Photo: Earth Science and Remote Sensing Unit , Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center · Public domainMaking a living in Electoral Area E, East Kootenay
From Electoral Area E, East Kootenay, the drive or ride to work averages 28.3 minutes, with 9.1% going an hour or longer. Unemployment in Electoral Area E, East Kootenay stood at 6.4% on census day 2021, and the middle of Canadian towns sits at 9.9%. Before tax, the typical household in Electoral Area E, East Kootenay brought in $81,400 in 2020, against $85,900 in the middle of Canadian towns.
Where Electoral Area E, East Kootenay stands out on work
Less unemployment than most towns
6.4% of the labour force was out of work at the 2021 census (9.9% in the middle of Canadian towns); the Labour Force Survey had the area at 4.1% in October 2026. Unemployment ↓
More jobs than the typical town
With 455 jobs based in Electoral Area E, East Kootenay and 440 working residents, the ratio compares with 0.8 in the middle of Canadian towns. The daily tide ↓
Written from the data on this page: Statistics Canada’s 2021 Census, its commuting tables, Employment Insurance and the Labour Force Survey.
Jobs & income in Electoral Area E, East Kootenay: graded C
Better than 35% of Canadian towns on three measures together.
Its strongest measure is household income; its weakest, trip times.
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.
How many in Electoral Area E, East Kootenay have a job: 74% of 15-to-64s
None of the 8 other places of 2,500 people or more in the East Kootenay census division has a smaller share of 15-to-64s in work.
By October 2026, the Labour Force Survey had 54% of the wider area’s adults in work. The labour force, people 15 and over with a job or seeking one, took in 54% of residents that age. An older population pulls the all-ages rate down: 51% of residents 15 and over were in work. 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.
Electoral Area E, East Kootenay keeps its workforce on a working day
440 residents of Electoral Area E, East Kootenay had a usual place of work at the 2021 census, and 455 people had theirs in Electoral Area E, East Kootenay, wherever they lived.
23% 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.
355 people come into Electoral Area E, East Kootenay to work, most from Cranbrook and Kimberley
78% of the people who work in Electoral Area E, East Kootenay live outside it, 180 of them in Cranbrook, 34 km away. Of residents who leave for work, most head to Cranbrook (150).
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 Electoral Area E, East Kootenay work and where people who work there live, the ten largest each way.
What households in Electoral Area E, East Kootenay earn
Before tax, 2020: higher than in 59% of Canadian towns.
Of the 8 other places of 2,500 or more in the East Kootenay census division, 6 have a higher median. Set beside British Columbia’s towns, where the median is $86,900, Electoral Area E, East Kootenay sits 6% below. Read the incomes as 2020’s, before tax: pandemic benefits such as CERB are in them, and they raised many low incomes for 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).
Electoral Area E, East Kootenay gets to work without a car for 5% of commuters
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. Fewer worked at home than in the middle of Canadian towns: 18% against 21%.
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.
The length of the trip to work in Electoral Area E, East Kootenay
Timed exactly, the average is 25.8 minutes (Statistics Canada). The middle of British Columbia’s towns averages 26.4 minutes. Only 26% 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.
23% more people are on EI in the East Kootenay census division than in 2019
That works out to around 3.9 beneficiaries per 100 people aged 15 to 64 across the division. Compared with a year earlier, the count in August 2026 rose by 1%. The count topped out in February 2021 at 3,400 people, 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 Electoral Area E, East Kootenay one part of it.
On getting around on foot, Electoral Area E, East Kootenay grades C
Better than 28% 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 E, East Kootenay
The nearest places to Electoral Area E, East Kootenay with figures are 19–39 km away.
| Place | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Household income | Average trip | Jobs | Walk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Electoral Area E, East Kootenay | 74% | 6.4% | $81K | 28.3 min | C | C |
| Kimberley 19.5 km | 77% | 7.7% | $81K | 24.1 min | B | A− |
| Cranbrook 34.2 km | 76% | 7.4% | $81K | 18 min | A− | A− |
| Electoral Area C, East Kootenay 38.6 km | 76% | 6.7% | $100K | 23.1 min | A− | 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 E, East Kootenay, where it comes from, and what it leaves out.
- Household income. What the median household took in during 2020 before tax, as the census recorded it; an estimate built from income groups when the place is a neighbourhood.
- 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. Counts of workers with a fixed workplace, by where they live and where they work, both taken as whole municipalities; the jobs figure takes everyone who works here, wherever home is.
- 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 surveys households every month; the results come out for metro areas and economic regions, never for single towns, and keep the rate current after 2021.
- 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. The census-week jobless rate for residents 15 and over. Its base is the labour force, those employed plus those actively looking.
- 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 E, East Kootenay
How many jobs are there in Electoral Area E, East Kootenay?
About 455 people had their usual place of work in Electoral Area E, East Kootenay at the 2021 census, 1 for each working resident with a fixed workplace. Statistics Canada counted 63 businesses with employees in June 2026.
What is the unemployment rate in Electoral Area E, East Kootenay?
At the 2021 census 6.4% of the labour force had no job and was looking (9.9% in the middle of Canadian towns). The latest monthly survey, for the Kootenay economic region, gives 4.1% in October 2026.
What is the average household income in Electoral Area E, East Kootenay?
The census puts Electoral Area E, East Kootenay at $81,400 for 2020, before tax and at the median, against $85,900 in the middle of Canadian towns.
How do people in Electoral Area E, East Kootenay get to work?
93% of commuters go by car, 3.3% walk and 1.7% cycle. On census day 18% of everyone in work stayed home to work.
How long is the commute from Electoral Area E, East Kootenay?
On average 28.3 minutes; 26% take under 15 minutes and 9.1% take an hour or longer.
Where do people in Electoral Area E, East Kootenay work?
23% work in Electoral Area E, East Kootenay itself. Of those who leave, the most go to Cranbrook (150), then Kimberley (135).
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).