Photo: Jason Woodhead · CC BY 2.0Working-age people in Bow Island are less likely to have a job than in 64% of Canadian towns
Workers in Bow Island spend 16.4 minutes on the way to work on average, and 5.3% need an hour or more. Median household income in Bow Island was $76,400 in 2020, against $85,900 in the middle of Canadian towns. In May 2021, unemployment in Bow Island reached 3.4%, and the middle of Canadian towns sits at 9.9%.
Bow Island at work: what stands out
Less unemployment than most towns
3.4% of the labour force was out of work at the 2021 census (9.9% in the middle of Canadian towns); the Labour Force Survey had the area at 6.3% in October 2026. Unemployment ↓
A local job centre
825 people work in Bow Island and 530 residents commute to a fixed workplace; the middle of Canadian towns has 0.8 jobs per working resident. The daily tide ↓
Shorter trips than most towns
Commutes take 16.4 minutes on average, against 26 in the middle of Canadian towns; 5.3% 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.
Bow Island grades B for jobs and income
Its strongest measure is trip times; its weakest, the share of 15-to-64s in work.
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.
In Bow Island, 72% of people aged 15 to 64 have a job
Of the 4 other places of 2,500 people or more in Census Division No. 1, 3 have a smaller share of 15-to-64s in work.
For the wider area, the Labour Force Survey had 59% in work in October 2026. Counting those looking for work too, 65% of people aged 15 and over were in the labour force. The figures are a snapshot of 11 May 2021, when pandemic rules still kept many people out of work or at home.
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.
Each working day, Bow Island’s workforce swells by 48%
530 residents of Bow Island had a usual place of work at the 2021 census, and 825 people had theirs in Bow Island, wherever they lived.
Inbound commuters outnumber outbound ones about 4 to 1 in Bow Island. 81% 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.
Time on the road to work from Bow Island
In the middle of Alberta’s towns, the average commute is 25.8 minutes. Trips under 15 minutes: 72%, more than the 39% in the middle of Alberta’s towns. Statistics Canada’s own average, timed exactly rather than by band, is 15.1 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.
398 people come into Bow Island to work, most from Forty Mile County No. 8 and Medicine Hat
- Forty Mile County No. 8165
- Medicine Hat90
- Taber40
- Cypress County20
- Foremost20
- Redcliff15
- Lethbridge15
- Taber15
- Calgary10
Of everyone working in Bow Island, 48% come in from elsewhere; 165 make the 22 km trip from Forty Mile County No. 8. Outbound, Taber takes the most: 55 people.
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 Bow Island work and where people who work there live, the ten largest each way.
What households in Bow Island earn
Before tax, 2020: lower than in 51% of Canadian towns.
Against the middle of Alberta’s towns ($92,250), Bow Island’s median is 17% below. Every other place of 2,500 or more in Census Division No. 1 has a higher median. Incomes are for 2020, the first pandemic year, so CERB and other emergency payments are part of them.
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census: median total income of households in 2020, before tax (a neighbourhood’s estimated from its dissemination areas’ income groups).
Walking, cycling or transit: 13% of Bow Island’s commuters
Driving to work is about as common as in the middle of Alberta’s towns, at 88%. Only 10% worked at home on census day, against 21% in the middle of Canadian towns. Transit takes 2.6% of commuters, close to the middle of Canadian 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.
EI claims in Census Division No. 1 run 16% above their 2019 level
That works out to around 3.3 beneficiaries per 100 people aged 15 to 64 across the division. In the twelve months to August 2026 the number fell by 5%. The count topped out in January 2021 at 4,760 people, 3.1 times the 2019 average.
Statistics Canada, Employment Insurance beneficiaries by census division (14-10-0323): all income benefits, not seasonally adjusted. Data for EI beneficiaries covers Census Division No. 1. EI counts are context, not part of any grade.
People receiving Employment Insurance each month, as a share of the 2019 average (100).
How walkable Bow Island is: A+
Better than 95% of Canadian towns on two measures together.
OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL); active commuting from the 2021 Census.
Jobs near Bow Island: the places around it
Distances here run 22–54 km: that is how far the nearest places with figures are from Bow Island.
| Place | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Household income | Average trip | Jobs | Walk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bow Island | 72% | 3.4% | $76K | 16.4 min | B | A+ |
| Forty Mile County No. 8 22 km | 61% | 4.2% | $90K | 29.2 min | C− | C+ |
| Redcliff 48.3 km | 71% | 12% | $83K | 22.3 min | B− | B− |
| Cypress County 50.9 km | 77% | 6.8% | $101K | 23.9 min | A− | C |
| Taber 53.6 km | 69% | 5.4% | $88K | 22.9 min | B− | C− |
| Medicine Hat 53.8 km | 71% | 12% | $78K | 18.1 min | B | B+ |
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 Bow Island, where it comes from, and what it leaves out.
- 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. The most recent unemployment rate on the page comes from this monthly survey, which covers the wider metro area or economic region, not the town.
- In work. Working residents per resident of working age (15 to 64), from the 2021 Census.
- Unemployment. Unemployed people over the labour force (in work or looking), aged 15 and over, on census day.
- Household income. The 2020 income of the household at the midpoint, all sources and before tax. Inside a city we rebuild it from the dissemination areas’ income bands, so there it is an estimate.
- Trip times. How long getting to work normally takes, averaged from the census’s time bands at their middles; expect it to read slightly high against the timed figure.
- 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.
- 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 Bow Island
How many jobs are there in Bow Island?
The 2021 census counted about 825 people working in Bow Island: 1.6 jobs for every resident who commutes to a fixed workplace. In June 2026, 121 businesses with employees were on Statistics Canada’s count.
What is the unemployment rate in Bow Island?
In October 2026 the Labour Force Survey put the Lethbridge-Medicine Hat economic region at 6.3%; the 2021 census, which counts the town itself, found 3.4%, against 9.9% in the middle of Canadian towns.
What is the average household income in Bow Island?
The median household in Bow Island had $76,400 before tax in 2020, against $85,900 in the middle of Canadian towns.
How do people in Bow Island get to work?
By car: 88% of commuters, 2.6% take public transit and 9.9% walk; on census day 10% of those in work worked from home.
How long is the commute from Bow Island?
16.4 minutes is the average trip, with 72% of commuters there in under 15 minutes and 5.3% taking an hour or more.
Where do people in Bow Island work?
81% work in Bow Island itself; of those who leave, the most go to Taber (55), then Cypress County (20).
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).