Photo: Zacharycmango · CC BY-SA 4.0Work and commuting in Burnaby
Public transit carries 22% of its commuters. From Burnaby, the drive or ride to work averages 31.7 minutes, with 7.3% going an hour or longer. Burnaby is the usual workplace of 87,075 people, and 70,615 of its own residents commute to a job.
Work in Burnaby: the figures worth knowing
A local job centre
87,075 people work in Burnaby and 70,615 residents commute to a fixed workplace; the middle of Canadian towns has 0.8 jobs per working resident. The daily tide ↓
Longer trips than most towns
Commutes take 31.7 minutes on average, against 26 in the middle of Canadian towns; 7.3% 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.
How Burnaby will be graded on jobs and income
Once Canada is graded, the letter will come from four census figures read against Canadian towns of 2,500 people or more: employment of 15-to-64s, median household income, unemployment and the average trip to work.
Burnaby fills up on a working day: 15% more workers
Of those who commute, 38% stay within the municipality; the middle of Canadian towns is 70%.
People with no fixed workplace are in neither count.
The length of the trip to work in Burnaby
Timed exactly, the average is 28.2 minutes (Statistics Canada). In the middle of British Columbia’s towns, the average commute is 26.4 minutes. Only 16% get to work within a quarter-hour, against 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.
Commuting time at the 2021 Census, to work only, for people who travel to a usual workplace or have none fixed.
60,453 people come into Burnaby to work, most from Vancouver and Surrey
- Vancouver16,615
- Surrey11,585
- Coquitlam7,450
- New Westminster5,515
- Richmond2,990
- Port Coquitlam2,380
- Maple Ridge2,035
- Delta1,850
- Langley1,800
- North Vancouver1,755
- Vancouver22,005
- Richmond5,035
- Surrey3,000
- New Westminster2,810
- Coquitlam2,540
- Delta1,655
- North Vancouver1,430
- North Vancouver1,240
- Port Coquitlam725
- Langley650
Of everyone working in Burnaby, 69% come in from elsewhere; 16,615 make the 9 km trip from Vancouver. Outbound, Vancouver takes the most: 22,005 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 Burnaby work and where people who work there live, the ten largest each way.
72% of working-age people in Burnaby have jobs
Of the 96 other places of 2,500 people or more in the Greater Vancouver census division, 36 have a smaller share of 15-to-64s in work.
In October 2026, 63% of the wider area’s adults had a job, on the Labour Force Survey’s count. Working or looking, 64% of everyone 15 and over was in the labour force. Many residents are past working age, so among everyone 15 and over the share in work drops to 58%. 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.
Burnaby households: $82,900 a year at the median
Before tax, 2020: lower than in 55% of Canadian towns.
78 of the 96 other places of 2,500+ in the Greater Vancouver census division have a higher median. Against the middle of British Columbia’s towns ($86,900), Burnaby’s median is 5% below. Pandemic support paid in 2020, CERB first among it, is part of these before-tax incomes.
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census: median total income of households in 2020, before tax (a neighbourhood’s estimated from its dissemination areas’ income groups).
Household incomes across Burnaby: $64K to $138K
Median household income in each of Burnaby’s 18 neighbourhoods: the highest is 2.2 times the lowest. The share of 15-to-64s in work runs from 67% in Lochdale to 79% in Brentwood.
