 Seat of the Diocese of Sainte-Anne-de-la-Pocatière, of the cégep de La Pocatière and one of the two campuses of the Institut de technologie agroalimentaire, the city has had a strong agricultural sector since the end of the 17th century.Its economy benefits from the presence of a factory assembling rolling stocks owned by the company Bombardier Transportation.Trois-Pistoles (3,471 inhabitants in 2012) is the administrative centre of the RCM Les Basques, the least populated of the eight RCMs of Bas-Saint-Laurent.