Photo: waferboard · CC BY 2.0Work, pay and getting to work in Cranbrook
The average trip to work from Cranbrook is 18 minutes; 7.1% of commuters spend an hour or more getting there. 7.4% of the labour force in Cranbrook was out of work at the 2021 census, next to 9.9% for the middle of Canadian towns. Median household income in Cranbrook was $80,700 in 2020; the middle of Canadian towns is $85,900.
The short version on work in Cranbrook
Less unemployment than most towns
Census day in 2021 put 7.4% out of work (9.9% in the middle of Canadian towns), and the area’s monthly survey gave 4.1% in October 2026. Unemployment ↓
A local job centre
With 8,215 jobs based in Cranbrook and 7,115 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 18 minutes (26 in the middle of Canadian towns), and 7.1% 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.
On jobs and income, Cranbrook grades A−
Better than 82% of Canadian towns on three measures together, #50 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 Cranbrook, 76% of people aged 15 to 64 have a job
Of the 7 other places of 2,500 people or more in the East Kootenay census division, one has a smaller share of 15-to-64s in work.
An older population pulls the all-ages rate down: 57% of residents 15 and over were in work. By October 2026, the Labour Force Survey had 54% of the wider area’s adults in work. Working or looking, 62% of everyone 15 and over was in the labour force. 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.
Workers pour into Cranbrook: 14% more on a working day
Each resident commuting out of Cranbrook is matched by about 2 coming in. 79% of residents who commute work inside the municipality, against 70% in the middle of Canadian towns.
People with no fixed workplace are in neither count.
At 18 minutes, commutes from Cranbrook are shorter than in the middle of Canadian towns
Timed exactly, the average is 17.7 minutes (Statistics Canada). The middle of British Columbia’s towns averages 26.4 minutes. A quarter-hour or less for 68% of commuters, 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.
2,608 people come into Cranbrook to work, most from Electoral Area C, East Kootenay and Kimberley
- Grande Prairie295
- Elkford195
- Electoral Area E, East Kootenay180
- Electoral Area C, East Kootenay155
- Electoral Area B, East Kootenay140
- Sparwood125
- Kimberley105
- St. Mary's (IRI)75
- Calgary40
- Fort McMurray40
32% of the people who work in Cranbrook live outside it, 1,420 of them in Electoral Area C, East Kootenay, 4 km away. Grande Prairie is where the largest group of commuters out goes, 295 of them.
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census (98-10-0459): commuting flows between municipalities (census subdivisions), rounded to 5; linked names have their own pages.
Household income in Cranbrook
Before tax, 2020: higher than in 57% of Canadian towns.
Cranbrook’s median is 7% below the middle of British Columbia’s towns ($86,900). Every other place of 2,500 or more in the East Kootenay census division has a higher median. In 2020 emergency benefits topped up many low incomes, and the census counts them here.
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 11% of Cranbrook’s commuters
On foot: 9.1% of commuters, well above the 4.6% in the middle of British Columbia’s towns. Driving to work is about as common as in the middle of British Columbia’s towns, at 87%. Only 9.2% worked at home on census day, against 21% in the middle of Canadian towns. Few ride transit: 0.8%, where the middle of Canadian towns has 3.5%.
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census: main mode of commuting; average durations by mode from table 98-10-0458 (whole municipalities only).
In the East Kootenay census division, 23% more people receive EI than in 2019
Per 100 residents aged 15 to 64, about 3.9 receive EI. Over the year to August 2026, the count rose by 1%. At its peak, in February 2021, 3,400 people were on EI, 2.5 times the 2019 average.
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). Behind EI beneficiaries sits data gathered across the East Kootenay census division, with Cranbrook one part of it.
Getting around Cranbrook on foot earns A−
Better than 82% of Canadian towns on two measures together, #123 of 254 in British Columbia.
OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL); active commuting from the 2021 Census.
Cranbrook places 45th of 380 on jobs and income among Canadian towns of 15,900 to 30,600
| # | Place | People | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Household income | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Yellowknife Northwest Territories | 22,858 | 80% | 5.8% | $148K | A+ |
| 2 | Central Saanich British Columbia | 18,184 | 85% | 4.9% | $103K | A+ |
| 3 | Cap-Rouge Quebec | 17,139 | 81% | 4.3% | $126K | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 5 | Oak Bay British Columbia | 18,626 | 80% | 7% | $108K | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 12 | Fort St. John British Columbia | 24,383 | 76% | 8.9% | $102K | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 43 | Beloeil Quebec | 25,240 | 85% | 5% | $90K | A− |
| 44 | Russell Ontario | 23,655 | 81% | 5.4% | $123K | A− |
| 45 | Cranbrook British Columbia | 22,703 | 76% | 7.4% | $81K | A− |
| 46 | Mahogany Alberta | 17,818 | 79% | 9.1% | $122K | A− |
| 47 | Riley Park British Columbia | 23,682 | 80% | 7.1% | $107K | A− |
| … | ||||||
| 380 | Parc-Extension Quebec | 29,066 | 61% | 16% | $48K | D− |
Ordered by Jobs & income Grade: the top three, the places either side of Cranbrook, and others among British Columbia’s towns.
Neighbouring places to Cranbrook, compared
No closer places have figures: these lie 4–37 km from Cranbrook.
| Place | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Household income | Average trip | Jobs | Walk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cranbrook | 76% | 7.4% | $81K | 18 min | A− | A− |
| Electoral Area C, East Kootenay 4.4 km | 76% | 6.7% | $100K | 23.1 min | A− | D |
| Kimberley 23.7 km | 77% | 7.7% | $81K | 24.1 min | B | A− |
| Electoral Area E, East Kootenay 34.2 km | 74% | 6.4% | $81K | 28.3 min | C | C |
| Electoral Area B, East Kootenay 37.2 km | 67% | 8.4% | $88K | 36.8 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 Cranbrook, where it comes from, and what it leaves out.
- 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. 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. Beneficiaries of Employment Insurance, month by month, for the census division rather than the town. Many jobless people don’t qualify, so it isn’t an unemployment 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. How many residents held a job in May 2021, set against how many were 15 to 64. It reads a little high where many people work past 65, since below the municipality the census gives no breakdown of workers by age.
- 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. 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 Cranbrook
Where do people in Cranbrook work?
Most stay: 79% work in Cranbrook. The rest go first to Grande Prairie (295) and Elkford (195).
How many jobs are there in Cranbrook?
About 8,215 people had their usual place of work in Cranbrook at the 2021 census, 1.2 for each working resident with a fixed workplace. Statistics Canada counted 988 businesses with employees in June 2026.
What is the unemployment rate in Cranbrook?
The 2021 census found 7.4% unemployed, against 9.9% in the middle of Canadian towns; the Labour Force Survey’s latest, for the Kootenay economic region, is 4.1% (October 2026).
What is the average household income in Cranbrook?
Before tax, half the households in Cranbrook had more than $80,700 in 2020; the middle of Canadian towns is $85,900.
How do people in Cranbrook get to work?
87% of commuters go by car, 0.8% take public transit, 9.1% walk and 1% cycle. On census day 9.2% of everyone in work stayed home to work.
How long is the commute from Cranbrook?
On average 18 minutes; 68% take under 15 minutes and 7.1% take 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).