Photo: Kayoty · CC BY-SA 3.0Working-age people in Barriere are less likely to have a job than in 93% of Canadian towns
Before tax, the typical household in Barriere brought in $66,500 in 2020, and the middle of Canadian towns sits at $85,900. The average trip to work from Barriere is 32 minutes; 22% of commuters spend an hour or more getting there. Barriere had an unemployment rate of 17% at the 2021 census, against 9.9% in the middle of Canadian towns.
Barriere at work: what stands out
Fewer people in work than most towns
In work at the 2021 census: 60% of people aged 15 to 64, against 73% in the middle of Canadian towns, and 40% of everyone 15 and over. In work ↓
More unemployment than most towns
17% 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 6.6% in October 2026. Unemployment ↓
Lower incomes than most towns
The median household had $66,500 before tax in 2020; the middle of Canadian towns is $85,900. Household income ↓
A local job centre
With 485 jobs based in Barriere and 335 working residents, the ratio compares with 0.8 in the middle of Canadian towns. The daily tide ↓
Longer trips than most towns
The average trip to work is 32 minutes (26 in the middle of Canadian towns), and 22% 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 & income in Barriere: graded D−
Better than 3% of Canadian towns on three measures together.
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 Barriere, 60% of people aged 15 to 64 have a job
None of the 6 other places of 2,500 people or more in the Thompson-Nicola census division has a smaller share of 15-to-64s in work.
For the wider area, the Labour Force Survey had 56% in work in October 2026. Counting those looking for work too, 48% of people aged 15 and over were in the labour force. Take in all adults, retirees with them, and only 40% were working. 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.
Household income in Barriere
Before tax, 2020: lower than in 75% of Canadian towns.
The middle of British Columbia’s towns is $86,900, and Barriere is 23% below it. 5 of the 6 other places of 2,500+ in the Thompson-Nicola census division have a higher median. That year, 2020, brought emergency benefits that count in these totals, before tax.
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census: median total income of households in 2020, before tax (a neighbourhood’s estimated from its dissemination areas’ income groups).
Each working day, Barriere’s workforce swells by 37%
About 2 people arrive to work in Barriere for each resident who goes out. The job is inside the municipality for 53% of its commuters (70% in the middle of Canadian towns).
People with no fixed workplace are in neither count.
Longer than the middle of Canadian towns: commutes from Barriere average 32 minutes
Timed exactly, the average is 36 minutes (Statistics Canada). The middle of British Columbia’s towns averages 26.4 minutes. Trips under 15 minutes: 46%, more than the 39% in the middle of British Columbia’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.
306 people come into Barriere to work, most from Electoral Area O (Lower North Thompson), Thompson-Nicola and Kamloops
63% of the people who work in Barriere live outside it, 125 of them in Electoral Area O (Lower North Thompson), Thompson-Nicola, 16 km away. Outbound, Kamloops takes the most: 90 people.
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census (98-10-0459): commuting flows between municipalities (census subdivisions), rounded to 5; linked names have their own pages.
Without a car, 2.9% of Barriere’s commuters get to work
Transit barely figures here, against 3.5% in the middle of Canadian towns. Nearly everyone drives: 91% of commuters go by car, truck or van. Home was the workplace for 12%, under the 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).
14% more people are on EI in the Thompson-Nicola census division than in 2019
Over the year to August 2026, the count rose by 2%. February 2021 was the busiest month, with 7,510 people on EI, 2.4 times 2019’s average. Per 100 residents aged 15 to 64, about 3.9 receive EI.
Statistics Canada, Employment Insurance beneficiaries by census division (14-10-0323): all income benefits, not seasonally adjusted. EI beneficiaries: one figure for all of the Thompson-Nicola census division. EI counts are context, not part of any grade.
People receiving Employment Insurance each month, as a share of the 2019 average (100).
Everyday places on foot in Barriere: B
Better than 60% of Canadian towns on two measures together.
OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL); active commuting from the 2021 Census.
Jobs near Barriere: the places around it
No closer places have figures: these lie 16–47 km from Barriere.
| Place | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Household income | Average trip | Jobs | Walk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Barriere | 60% | 17% | $67K | 32 min | D− | B |
| Electoral Area O (Lower North Thompson), Thompson-Nicola 16.2 km | 77% | 5.7% | $69K | 39.3 min | D | D− |
| Sun Peaks Mountain 37.5 km | 71% | 11% | $87K | 23.9 min | B− | A |
| Electoral Area P (Rivers and the Peaks), Thompson-Nicola 42.2 km | 75% | 7.7% | $94K | 33.2 min | C+ | D |
| Electoral Area A (Wells Gray Country), Thompson-Nicola 46.7 km | 57% | 19% | $64K | 30.7 min | D− | 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 Barriere, where it comes from, and what it leaves out.
- Trip times. The census asks how long the trip to work usually takes, in bands; our average uses each band’s middle, so it runs a little above Statistics Canada’s timed average.
- Where people commute. Jobs count everyone whose usual workplace lies in the municipality, residents or commuters from elsewhere, from Statistics Canada’s home-by-workplace table.
- Employment Insurance. Statistics Canada counts EI beneficiaries each month by census division. Seasonal work makes it swing, so read it as a trend, not a jobless rate.
- The Labour Force Survey. Statistics Canada surveys households every month; the results come out for metro areas and economic regions, never for single towns, and keep the rate current after 2021.
- In work. People in work of any age over residents aged 15 to 64 (2021 Census). The census doesn’t cross work with age below the municipality, so this is the one rate every town and neighbourhood has; retirees don’t weigh on it.
- 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. Taken from the 2021 Census, which asked about 2020: wages, pensions, investment income and government transfers together, before income tax, for the median household.
- 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 Barriere
What is the unemployment rate in Barriere?
Two figures answer it: 17% on census day in May 2021 (9.9% in the middle of Canadian towns), and 6.6% for the Thompson-Okanagan economic region in the Labour Force Survey of October 2026.
What is the average household income in Barriere?
The census puts Barriere at $66,500 for 2020, before tax and at the median, against $85,900 in the middle of Canadian towns.
How do people in Barriere get to work?
91% of commuters drive, 2.9% walk; 12% of everyone in work worked at home on census day.
How long is the commute from Barriere?
The average commute is 32 minutes; 46% of trips take under 15 minutes and 22% an hour or more.
Where do people in Barriere work?
Most stay: 53% work in Barriere. The rest go first to Kamloops (90) and Kamloops 1 (30).
How many jobs are there in Barriere?
The 2021 census found about 485 people with their usual workplace in Barriere, or 1.5 for each resident who travels to a fixed job. In June 2026, 69 businesses with employees were on Statistics Canada’s count.
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).