Electoral Area I, Cariboo has fewer jobs than residents in work: 0.2 for each
At the 2021 census, 66% of Electoral Area I, Cariboo’s 15-to-64s were in work; the middle of Canadian towns is 73%. For 14% of commuters in Electoral Area I, Cariboo, the trip to work lasts an hour or more; the average is 28.7 minutes. Half the households in Electoral Area I, Cariboo had more than $68,500 in 2020, before tax, against $85,900 in the middle of Canadian towns.
What Electoral Area I, Cariboo’s work numbers say
Fewer people in work than most towns
Among residents aged 15 to 64, 66% were in work at the 2021 census, against 73% in the middle of Canadian towns; take everyone 15 and over and it falls to 46%. In work ↓
Lower incomes than most towns
The median household had $68,500 before tax in 2020; the middle of Canadian towns is $85,900. Household income ↓
Written from the data on this page: Statistics Canada’s 2021 Census, its commuting tables, Employment Insurance and the Labour Force Survey.
On jobs and income, Electoral Area I, Cariboo grades D
Better than 8% 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.
Who in Electoral Area I, Cariboo has a job
Of the 9 other places of 2,500 people or more in the Cariboo census division, 3 have a smaller share of 15-to-64s in work.
Counting retirees, 46% of everyone aged 15 and over was working. By October 2026, the Labour Force Survey had 59% of the wider area’s adults in work. Working or looking, 52% of everyone 15 and over was in the labour force. Pandemic rules were in force on census day, 11 May 2021; the Labour Force Survey shows how jobs have moved since.
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.
How Electoral Area I, Cariboo’s household incomes compare
Before tax, 2020: lower than in 70% of Canadian towns.
6 of the 9 other places of 2,500+ in the Cariboo census division have a higher median. That puts Electoral Area I, Cariboo 21% below the median of British Columbia’s towns, $86,900. These are 2020 incomes, before tax, and they include pandemic benefits such as CERB, which lifted many lower incomes 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).
Each working day, more people leave Electoral Area I, Cariboo for work than come in
Each person commuting in is matched by about 24 residents going out. The job is inside the municipality for 13% of its commuters (70% in the middle of Canadian towns).
People with no fixed workplace are in neither count.
87% of Electoral Area I, Cariboo’s residents in work leave it to work; Quesnel takes the most
- Quesnel10
In the other direction the biggest source is Quesnel, with 10.
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census (98-10-0459): commuting flows between municipalities (census subdivisions), rounded to 5; linked names have their own pages.
2.9% of commuters in Electoral Area I, Cariboo walk, cycle or take transit
Only 15% worked at home on census day, against 21% in the middle of Canadian towns. Transit barely figures here, against 3.5% in the middle of Canadian towns. Nearly everyone drives: 93% of commuters go by car, truck or van.
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census: main mode of commuting; average durations by mode from table 98-10-0458 (whole municipalities only).
How long the commute from Electoral Area I, Cariboo takes
Trips under 15 minutes: 26%, fewer than the 39% in the middle of British Columbia’s towns. Timed exactly, the average is 26 minutes (Statistics Canada). The middle of British Columbia’s towns averages 26.4 minutes.
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.
How EI claims in the Cariboo census division have moved since 2019
Over the year to August 2026, the count rose by 7%. At its peak, in April 2021, 3,550 people were on EI, 1.8 times the 2019 average. That is about 4.7 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 counts are context, not part of any grade.
People receiving Employment Insurance each month, as a share of the 2019 average (100). Nobody publishes EI beneficiaries for Electoral Area I, Cariboo alone, so this card uses the figure for the Cariboo census division.
Electoral Area I, Cariboo grades D for walkability
Better than 12% of Canadian towns on two measures together.
OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL); active commuting from the 2021 Census.
Jobs and income in the places around Electoral Area I, Cariboo
| Place | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Household income | Average trip | Jobs | Walk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Electoral Area I, Cariboo | 66% | 12% | $69K | 28.7 min | D | D |
| Electoral Area A, Cariboo 7.8 km | 69% | 11% | $80K | 20.1 min | B− | C+ |
| Quesnel 10.5 km | 65% | 11% | $68K | 14.7 min | C+ | B+ |
| Electoral Area B, Cariboo 19 km | 65% | 9% | $79K | 24.5 min | C | D |
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 Electoral Area I, Cariboo, where it comes from, and what it leaves out.
- Unemployment. Unemployed people over the labour force (in work or looking), aged 15 and over, on census day.
- 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. 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. 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.
- 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. 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. 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.
- Which towns we compare. Any town of 2,500 or more counts, and so does any city neighbourhood that size; the city as a whole and First Nations reserves don’t. The middle is the median.
Questions about work in Electoral Area I, Cariboo
How many jobs are there in Electoral Area I, Cariboo?
The 2021 census found about 60 people with their usual workplace in Electoral Area I, Cariboo, or 0.2 for each resident who travels to a fixed job. In June 2026, 27 businesses with employees were on Statistics Canada’s count.
What is the unemployment rate in Electoral Area I, Cariboo?
The 2021 census found 12% unemployed, against 9.9% in the middle of Canadian towns; the Labour Force Survey’s latest, for the Cariboo economic region, is 6.1% (October 2026).
What is the average household income in Electoral Area I, Cariboo?
The census puts Electoral Area I, Cariboo at $68,500 for 2020, before tax and at the median, against $85,900 in the middle of Canadian towns.
How do people in Electoral Area I, Cariboo get to work?
93% of commuters drive, 2.9% walk; 15% of everyone in work worked at home on census day.
How long is the commute from Electoral Area I, Cariboo?
The average commute is 28.7 minutes; 26% of trips take under 15 minutes and 14% an hour or more.
Where do people in Electoral Area I, Cariboo work?
13% work in Electoral Area I, Cariboo itself. Of those who leave, the most go to Quesnel (250), then Electoral Area A, Cariboo (30).
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).