Photo: D. Mulligan · CC BY-SA 3.0Canmore’s household incomes are higher than in 91% of Canadian towns
For 7.1% of commuters in Canmore, the trip to work lasts an hour or more; the average is 19.8 minutes. Of Canmore’s residents aged 15 to 64, 79% were employed when the 2021 census was taken; the middle of Canadian towns is 73%. When the 2021 census was taken, 9.7% of people in Canmore who wanted a job had none, and the middle of Canadian towns sits at 9.9%.
What Canmore’s work numbers say
More people in work than most towns
Counting everyone 15 and over, 65% were in work at the 2021 census; among those aged 15 to 64 it was 79%, against 73% in the middle of Canadian towns. In work ↓
Higher incomes than most towns
At $106,800 before tax in 2020, the median household compares with $85,900 in the middle of Canadian towns. Household income ↓
Shorter trips than most towns
The average trip to work is 19.8 minutes (26 in the middle of Canadian towns), and 7.1% last an hour or longer. 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.
Jobs and income in Canmore earn A+
Better than 97% of Canadian towns on three measures together, #8 of 474 in Alberta.
Its strongest measure is household income; 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 Canmore, 79% of people aged 15 to 64 have a job
All 3 other places of 2,500 people or more in Census Division No. 15 have a smaller share of 15-to-64s in work.
Counting retirees, 65% of everyone aged 15 and over was working. A more recent figure, for the wider area: 63% in work in October 2026, by the Labour Force Survey. Participation, the share of residents 15 and over working or looking for work, came to 72%. 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.
What households earned in Canmore: $106,800 in 2020
Canmore’s median is 16% above the middle of Alberta’s towns ($92,250). No other place of 2,500 or more in Census Division No. 15 has a higher median. CERB and the other emergency payments of 2020 are counted in these incomes, which lifted the lower ones 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).
How long the commute from Canmore takes
In the middle of Alberta’s towns, the average commute is 25.8 minutes. Trips under 15 minutes: 56%, more than the 39% in the middle of Alberta’s towns. Timed exactly, the average is 18.1 minutes (Statistics Canada).
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.
More of Canmore’s workers leave each day than arrive
It sends out some 2 workers for every one it takes in. Of those who commute, 66% stay within the municipality; the middle of Canadian towns is 70%.
People with no fixed workplace are in neither count.
34% of Canmore’s residents in work leave it to work; Banff takes the most
- Banff190
- Cochrane185
- Bighorn No. 8185
- Calgary160
- Rocky View County30
- Airdrie20
- Toronto10
- Red Deer10
- Edmonton10
- St. Albert10
- Banff740
- Calgary235
- Wabamun 133A155
- Bighorn No. 8155
- Improvement District No. 9 Banff65
- Alexander 13450
- Fort McMurray45
- Edmonton35
- Crowsnest Pass35
- Kananaskis20
In the other direction the biggest source is Banff, with 190.
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census (98-10-0459): commuting flows between municipalities (census subdivisions), rounded to 5; linked names have their own pages.
22% of commuters from Canmore go without a car
Few ride transit: 2.5%, where the middle of Canadian towns has 3.5%. Cycling to work barely figures in the middle of Alberta’s towns; here, 6.7% cycle. Fewer drive than in the middle of Alberta’s towns: 75% against 88%. 27% of everyone in work worked at home on census day, against 21% in 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).
EI claims in Census Division No. 15 run 25% above their 2019 level
In the twelve months to August 2026 the number rose by 4%. The count topped out in January 2021 at 3,480 people, 5.5 times the 2019 average. That is about 2.7 people on EI for every 100 aged 15 to 64 in the division.
Statistics Canada, Employment Insurance beneficiaries by census division (14-10-0323): all income benefits, not seasonally adjusted. EI beneficiaries: one figure for all of Census Division No. 15. EI counts are context, not part of any grade.
People receiving Employment Insurance each month, as a share of the 2019 average (100).
Canmore earns A for walkability
Better than 90% of Canadian towns on two measures together, #173 of 474 in Alberta.
OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL); active commuting from the 2021 Census.
