Photo: Kiyoteru Awaji · CC BY 4.0The share of 15-to-64s with a job in Clearwater trails that of 92% of Canadian towns
Median household income in Clearwater was $66,900 in 2020, against $85,900 in the middle of Canadian towns. From Clearwater, the drive or ride to work averages 20.3 minutes, with 11% going an hour or longer. When the 2021 census was taken, 15% of people in Clearwater who wanted a job had none, and the middle of Canadian towns sits at 9.9%.
What Clearwater’s work numbers say
Fewer people in work than most towns
Among residents aged 15 to 64, 61% were in work at the 2021 census, against 73% in the middle of Canadian towns; take everyone 15 and over and it falls to 44%. In work ↓
More unemployment than most towns
On census day in 2021 15% were unemployed, against 9.9% in the middle of Canadian towns; by October 2026 the Labour Force Survey put the area at 6.6%. Unemployment ↓
Lower incomes than most towns
The median household had $66,900 before tax in 2020; the middle of Canadian towns is $85,900. Household income ↓
A local job centre
With 730 jobs based in Clearwater and 535 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 20.3 minutes (26 in the middle of Canadian towns), and 11% 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.
Clearwater grades C− for jobs and income
Better than 23% of Canadian towns on three measures together, #219 of 254 in British Columbia.
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.
In Clearwater, 61% of people aged 15 to 64 have a job
None of the 5 other places of 2,500 people or more in the Thompson-Nicola census division has a smaller share of 15-to-64s in work.
A more recent figure, for the wider area: 56% in work in October 2026, by the Labour Force Survey. The labour force, people 15 and over with a job or seeking one, took in 52% of residents that age. Across all ages 15 and over the share in work falls to 44%: many residents are past working age. May 2021, when the census was taken, was a pandemic spring; unemployment has come down since, as the Labour Force Survey records.
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 Clearwater’s household incomes compare
Before tax, 2020: lower than in 74% of Canadian towns.
Of the 5 other places of 2,500 or more in the Thompson-Nicola census division, 4 have a higher median. The middle of British Columbia’s towns is $86,900, and Clearwater is 23% below it. Pandemic benefits paid in 2020 lifted the incomes at the bottom, and they are counted here.
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census: median total income of households in 2020, before tax (a neighbourhood’s estimated from its dissemination areas’ income groups).
A working day adds 32% to the people at work in Clearwater
Each resident commuting out of Clearwater is matched by about 3 coming in. The job is inside the municipality for 78% of its commuters (70% in the middle of Canadian towns).
People with no fixed workplace are in neither count.
Time on the road to work from Clearwater
Trips under 15 minutes: 68%, more than the 39% in the middle of British Columbia’s towns. Timed exactly, the average is 19.8 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.
313 people come into Clearwater to work, most from Electoral Area A (Wells Gray Country), Thompson-Nicola and Kamloops
43% of the people who work in Clearwater live outside it, 205 of them in Electoral Area A (Wells Gray Country), Thompson-Nicola, 12 km away. Going the other way, Barriere is the biggest single destination (35).
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census (98-10-0459): commuting flows between municipalities (census subdivisions), rounded to 5; linked names have their own pages.
Clearwater gets to work without a car for 8.4% of commuters
88% drive to work, about the same as in the middle of British Columbia’s towns. Fewer worked at home than in the middle of Canadian towns: 8.8% 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).
In the Thompson-Nicola census division, 14% more people receive EI than in 2019
That is about 3.9 people on EI for every 100 aged 15 to 64 in the division. Compared with a year earlier, the count in August 2026 rose by 2%. In February 2021 it reached 7,510, the most in the series and 2.4 times the 2019 average.
Statistics Canada, Employment Insurance beneficiaries by census division (14-10-0323): all income benefits, not seasonally adjusted. Area behind the EI beneficiaries figures: 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).
The walkability of Clearwater: B+
Better than 73% of Canadian towns on two measures together, #152 of 254 in British Columbia.
OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL); active commuting from the 2021 Census.
Out of 390 Canadian towns of 2,500 to 3,400, Clearwater comes 299th on jobs and income
| # | Place | People | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Household income | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Upper Mount Royal Alberta | 2,758 | 83% | 12% | $188K | A+ |
| 2 | Central River Heights Manitoba | 2,736 | 84% | 5.4% | $137K | A+ |
| 3 | Crescentwood Manitoba | 3,060 | 87% | 5% | $123K | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 49 | Tofino British Columbia | 2,772 | 76% | 12% | $86K | A |
| … | ||||||
| 51 | Highlands British Columbia | 2,753 | 83% | 4.9% | $124K | A |
| … | ||||||
| 62 | Electoral Area C (Part 1), Kitimat-Stikine British Columbia | 3,189 | 83% | 8% | $97K | A |
| … | ||||||
| 297 | Normanhurst Ontario | 3,260 | 71% | 12% | $78K | C− |
| 298 | Beverly Heights Alberta | 3,252 | 63% | 14% | $76K | C− |
| 299 | Clearwater British Columbia | 2,500 | 61% | 15% | $67K | C− |
| 300 | Berwick Nova Scotia | 2,631 | 64% | 11% | $61K | C− |
| 301 | Athens Ontario | 3,078 | 70% | 13% | $85K | C− |
| … | ||||||
| 390 | Division No. 8, Subdivision L Newfoundland and Labrador | 2,724 | 43% | 30% | $51K | D− |
Ordered by Jobs & income Grade: the top three, the places either side of Clearwater, and others among British Columbia’s towns.
The places around Clearwater, side by side
The nearest places to Clearwater with figures are 12–77 km away.
| Place | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Household income | Average trip | Jobs | Walk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Clearwater | 61% | 15% | $67K | 20.3 min | C− | B+ |
| Electoral Area A (Wells Gray Country), Thompson-Nicola 12.4 km | 57% | 19% | $64K | 30.7 min | D− | C+ |
| Barriere 52 km | 60% | 17% | $67K | 32 min | D− | B |
| Electoral Area O (Lower North Thompson), Thompson-Nicola 62.9 km | 77% | 5.7% | $69K | 39.3 min | D | D− |
| Electoral Area H, Cariboo 75.8 km | 67% | 13% | $58K | 27.5 min | D− | B− |
| Electoral Area L, Cariboo 77.1 km | 58% | 12% | $61K | 27.4 min | D− | 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 Clearwater, where it comes from, and what it leaves out.
- 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.
- 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. Half of households had more than this before tax in 2020, half less, counting every source of income. For a neighbourhood we estimate the median from the income brackets of its dissemination areas.
- 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.
- Employment Insurance. Monthly EI recipients across the census division: a pulse of the local job market rather than a measure of who is out of work.
- 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 Clearwater
How long is the commute from Clearwater?
The average commute is 20.3 minutes; 68% of trips take under 15 minutes and 11% an hour or more.
Where do people in Clearwater work?
78% work in Clearwater itself; of those who leave, the most go to Barriere (35), then Electoral Area A (Wells Gray Country), Thompson-Nicola (15).
How many jobs are there in Clearwater?
The 2021 census found about 730 people with their usual workplace in Clearwater, or 1.4 for each resident who travels to a fixed job. Statistics Canada counted 119 businesses with employees in June 2026.
What is the unemployment rate in Clearwater?
The 2021 census found 15% unemployed, against 9.9% in the middle of Canadian towns; the Labour Force Survey’s latest, for the Thompson-Okanagan economic region, is 6.6% (October 2026).
What is the average household income in Clearwater?
The median household in Clearwater had $66,900 before tax in 2020, against $85,900 in the middle of Canadian towns.
How do people in Clearwater get to work?
88% of commuters drive, 8.4% walk; 8.8% of everyone in work worked at home on census day.
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).