal at 6.8 per cent and Vancouver at 6.5 per cent. For these three cities only, Statistics Canada also publishes single-month estimates, which are more volatile. Those showed Montréal at 7.4 per cent, Toronto at 7.2 per cent and Vancouver at 7.1 per cent in September 2026, according to Table 8 of The Daily. Toronto’s three-month rate was 1.9 percentage points lower than a year earlier, while Montréal’s was 0.4 points higher and Vancouver’s was 0.2 points higher.

How do city rates compare with the provincial and national rate?

Canada’s national unemployment rate was 6.5 per cent in September 2026, according to The Daily. The provincial rates in Table 3 ranged from 5.0 per cent in Manitoba to 9.1 per cent in Newfoundland and Labrador, with Ontario at 7.0 per cent, Quebec at 6.0 per cent, Alberta at 6.4 per cent and British Columbia at 6.4 per cent. Those provincial figures are single-month estimates, so they are not directly comparable with the three-month city averages above. Our guide to the unemployment rate by province lists every province.

Why does Statistics Canada use a three-month average for cities?

The Labour Force Survey samples about the same number of households nationwide each month, so a single month of data for a mid-sized city comes from a small group of respondents. Averaging three months reduces the swings. The tables published with The Daily include standard errors, which are larger for smaller areas. The average standard error of monthly change is 0.2 percentage points for Toronto, Montréal and Vancouver, but 0.8 for Kamloops, 0.9 for Kelowna and 1.1 for Belleville–Quinte West, so readers should treat small month-to-month moves in those cities with caution.

What do the numbers mean for jobseekers and renters?

A lower unemployment rate means a smaller share of people in the labour force who are looking for work and do not have a job. It does not measure how many jobs pay well, how many people have stopped looking, or how many workers are underemployed. For context on prices, see our guides to inflation by province, minimum wage by province and rent increase limits for 2027, and our preview of the Bank of Canada rate decision.

Frequently asked questions

What is the unemployment rate in Calgary and Edmonton?

Calgary was at 6.3 per cent and Edmonton at 6.9 per cent in the three months ending September 2026, down 1.8 and 1.7 percentage points from a year earlier.

How often are city unemployment rates updated?

Statistics Canada publishes new city figures each month with the Labour Force Survey release in The Daily, and we update this page after each release.

Are city rates seasonally adjusted?

Yes. The city figures in the table are three-month moving averages that are seasonally adjusted.

How we compiled this

City rates come from Table 7 of The Daily released Oct. 9, 2026, which draws on Statistics Canada Table 14-10-0459-01, Labour force characteristics by census metropolitan area, three-month moving average, seasonally adjusted. Single-month figures for Toronto, Montréal and Vancouver come from Table 8, provincial rates from Table 3 and the national rate from The Daily’s Labour Force Survey release. We copied each value as published and did not round, estimate or adjust it. Changes from September 2025 are the published differences in percentage points. We checked the sources on Oct. 27, 2026.

Cite this page: Canada News Media, Unemployment rate by city in Canada, Sept. 2026, updated Oct. 27, 2026, https://canadanewsmedia.ca/unemployment-rate-by-city-canada-2026/

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