13th of 535: where Canmore ranks among Canadian towns of 12,100 to 23,400
| # | Place | People | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Household income | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Yellowknife Northwest Territories | 22,858 | 80% | 5.8% | $148K | A+ |
| 2 | North Saanich British Columbia | 12,986 | 85% | 5.9% | $121K | A+ |
| 3 | Sillery Quebec | 13,950 | 81% | 6.2% | $120K | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 11 | Saint-Augustin-de-Desmaures Quebec | 20,864 | 82% | 5.3% | $111K | A+ |
| 12 | Oak Bay British Columbia | 18,626 | 80% | 7% | $108K | A+ |
| 13 | Canmore Alberta | 17,341 | 79% | 9.7% | $107K | A+ |
| 14 | Saint-Michel Quebec | 17,303 | 83% | 4.7% | $98K | A+ |
| 15 | Saint-Émile Quebec | 16,893 | 82% | 4.3% | $105K | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 28 | Lloydminster (Part) Alberta | 21,267 | 75% | 11% | $98K | A |
| … | ||||||
| 31 | Lakeview Alberta | 12,799 | 75% | 11% | $125K | A |
| … | ||||||
| 48 | Douglasdale/Glen Alberta | 13,333 | 75% | 10% | $132K | A |
| … | ||||||
| 535 | Oakridge Ontario | 13,913 | 51% | 21% | $60K | D− |
Ordered by Jobs & income Grade: the top three, the places either side of Canmore, and others among Alberta’s towns.
How Canmore compares with the places nearby
No closer places have figures: these lie 12–70 km from Canmore.
| Place | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Household income | Average trip | Jobs | Walk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Canmore | 79% | 9.7% | $107K | 19.8 min | A+ | A |
| Bighorn No. 8 12.4 km | 78% | 6.8% | $104K | 28.6 min | B+ | C− |
| Banff 19.4 km | 65% | 15% | $88K | 15.7 min | B+ | A+ |
| Cochrane 61 km | 77% | 9.5% | $113K | 29.8 min | B | B+ |
| Improvement District No. 9 Banff 68 km | 29% | 0% | — | 16.7 min | C+ | B |
| Electoral Area G, East Kootenay 70.4 km | 79% | 11% | $79K | 26.5 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 Canmore, where it comes from, and what it leaves out.
- 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. Built from the census table that pairs each worker’s home municipality with their workplace municipality. A job here means someone who usually works in the municipality, local or not.
- Employment Insurance. How many people in the census division drew Employment Insurance each month; it moves with layoffs and hiring, yet people who don’t qualify are absent from it.
- 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. How many residents held a job in May 2021, set against how many were 15 to 64. It reads a little high where many people work past 65, since below the municipality the census gives no breakdown of workers by age.
- Unemployment. A census-day figure: people without a job who were looking, divided by all those working or looking, ages 15 and up.
- Household income. What the median household took in during 2020 before tax, as the census recorded it; an estimate built from income groups when the place is a neighbourhood.
- Which towns we compare. Every town and city neighbourhood with 2,500 residents or more; whole cities and First Nations reserves are left out. Each middle figure is a median.
Questions about work in Canmore
How do people in Canmore get to work?
75% of commuters go by car, 2.5% take public transit, 13% walk and 6.7% cycle. On census day 27% of everyone in work stayed home to work.
How long is the commute from Canmore?
On average 19.8 minutes; 56% take under 15 minutes and 7.1% take an hour or longer.
Where do people in Canmore work?
Most stay: 66% work in Canmore. The rest go first to Banff (740) and Calgary (235).
How many jobs are there in Canmore?
About 4,325 people had their usual place of work in Canmore at the 2021 census, 0.8 for each working resident with a fixed workplace. In June 2026, 1,023 businesses with employees were on Statistics Canada’s count.
What is the unemployment rate in Canmore?
The census put unemployment at 9.7% in May 2021, where the middle of Canadian towns was 9.9%. More recently, in October 2026, the Labour Force Survey had the Banff-Jasper-Rocky Mountain House and Athabasca-Grande Prairie-Peace River economic region at 5.6%.
What is the average household income in Canmore?
The census puts Canmore at $106,800 for 2020, before tax and at the median, against $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).