Photo: CanadianEman · CC BY-SA 3.0Most of Fort Nelson works close to home: 94% of commuters have their job there
75% of people aged 15 to 64 in Fort Nelson had a job at the 2021 census, against 73% in the middle of Canadian towns. An hour or more each way is the commute for 5.9% of workers in Fort Nelson; the average is 14.8 minutes. In 2020, a household at the middle of Fort Nelson had $84,800 before tax; the middle of Canadian towns is $85,900.
What the numbers say about work in Fort Nelson
More jobs than the typical town
With 1,560 jobs based in Fort Nelson and 1,480 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 14.8 minutes (26 in the middle of Canadian towns), and 5.9% 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.
Fort Nelson grades A for jobs and income
Better than 89% of Canadian towns on three measures together, #30 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.
Fort Nelson keeps its workforce on a working day
For every resident who leaves Fort Nelson for work, about 2 people come in.
People with no fixed workplace are in neither count.
How long the commute from Fort Nelson takes
The middle of British Columbia’s towns averages 26.4 minutes. Statistics Canada’s own average, timed exactly rather than by band, is 15.1 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.
166 people come into Fort Nelson to work, most from Fort Nelson 2 and Electoral Area B, Peace River
- Fort Nelson 235
- Electoral Area B, Peace River20
- Fort St. John15
- Vancouver10
- Electoral Area C, Peace River10
- Prophet River 410
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census (98-10-0459): commuting flows between municipalities (census subdivisions), rounded to 5; linked names have their own pages.
Work and the working-age population of Fort Nelson
A larger share in work than in 50% of Canadian towns.
Working or looking, 71% of everyone 15 and over was in the labour force. A more recent figure, for the wider area: 65% in work in October 2026, by the Labour Force Survey. 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.
What households in Fort Nelson earn
Before tax, 2020: higher than in 65% of Canadian towns.
Fort Nelson’s median is 2% below the middle 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).
Walk, cycle or ride transit: the choice of 6.4% of Fort Nelson’s commuters
Fewer worked at home than in the middle of Canadian towns: 6.5% against 21%. 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).
EI claims in the Northern Rockies census division run 6% above their 2019 level
The highest month was July 2021: 320 people, 2.3 times the 2019 level. That is about 5.6 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). Figures for EI beneficiaries are published for the Northern Rockies census division as a whole, not for Fort Nelson alone.
The Walkability grade for Fort Nelson: B+
Better than 70% of Canadian towns on two measures together, #160 of 254 in British Columbia.
OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL); active commuting from the 2021 Census.
Fort Nelson places 86th of 747 on jobs and income among Canadian towns of 2,900 to 5,600
| # | Place | People | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Household income | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Crescentwood Manitoba | 3,060 | 87% | 5% | $123K | A+ |
| 2 | Cornwallis Manitoba | 4,705 | 85% | 2.1% | $99K | A+ |
| 3 | New Maryland New Brunswick | 4,455 | 81% | 6.5% | $118K | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 21 | Invermere British Columbia | 4,305 | 82% | 5.9% | $84K | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 42 | Golden British Columbia | 4,433 | 78% | 7% | $87K | A |
| … | ||||||
| 47 | Rossland British Columbia | 4,355 | 77% | 11% | $96K | A |
| … | ||||||
| 84 | Cap-Santé Quebec | 3,885 | 85% | 4.5% | $85K | A |
| 85 | Saint-Cyrille-de-Wendover Quebec | 5,242 | 86% | 4.5% | $82K | A |
| 86 | Northern Rockies British Columbia | 4,144 | 75% | 9.3% | $85K | A |
| 87 | Corkery Ontario | 3,822 | 83% | 4.7% | $158K | A |
| 88 | Eau Claire Alberta | 3,733 | 79% | 10% | $94K | A |
| … | ||||||
| 747 | Division No. 1, Subdivision E Newfoundland and Labrador | 2,978 | 57% | 22% | $60K | D− |
Ordered by Jobs & income Grade: the top three, the places either side of Fort Nelson, and others among British Columbia’s towns.
What this data can and can’t tell you
What each figure measures for Fort Nelson, 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. 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. 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. Sampled each month and released for regions rather than towns, so its rate describes the area around the town.
- In work. Working residents per resident of working age (15 to 64), from the 2021 Census.
- Unemployment. Unemployed people over the labour force (in work or looking), aged 15 and over, on census day.
- Household income. Before-tax total income of the middle household for 2020, from the census. Neighbourhood medians are worked out from bracket counts, since Statistics Canada publishes none of their own.
- Which towns we compare. Medians over towns and neighbourhoods of at least 2,500 residents. Whole cities would swamp them and reserves sit outside the rankings, so neither is in.
- The municipality’s figures. Statistics Canada counts Fort Nelson as part of Northern Rockies, so every census figure on this page is the whole municipality’s.
Questions about work in Fort Nelson
How many jobs are there in Fort Nelson?
Some 1,560 people worked in Fort Nelson at the 2021 census: 1.1 jobs per working resident with a fixed workplace. In June 2026, 246 businesses with employees were on Statistics Canada’s count.
What is the unemployment rate in Fort Nelson?
Two figures answer it: 9.3% on census day in May 2021 (9.9% in the middle of Canadian towns), and 5.1% for the Northeast economic region in the Labour Force Survey of October 2026.
What is the average household income in Fort Nelson?
The census puts Fort Nelson at $84,800 for 2020, before tax and at the median, against $85,900 in the middle of Canadian towns.
How do people in Fort Nelson get to work?
Driving takes 93% of commuters to work, 6.4% walk, and on census day 6.5% of those in work were at home.
How long is the commute from Fort Nelson?
About 14.8 minutes on average, with 75% under a quarter-hour and 5.9% at 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).