Photo: Joseph Fred Spalding · Public domainThe share of 15-to-64s with a job in Crowsnest Pass trails that of 67% of Canadian towns
Before tax, the typical household in Crowsnest Pass brought in $79,600 in 2020; the middle of Canadian towns is $85,900. 1,310 people have their usual place of work in Crowsnest Pass, against 1,660 residents who travel to a job. Census day 2021 found 8.6% of Crowsnest Pass’ labour force without a job, next to 9.9% for the middle of Canadian towns.
Crowsnest Pass and work: the main findings
Work near the middle
With 72% of its 15-to-64s in work in 2021, against 73% in the middle of Canadian towns, it has 50% of all adults employed. In work ↓
Unemployment near the middle
Census day in 2021 put 8.6% out of work (9.9% in the middle of Canadian towns), and the area’s monthly survey gave 5.6% in October 2026. Unemployment ↓
Written from the data on this page: Statistics Canada’s 2021 Census, its commuting tables, Employment Insurance and the Labour Force Survey.
Jobs & income in Crowsnest Pass: graded C+
Better than 37% of Canadian towns on three measures together, #344 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.
More workers leave Crowsnest Pass each day than arrive
Outbound commuters outnumber inbound ones about 2 to 1. 61% 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.
39% of Crowsnest Pass’ residents in work leave it to work; Sparwood takes the most
- Pincher Creek No. 970
- Raymond45
- Lethbridge35
- Canmore35
- Pincher Creek15
- Calgary15
- Sparwood15
- Piikani 14710
- Kananaskis10
- Bighorn No. 810
Inbound, the leader is Pincher Creek No. 9 (70).
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 Crowsnest Pass work and where people who work there live, the ten largest each way.
The share of 15-to-64s in work in Crowsnest Pass: 72%
Of the 3 other places of 2,500 people or more in Census Division No. 15, 2 have a smaller share of 15-to-64s in work.
The Labour Force Survey’s employment rate for the wider area was 63% in October 2026. Add those looking for a job to those with one, and 54% of residents 15 and over were in the labour force. Counting retirees, 50% of everyone aged 15 and over was working. 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.
Household income in Crowsnest Pass
Before tax, 2020: higher than in 55% of Canadian towns.
Every other place of 2,500 or more in Census Division No. 15 has a higher median. Crowsnest Pass’ median is 14% below the middle of Alberta’s towns ($92,250). 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).
Without a car, 11% of Crowsnest Pass’ commuters get to work
On foot: 5.6% of commuters, well above the 2.5% in the middle of Alberta’s towns. Fewer drive than in the middle of Alberta’s towns: 86% against 88%. Fewer worked at home than in the middle of Canadian towns: 13% against 21%. By bus, train or subway: 4.7%, against 3.5% 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).
How residents who commute got to work, 2021 Census; working at home is counted apart.
At 25.1 minutes, commutes from Crowsnest Pass are close to the middle of Canadian towns
Statistics Canada’s own average, timed exactly rather than by band, is 24.3 minutes. A quarter-hour or less for 51% of commuters, against 39% in the middle of Alberta’s towns. An hour or more: 13% of commuters, above the 7% in the middle of Alberta’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.
In Census Division No. 15, 25% more people receive EI than in 2019
Nobody publishes EI beneficiaries for Crowsnest Pass alone, so this card uses the figure for Census Division No. 15.
In January 2021 it reached 3,480, the most in the series and 5.5 times the 2019 average. That is about 2.7 people on EI for every 100 aged 15 to 64 in the division. Set against the same month a year before, the count in August 2026 rose by 4%.
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).
Crowsnest Pass earns A− for walkability
Better than 81% of Canadian towns on two measures together, #260 of 474 in Alberta.
OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL); active commuting from the 2021 Census.
