Photo: Joe Mabel · CC BY-SA 3.0Hope has a smaller share of its working-age people in jobs than 86% of Canadian towns
An hour or more each way is the commute for 15% of workers in Hope; the average is 24.7 minutes. The median household in Hope had $64,900 before tax in 2020, against $85,900 in the middle of Canadian towns. Unemployment in Hope stood at 12% on census day 2021, and the middle of Canadian towns sits at 9.9%.
Work in Hope, in a few figures
Fewer people in work than most towns
Among residents aged 15 to 64, 65% 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 ↓
Lower incomes than most towns
The median household had $64,900 before tax in 2020; the middle of Canadian towns is $85,900. Household income ↓
More jobs than the typical town
With 1,760 jobs based in Hope and 1,570 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 Hope: graded D
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.
Work for 65% of 15-to-64s in Hope
None of the 5 other places of 2,500 people or more in the Fraser Valley census division has a smaller share of 15-to-64s in work.
Counting retirees, 44% of everyone aged 15 and over was working. A more recent figure, for the wider area: 63% in work in October 2026, by the Labour Force Survey. The participation rate, everyone 15 and over working or looking for work, was 50%. Census day was 11 May 2021, in the pandemic’s third wave: unemployment ran high and many worked from home, so these figures describe that spring rather than today.
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.
Earnings at home in Hope: households
Before tax, 2020: lower than in 78% of Canadian towns.
Every other place of 2,500 or more in the Fraser Valley census division has a higher median. Against the middle of British Columbia’s towns ($86,900), Hope’s median is 25% below. 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).
Every working day, Hope’s workforce grows by 10%
1,570 residents of Hope had a usual place of work at the 2021 census, and 1,760 people had theirs in Hope, wherever they lived.
The job is inside the municipality for 70% of its commuters, as in the middle of Canadian towns.
People with no fixed workplace are in neither count.
666 people come into Hope to work, most from Chilliwack and Kent
- Chilliwack275
- Kent65
- Fraser Valley B60
- Abbotsford40
- Harrison Hot Springs25
- Rosedale15
- Ohamil 115
- Surrey15
- Vancouver15
- Maple Ridge15
- Chilliwack165
- Kent60
- Surrey55
- Abbotsford50
- Richmond20
- Vancouver20
- Burnaby20
- Fort McMurray10
- Mission10
- Whistler10
38% of the people who work in Hope live outside it, 275 of them in Chilliwack, 47 km away. Of residents who leave for work, most head to Chilliwack (165).
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 Hope work and where people who work there live, the ten largest each way.
Walk, cycle or ride transit: the choice of 11% of Hope’s commuters
Few ride transit: 0.5%, where the middle of Canadian towns has 3.5%. The middle of British Columbia’s towns has 4.6% walking; here, 8.9% do. Driving to work is about as common as in the middle of British Columbia’s towns, at 88%. Home was the workplace for 16%, under the 21% 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).
How residents who commute got to work, 2021 Census; working at home is counted apart.
How long the commute from Hope takes
Timed exactly, the average is 23.6 minutes (Statistics Canada). In the middle of British Columbia’s towns, the average commute is 26.4 minutes. A quarter-hour or less for 57% 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.
Commuting time at the 2021 Census, to work only, for people who travel to a usual workplace or have none fixed.
46% more people are on EI in the Fraser Valley census division than in 2019
Per 100 residents aged 15 to 64, about 4.6 receive EI. Set against the same month a year before, the count in August 2026 rose by 5%. July 2021 was the busiest month, with 14,860 people on EI, 2.4 times 2019’s 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). Hope doesn’t get its own EI beneficiaries figures; the ones here come from the Fraser Valley census division.
Walking in Hope earns A−
Better than 83% of Canadian towns on two measures together, #122 of 254 in British Columbia.
OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL); active commuting from the 2021 Census.
Canadian towns of 5,000 to 9,700, and where Hope sits
| # | Place | People | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Household income | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Labrador City Newfoundland and Labrador | 7,965 | 79% | 5.5% | $146K | A+ |
| 2 | Silverwood Heights Saskatchewan | 8,153 | 81% | 5.8% | $118K | A+ |
| 3 | North River Heights Manitoba | 7,228 | 82% | 8.4% | $143K | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 7 | Smithers British Columbia | 5,627 | 83% | 6% | $85K | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 16 | Electoral Area A, Bulkley-Nechako British Columbia | 5,829 | 82% | 7.4% | $98K | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 21 | Revelstoke British Columbia | 9,464 | 77% | 10% | $97K | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 644 | St. Matthews Manitoba | 5,699 | 61% | 13% | $62K | D |
| 645 | Trent Lakes Ontario | 7,357 | 67% | 9.6% | $84K | D |
| 646 | Hope British Columbia | 7,183 | 65% | 12% | $65K | D |
| 647 | Pleasant Hill Saskatchewan | 6,088 | 51% | 16% | $50K | D |
| 648 | Thistletown-Beaumond Heights Ontario | 9,357 | 63% | 16% | $87K | D |
| … | ||||||
| 711 | Chertsey Quebec | 5,678 | 64% | 8.6% | $58K | D− |
Ordered by Jobs & income Grade: the top three, the places either side of Hope, and others among British Columbia’s towns.
Work in and around Hope
Hope has few close neighbours with figures, so the list reaches 27–44 km out.
| Place | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Household income | Average trip | Jobs | Walk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hope | 65% | 12% | $65K | 24.7 min | D | A− |
| Harrison Hot Springs 27.1 km | 66% | 8.3% | $76K | 29 min | D | A− |
| Kent 29.3 km | 67% | 7.1% | $79K | 26.9 min | C− | A− |
| Rosedale 31.8 km | 74% | 5.9% | $109K | 27.8 min | B | C |
| Electoral Area C, Fraser Valley 41 km | 67% | 5.4% | $71K | 42.9 min | D− | D− |
| Electoral Area E, Fraser Valley 44.1 km | 68% | 6.9% | $73K | 31.8 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 Hope, where it comes from, and what it leaves out.
- 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. 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. A census-day figure: people without a job who were looking, divided by all those working or looking, ages 15 and up.
- 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. 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. Built from the census table that pairs each worker’s home municipality with their workplace municipality. A job here means someone who usually works in the municipality, local or not.
- 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.
- 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.
Questions about work in Hope
How do people in Hope get to work?
88% of commuters drive, 0.5% take public transit, 8.9% walk and 1.2% cycle; 16% of everyone in work worked at home on census day.
How long is the commute from Hope?
The average commute is 24.7 minutes; 57% of trips take under 15 minutes and 15% an hour or more.
Where do people in Hope work?
70% work in Hope itself; of those who leave, the most go to Chilliwack (165), then Kent (60).
How many jobs are there in Hope?
The 2021 census found about 1,760 people with their usual workplace in Hope, or 1.1 for each resident who travels to a fixed job. Statistics Canada counted 222 businesses with employees in June 2026.
What is the unemployment rate in Hope?
The census put unemployment at 12% in May 2021, where the middle of Canadian towns was 9.9%. More recently, in October 2026, the Labour Force Survey had the Lower Mainland-Southwest economic region at 6.9%.
What is the average household income in Hope?
At $64,900 before tax in 2020, the median household in Hope compares with $85,900 in the middle of Canadian towns.
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).