Photo: Earth Science and Remote Sensing Unit , Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center · Public domainKamloops 1 draws workers in: 2.6 jobs for every resident in work
Half the households in Kamloops 1 had more than $89,600 in 2020, before tax; the middle of Canadian towns is $85,900. Workers in Kamloops 1 spend 20.1 minutes on the way to work on average, and 5.6% need an hour or more. The 2021 census found 71% of working-age people in Kamloops 1 employed; the middle of Canadian towns is 73%.
Kamloops 1 and work: the main findings
Work near the middle
71% of people aged 15 to 64 had a job at the 2021 census, against 73% in the middle of Canadian towns; counting everyone 15 and over, retirees included, it was 50%. In work ↓
Shorter trips than most towns
Commutes take 20.1 minutes on average, against 26 in the middle of Canadian towns; 5.6% take an hour or more. 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.
Kamloops 1 earns B+ for jobs and income
Better than 68% of Canadian towns on three measures together.
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.
On a working day, 3,040 people work in Kamloops 1, 2.2 times its working residents
About 3 people arrive to work in Kamloops 1 for each resident who goes out. Of those who commute, 25% stay within the municipality; the middle of Canadian towns is 70%.
People with no fixed workplace are in neither count.
The length of the trip to work in Kamloops 1
Trips under 15 minutes: 51%, more than the 39% in the middle of British Columbia’s towns. Timed exactly, the average is 19.3 minutes (Statistics Canada). The middle of British Columbia’s towns averages 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.
2,454 people come into Kamloops 1 to work, most from Kamloops and Electoral Area P (Rivers and the Peaks), Thompson-Nicola
Of everyone working in Kamloops 1, 90% come in from elsewhere; 2,080 make the 5 km trip from Kamloops. Going the other way, Kamloops is the biggest single destination (675).
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census (98-10-0459): commuting flows between municipalities (census subdivisions), rounded to 5; linked names have their own pages.
In Kamloops 1, 71% of people aged 15 to 64 have a job
Of the 6 other places of 2,500 people or more in the Thompson-Nicola census division, 3 have a smaller share of 15-to-64s in work.
By October 2026, the Labour Force Survey had 61% of the wider area’s adults in work. 55% of residents aged 15 and over were in the labour force, in work or seeking it. Counting retirees, 50% of everyone aged 15 and over was working. Pandemic rules were in force on census day, 11 May 2021; the Labour Force Survey shows how jobs have moved since.
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 Kamloops 1 earn
Before tax, 2020: higher than in 74% of Canadian towns.
One of the 6 other places of 2,500+ in the Thompson-Nicola census division has a higher median. That puts Kamloops 1 3% above the median of British Columbia’s towns, $86,900. That year, 2020, brought emergency benefits that count in these totals, before tax.
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census: median total income of households in 2020, before tax (a neighbourhood’s estimated from its dissemination areas’ income groups).
Without a car, 3.3% of Kamloops 1’s commuters get to work
Only 19% worked at home on census day, against 21% in the middle of Canadian towns. Few ride transit: 0.7%, where the middle of Canadian towns has 3.5%. Nearly everyone drives: 92% 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).
In the Thompson-Nicola census division, 14% more people receive EI than in 2019
Over the year to August 2026, the count rose by 2%. The count topped out in February 2021 at 7,510 people, 2.4 times the 2019 average. For each 100 residents of working age in the division, about 3.9 are on EI.
Statistics Canada, Employment Insurance beneficiaries by census division (14-10-0323): all income benefits, not seasonally adjusted. Data for EI beneficiaries covers the Thompson-Nicola census division. EI counts are context, not part of any grade.
People receiving Employment Insurance each month, as a share of the 2019 average (100).
The walkability of Kamloops 1: C
Better than 34% of Canadian towns on two measures together.
OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL); active commuting from the 2021 Census.
Kamloops 1 and its neighbours: work and income
Distances here run 5–26 km: that is how far the nearest places with figures are from Kamloops 1.
| Place | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Household income | Average trip | Jobs | Walk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kamloops 1 | 71% | 7.9% | $90K | 20.1 min | B+ | C |
| Kamloops 4.6 km | 75% | 7.4% | $88K | 20.2 min | A− | A |
| Electoral Area P (Rivers and the Peaks), Thompson-Nicola 19.7 km | 75% | 7.7% | $94K | 33.2 min | C+ | D |
| Electoral Area J (Copper Desert Country), Thompson-Nicola 26 km | 77% | 7.4% | $95K | 27.4 min | B | C− |
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 Kamloops 1, where it comes from, and what it leaves out.
- 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. One way, on a usual day, from the census’s travel-time bands. Band midpoints overstate it a little next to the figure Statistics Canada times.
- Where people commute. Statistics Canada’s place-of-work table counts people with a usual place of work by the municipality they live in and the one they work in. Jobs here are people whose usual workplace is in the municipality, wherever they live.
- Employment Insurance. Monthly EI recipients across the census division: a pulse of the local job market rather than a measure of who is out of work.
- 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. People in work of any age over residents aged 15 to 64 (2021 Census). The census doesn’t cross work with age below the municipality, so this is the one rate every town and neighbourhood has; retirees don’t weigh on it.
- Unemployment. A census-day figure: people without a job who were looking, divided by all those working or looking, ages 15 and up.
- Which towns we compare. Comparisons are with the median of Canadian towns and city neighbourhoods counting 2,500 people or more, reserves and entire cities excluded.
- A First Nations reserve. Kamloops 1’s figures are its own, though Statistics Canada rounds or suppresses some for small communities. A reserve has no overall grade and sits in no ranked list.
Questions about work in Kamloops 1
How many jobs are there in Kamloops 1?
About 2,720 people had their usual place of work in Kamloops 1 at the 2021 census, 2.6 for each working resident with a fixed workplace. In June 2026, 273 businesses with employees were on Statistics Canada’s count.
What is the unemployment rate in Kamloops 1?
The 2021 census found 7.9% unemployed, against 9.9% in the middle of Canadian towns; the Labour Force Survey’s latest, for the Kamloops metro area, is 4.4% (October 2026).
What is the average household income in Kamloops 1?
Kamloops 1’s middle household had $89,600 in 2020, before tax; Canadian towns have $85,900 at their middle.
How do people in Kamloops 1 get to work?
92% of commuters go by car, 0.7% take public transit, 1.9% walk and 0.7% cycle. On census day 19% of everyone in work stayed home to work.
How long is the commute from Kamloops 1?
On average 20.1 minutes; 51% take under 15 minutes and 5.6% take an hour or longer.
Where do people in Kamloops 1 work?
Only 25% work in Kamloops 1 itself; the rest go first to Kamloops (675) and Electoral Area J (Copper Desert Country), Thompson-Nicola (20).
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).