| Neighbourhood | People | Household income | In work, 15–64 | Average trip |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Metrotown | 36,594 | $63,800 | 71% | 32.5 min |
| Edmonds | 34,805 | $77,100 | 71% | 33.9 min |
| Brentwood | 22,170 | $85,200 | 79% | 29.6 min |
| Heights | 22,141 | $93,800 | 75% | 29.6 min |
| Royal Oak | 18,364 | $87,700 | 71% | 31.2 min |
| East Burnaby | 17,233 | $107,900 | 72% | 31.1 min |
| Lougheed | 15,442 | $77,400 | 73% | 35 min |
| Montecito | 10,734 | $98,700 | 69% | 30.5 min |
| Burnaby Mountain | 9,248 | $86,300 | 68% | 33.8 min |
| South Slope | 8,989 | $104,300 | 70% | 29.6 min |
| Buckingham Heights | 8,794 | $117,700 | 71% | 29.6 min |
| Deer Lake | 8,417 | $101,900 | 73% | 29.9 min |
| Broadview | 8,008 | $93,100 | 73% | 29.3 min |
| Holdom | 7,976 | $97,100 | 70% | 29.4 min |
| Lochdale | 7,463 | $86,300 | 67% | 32.5 min |
| Garden Village | 6,492 | $103,300 | 67% | 31.7 min |
| Lake City | 3,240 | $138,200 | 75% | 33.2 min |
| Bainbridge | 3,015 | $120,500 | 76% | 30.9 min |
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census: each neighbourhood summed from its dissemination areas; incomes are 2020’s.
Burnaby gets to work without a car for 27% of commuters
The car takes 71% of commuters here, under the 87% in the middle of British Columbia’s towns. 29% 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).
How residents who commute got to work, 2021 Census; working at home is counted apart.
63% more people are on EI in the Greater Vancouver census division than in 2019
Roughly 3.6 in every 100 people aged 15 to 64 in the division draw EI. In the twelve months to August 2026 the number rose by 4%. The highest month was January 2021: 117,570 people, 3.3 times the 2019 level.
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 Greater Vancouver 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).
Work next door to Burnaby
| Place | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Household income | Average trip | Jobs | Walk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Burnaby | 72% | 9.6% | $83K | 31.7 min | — | — |
| Deer Lake 0.6 km | 73% | 8.9% | $102K | 29.9 min | B− | A |
| Buckingham Heights 2 km | 71% | 7.9% | $118K | 29.6 min | B− | A |
| Garden Village 2.4 km | 67% | 11% | $103K | 31.7 min | C | A+ |
| Holdom 2.5 km | 70% | 9.4% | $97K | 29.4 min | C+ | A+ |
| Metrotown 2.5 km | 71% | 11% | $64K | 32.5 min | D | A+ |
| Bainbridge 2.5 km | 76% | 10% | $121K | 30.9 min | B | 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 Burnaby, where it comes from, and what it leaves out.
- Unemployment. The share of people 15 and over in the labour force, working or looking for work, who had no job on census day in May 2021.
- 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.
- 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. 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. Monthly, and only for metro areas and economic regions. It is the up-to-date rate we set beside the census’s 2021 snapshot.
- In work. We divide the number of employed residents by the number aged 15 to 64. Workers past 64 still count on top, because the 2021 Census crosses work with age only for whole municipalities; in return, a retirement town’s pensioners don’t drag the rate down.
- 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 Burnaby
What is the unemployment rate in Burnaby?
The census put unemployment at 9.6% in May 2021, where the middle of Canadian towns was 9.9%. More recently, in October 2026, the Labour Force Survey had the Vancouver metro area at 6.7%.
What is the average household income in Burnaby?
Before tax, half the households in Burnaby had more than $82,900 in 2020; the middle of Canadian towns is $85,900.
How do people in Burnaby get to work?
71% of commuters go by car, 22% take public transit, 4.7% walk and 0.9% cycle. On census day 29% of everyone in work stayed home to work.
How long is the commute from Burnaby?
On average 31.7 minutes; 16% take under 15 minutes and 7.3% take an hour or longer.
Where do people in Burnaby work?
Only 38% work in Burnaby itself; the rest go first to Vancouver (22,005) and Richmond (5,035).
How many jobs are there in Burnaby?
About 87,075 people had their usual place of work in Burnaby at the 2021 census, 1.2 for each working resident with a fixed workplace. In June 2026, 10,242 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). 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).