Crowsnest Pass is 452nd of 696 Canadian towns of 4,200 to 8,100 people for jobs and income
| # | Place | People | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Household income | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Labrador City Newfoundland and Labrador | 7,965 | 79% | 5.5% | $146K | A+ |
| 2 | Cornwallis Manitoba | 4,705 | 85% | 2.1% | $99K | A+ |
| 3 | New Maryland New Brunswick | 4,455 | 81% | 6.5% | $118K | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 13 | Altadore Alberta | 7,675 | 80% | 8.1% | $155K | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 16 | Parkview Alberta | 5,729 | 80% | 9% | $155K | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 18 | Wainwright No. 61 Alberta | 4,576 | 84% | 5.5% | $108K | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 450 | Lowertown West Ontario | 5,947 | 72% | 11% | $75K | C+ |
| 451 | Métabetchouan--Lac-à-la-Croix Quebec | 4,230 | 76% | 6.5% | $70K | C+ |
| 452 | Crowsnest Pass Alberta | 6,011 | 72% | 8.6% | $80K | C+ |
| 453 | Cachet Ontario | 6,361 | 67% | 11% | $145K | C+ |
| 454 | Casselman Alberta | 5,795 | 68% | 12% | $92K | C+ |
| … | ||||||
| 696 | Chertsey Quebec | 5,678 | 64% | 8.6% | $58K | D− |
Ordered by Jobs & income Grade: the top three, the places either side of Crowsnest Pass, and others among Alberta’s towns.
The work picture around Crowsnest Pass
No closer places have figures: these lie 31–46 km from Crowsnest Pass.
| Place | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Household income | Average trip | Jobs | Walk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Crowsnest Pass | 72% | 8.6% | $80K | 25.1 min | C+ | A− |
| Pincher Creek No. 9 31.4 km | 82% | 6.7% | $79K | 27.1 min | B | C |
| Sparwood 34.4 km | 79% | 7.1% | $111K | 24.8 min | A | B+ |
| Electoral Area A, East Kootenay 38.2 km | 86% | 6.2% | $98K | 23.7 min | A+ | B |
| Pincher Creek 39.1 km | 73% | 7.5% | $74K | 18.8 min | B | A |
| Fernie 45.6 km | 78% | 9.4% | $107K | 21.6 min | A | 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 Crowsnest Pass, where it comes from, and what it leaves out.
- Household income. Before-tax total income of the middle household for 2020, from the census. Neighbourhood medians are worked out from bracket counts, since Statistics Canada publishes none of their own.
- 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. 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. A monthly household survey by Statistics Canada, reported for metro areas and economic regions only. It supplies a recent rate next to the 2021 census figure.
- In work. Everyone with a job, whatever their age, divided by the residents aged 15 to 64 at the 2021 Census: below the municipality the census doesn’t split work by age, and this is the one rate every town and neighbourhood can be given.
- Unemployment. It counts only people who wanted work and had none in May 2021, as a share of those working or searching; students and retirees who weren’t looking stay out of both sides.
- Which towns we compare. Medians over towns and neighbourhoods of at least 2,500 residents. Whole cities would swamp them and reserves sit outside the rankings, so neither is in.
Questions about work in Crowsnest Pass
Where do people in Crowsnest Pass work?
Most stay: 61% work in Crowsnest Pass. The rest go first to Sparwood (265) and Elkford (125).
How many jobs are there in Crowsnest Pass?
The 2021 census counted about 1,310 people working in Crowsnest Pass: 0.8 jobs for every resident who commutes to a fixed workplace. In June 2026, 245 businesses with employees were on Statistics Canada’s count.
What is the unemployment rate in Crowsnest Pass?
On census day in May 2021, unemployment stood at 8.6% of the labour force (9.9% in the middle of Canadian towns). For a recent figure, the Labour Force Survey put the Banff-Jasper-Rocky Mountain House and Athabasca-Grande Prairie-Peace River economic region at 5.6% in October 2026.
What is the average household income in Crowsnest Pass?
The median household in Crowsnest Pass had $79,600 before tax in 2020, against $85,900 in the middle of Canadian towns.
How do people in Crowsnest Pass get to work?
By car: 86% of commuters, 4.7% take public transit, 5.6% walk and 0.5% cycle; on census day 13% of those in work worked from home.
How long is the commute from Crowsnest Pass?
25.1 minutes is the average trip, with 51% of commuters there in under 15 minutes and 13% taking an hour or more.
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).