Photo: Qyd · CC BY 2.5Fewer of Valleyview’s 15-to-64s are in work than in 77% of Canadian towns
Median household income in Valleyview was $83,600 in 2020, next to $85,900 for the middle of Canadian towns. Getting to work from Valleyview takes 16 minutes on average, an hour or more for 6.8%. Unemployment in Valleyview stood at 16% on census day 2021; the middle of Canadian towns is 9.9%.
What sets Valleyview apart on jobs and income
More unemployment than most towns
The Labour Force Survey had the area at 5.6% in October 2026; on census day in 2021 the town’s own rate was 16%, where the middle of Canadian towns had 9.9%. Unemployment ↓
A local job centre
With 880 jobs based in Valleyview and 540 working residents, the ratio compares with 0.8 in the middle of Canadian towns. The daily tide ↓
Shorter trips than most towns
The average trip to work is 16 minutes (26 in the middle of Canadian towns), and 6.8% 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.
Valleyview grades B+ for jobs and income
Better than 66% of Canadian towns on three measures together.
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.
Work for 68% of 15-to-64s in Valleyview
The participation rate, everyone 15 and over working or looking for work, was 69%. In October 2026, 63% of the wider area’s adults had a job, on the Labour Force Survey’s count. The census was taken on 11 May 2021, mid-pandemic, when lockdowns had pushed unemployment up and sent many to work from 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.
Valleyview fills up on a working day: 58% more workers
540 residents of Valleyview had a usual place of work at the 2021 census, and 880 people had theirs in Valleyview, wherever they lived.
Each resident commuting out of Valleyview is matched by about 4 coming in.
People with no fixed workplace are in neither count.
16 minutes from Valleyview to work, under the middle of Canadian towns
Statistics Canada’s own average, timed exactly rather than by band, is 15 minutes. The middle of Alberta’s towns averages 25.8 minutes. A quarter-hour or less for 78% of commuters, against 39% 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.
464 people come into Valleyview to work, most from Grande Cache and Sturgeon Lake 154
- Grande Cache40
- Sturgeon Lake 15420
- Grimshaw20
- Berwyn15
- Fox Creek10
53% of the people who work in Valleyview live outside it, 330 of them in Grande Cache, 116 km away. Outbound, Grande Cache takes the most: 40 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 Valleyview work and where people who work there live, the ten largest each way.
Household income in Valleyview
Before tax, 2020: higher than in 63% of Canadian towns.
Set beside Alberta’s towns, where the median is $92,250, Valleyview sits 9% below. Read the incomes as 2020’s, before tax: pandemic benefits such as CERB are in them, and they raised many low incomes for 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).
Walk, cycle or ride transit: the choice of 8.3% of Valleyview’s commuters
89% drive to work, about the same as in the middle of Alberta’s towns. Fewer worked at home than in the middle of Canadian towns: 6.4% against 21%. Transit barely figures here, 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.
About as many people are on EI in Census Division No. 18 as in 2019
Valleyview doesn’t get its own EI beneficiaries figures; the ones here come from Census Division No. 18.
In April 2021 it reached 1,050, the most in the series and 3.2 times the 2019 average. Roughly 4 in every 100 people aged 15 to 64 in the division draw EI. Over the year to August 2026, the count fell by 13%.
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).
On getting around on foot, Valleyview grades A
Better than 91% of Canadian towns on two measures together.
OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL); active commuting from the 2021 Census.
The places around Valleyview, side by side
The nearest places to Valleyview with figures are 12–80 km away.
| Place | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Household income | Average trip | Jobs | Walk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Valleyview | 68% | 16% | $84K | 16 min | B+ | A |
| Sturgeon Lake 154 11.8 km | 37% | 31% | $57K | 19 min | D | D− |
| High Prairie 64.9 km | 76% | 12% | $88K | 14.9 min | A | A+ |
| Smoky River No. 130 68.8 km | 83% | 7% | $89K | 29.1 min | B+ | D |
| Falher 73.8 km | 72% | 12% | $71K | 19 min | B− | A+ |
| Fox Creek 79.7 km | 74% | 12% | $117K | 16.4 min | A+ | C+ |
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 Valleyview, where it comes from, and what it leaves out.
- Employment Insurance. People receiving EI benefits each month, counted for the census division. It follows the local job market; it isn’t an unemployment rate.
- The Labour Force Survey. Sampled each month and released for regions rather than towns, so its rate describes the area around the town.
- 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. Of everyone 15 or older who was working or job-hunting in the census week, the part still looking. Someone not seeking work isn’t in it at all.
- 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. Our average assumes everyone in, say, the 15-to-29-minute band takes 22 minutes. Across all the bands that runs a shade above Statistics Canada’s measured average.
- Where people commute. Statistics Canada’s place-of-work table counts people with a usual place of work by the municipality they live in and the one they work in. Jobs here are people whose usual workplace is in the municipality, wherever they live.
- 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 Valleyview
Where do people in Valleyview work?
Most stay: 77% work in Valleyview. The rest go first to Grande Cache (40) and Sturgeon Lake 154 (20).
How many jobs are there in Valleyview?
Some 880 people worked in Valleyview at the 2021 census: 1.6 jobs per working resident with a fixed workplace. In June 2026, 183 businesses with employees were on Statistics Canada’s count.
What is the unemployment rate in Valleyview?
Two figures answer it: 16% on census day in May 2021 (9.9% in the middle of Canadian towns), and 5.6% for the Banff-Jasper-Rocky Mountain House and Athabasca-Grande Prairie-Peace River economic region in the Labour Force Survey of October 2026.
What is the average household income in Valleyview?
The census puts Valleyview at $83,600 for 2020, before tax and at the median, against $85,900 in the middle of Canadian towns.
How do people in Valleyview get to work?
Driving takes 89% of commuters to work, 8.3% walk, and on census day 6.4% of those in work were at home.
How long is the commute from Valleyview?
About 16 minutes on average, with 78% under a quarter-hour and 6.8% at an hour or longer.
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).