Photo: K29328 · CC BY-SA 4.0Creston’s household incomes are lower than in 90% of Canadian towns
At the 2021 census, Creston sat at the middle of Canadian towns on work: 73% of 15-to-64s had a job. An hour or more each way is the commute for 4.6% of workers in Creston; the average is 14.3 minutes. Of everyone in Creston working or looking for work in May 2021, 9% were unemployed, and the middle of Canadian towns sits at 9.9%.
Creston at work: what stands out
Lower incomes than most towns
The middle of Canadian towns is $85,900, and the median household here had $59,000 before tax in 2020. Household income ↓
A local job centre
With 2,245 jobs based in Creston and 1,505 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 14.3 minutes (26 in the middle of Canadian towns), and 4.6% 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.
The Jobs & income grade for Creston: C+
Better than 44% of Canadian towns on three measures together, #155 of 254 in British Columbia.
Its strongest measure is trip times; its weakest, household income.
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.
What households earned in Creston: $59,000 in 2020
8 of the 9 other places of 2,500+ in the Central Kootenay census division have a higher median. That puts Creston 32% below the median of British Columbia’s towns, $86,900. Incomes here are 2020’s and include the pandemic payments, CERB among them, that propped up the lower end.
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census: median total income of households in 2020, before tax (a neighbourhood’s estimated from its dissemination areas’ income groups).
Workers pour into Creston: 44% more on a working day
About 3 people arrive to work in Creston for each resident who goes out. 76% 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.
Time on the road to work from Creston
Trips under 15 minutes: 76%, more than the 39% in the middle of British Columbia’s towns. Timed exactly, the average is 12.3 minutes (Statistics Canada). In the middle of British Columbia’s towns, the average commute is 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.
1,095 people come into Creston to work, most from Electoral Area B, Central Kootenay and Electoral Area C, Central Kootenay
49% of the people who work in Creston live outside it, 690 of them in Electoral Area B, Central Kootenay, 3 km away. Outbound, Electoral Area B, Central Kootenay takes the most: 110 people.
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census (98-10-0459): commuting flows between municipalities (census subdivisions), rounded to 5; linked names have their own pages.
How many in Creston were working in 2021
Of the 9 other places of 2,500 people or more in the Central Kootenay census division, 5 have a smaller share of 15-to-64s in work.
Take in all adults, retirees with them, and only 43% were working. A more recent figure, for the wider area: 54% in work in October 2026, by the Labour Force Survey. Participation, the share of residents 15 and over working or looking for work, came to 47%. 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.
Leaving the car at home: 17% of commuters in Creston
Only 8.9% 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%. The car takes 82% of commuters here, under the 87% in the middle of British Columbia’s towns.
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census: main mode of commuting; average durations by mode from table 98-10-0458 (whole municipalities only).
In the Central Kootenay census division, 24% more people receive EI than in 2019
January 2021 was the busiest month, with 3,650 people on EI, 2.4 times 2019’s average. Per 100 residents aged 15 to 64, about 4.8 receive EI. In the twelve months to August 2026 the number rose by 15%.
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). Creston doesn’t get its own EI beneficiaries figures; the ones here come from the Central Kootenay census division.
Creston earns A+ for walkability
Better than 98% of Canadian towns on two measures together, #52 of 254 in British Columbia.
OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL); active commuting from the 2021 Census.
For jobs and income, Creston is 388th of 696 Canadian towns of 4,200 to 8,100
| # | Place | People | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Household income | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Labrador City Newfoundland and Labrador | 7,965 | 79% | 5.5% | $146K | A+ |
| 2 | Cornwallis Manitoba | 4,705 | 85% | 2.1% | $99K | A+ |
| 3 | New Maryland New Brunswick | 4,455 | 81% | 6.5% | $118K | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 8 | Smithers British Columbia | 5,627 | 83% | 6% | $85K | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 19 | Electoral Area A, Bulkley-Nechako British Columbia | 5,829 | 82% | 7.4% | $98K | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 23 | Invermere British Columbia | 4,305 | 82% | 5.9% | $84K | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 386 | The Estates of Rainbow Creek Ontario | 6,822 | 68% | 15% | $122K | C+ |
| 387 | North Park Saskatchewan | 5,000 | 60% | 8.5% | $80K | C+ |
| 388 | Creston British Columbia | 5,976 | 73% | 9% | $59K | C+ |
| 389 | Bramalea Woods Ontario | 6,521 | 71% | 15% | $118K | C+ |
| 390 | Coronation Park Saskatchewan | 7,307 | 68% | 13% | $72K | C+ |
| … | ||||||
| 696 | Chertsey Quebec | 5,678 | 64% | 8.6% | $58K | D− |
Ordered by Jobs & income Grade: the top three, the places either side of Creston, and others among British Columbia’s towns.
How Creston compares with the places nearby
| Place | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Household income | Average trip | Jobs | Walk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Creston | 73% | 9% | $59K | 14.3 min | C+ | A+ |
| Electoral Area B, Central Kootenay 2.8 km | 70% | 7.9% | $67K | 20.2 min | C | B− |
| Electoral Area C, Central Kootenay 2.9 km | 76% | 5.6% | $66K | 16.8 min | B | 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 Creston, where it comes from, and what it leaves out.
- Where people commute. Who travels where, from the census: workers with a regular workplace, sorted by the municipality they live in and the one they work in.
- Employment Insurance. A monthly count of Employment Insurance beneficiaries for the whole census division. It tracks the local job market, but it is not an unemployment rate.
- The Labour Force Survey. Statistics Canada’s monthly survey, published for metro areas and economic regions rather than towns: it gives a current rate beside the census’s 2021 one.
- 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.
- Unemployment. The census-week jobless rate for residents 15 and over. Its base is the labour force, those employed plus those actively looking.
- 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. 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.
- 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 Creston
What is the unemployment rate in Creston?
On census day in May 2021, unemployment stood at 9% of the labour force (9.9% in the middle of Canadian towns). For a recent figure, the Labour Force Survey put the Kootenay economic region at 4.1% in October 2026.
What is the average household income in Creston?
At $59,000 before tax in 2020, the median household in Creston compares with $85,900 in the middle of Canadian towns.
How do people in Creston get to work?
82% of commuters go by car, 0.8% take public transit, 13% walk and 2.7% cycle. On census day 8.9% of everyone in work stayed home to work.
How long is the commute from Creston?
On average 14.3 minutes; 76% take under 15 minutes and 4.6% take an hour or longer.
Where do people in Creston work?
Most stay: 76% work in Creston. The rest go first to Electoral Area B, Central Kootenay (110) and Electoral Area A, Central Kootenay (85).
How many jobs are there in Creston?
About 2,245 people had their usual place of work in Creston at the 2021 census, 1.5 for each working resident with a fixed workplace. In June 2026, 276 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).