Photo: Ferdilouw · CC BY-SA 4.0Keremeos’ household incomes are lower than in 97% of Canadian towns
435 people have their usual place of work in Keremeos, against 320 residents who travel to a job. In Keremeos, 64% of residents aged 15 to 64 were working in May 2021; the middle of Canadian towns is 73%. Out of work in May 2021: 10% of Keremeos’ labour force, and the middle of Canadian towns sits at 9.9%.
Work in Keremeos, in a few figures
Fewer people in work than most towns
The 2021 census found 64% of 15-to-64s with a job (73% in the middle of Canadian towns). Count every adult, retirees too, and the figure is 36%. In work ↓
Lower incomes than most towns
Household income at the median was $53,300 in 2020, before tax; Canadian towns have $85,900 at the middle. Household income ↓
A local job centre
435 people work in Keremeos and 320 residents commute to a fixed workplace; the middle of Canadian towns has 0.8 jobs per working resident. 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.
Keremeos earns D for jobs and income
Better than 5% of Canadian towns on three measures together.
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.
In and out of work in Keremeos
None of the 7 other places of 2,500 people or more in the Okanagan-Similkameen census division has a smaller share of 15-to-64s in work.
Counting those looking for work too, 40% of people aged 15 and over were in the labour force. Take in all adults, retirees with them, and only 36% were working. A more recent figure, for the wider area: 56% in work in October 2026, by the Labour Force Survey. 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.
Before tax, the median household in Keremeos had $53,300
Every other place of 2,500 or more in the Okanagan-Similkameen census division has a higher median. That puts Keremeos 39% below the median of British Columbia’s towns, $86,900. 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).
Keremeos fills up on a working day: 31% more workers
Inbound commuters outnumber outbound ones about 2 to 1 in Keremeos. The job is inside the municipality for 44% of its commuters (70% in the middle of Canadian towns).
People with no fixed workplace are in neither count.
294 people come into Keremeos to work, most from Electoral Area G, Okanagan-Similkameen and Electoral Area B, Okanagan-Similkameen
Of everyone working in Keremeos, 68% come in from elsewhere; 115 make the 11 km trip from Electoral Area G, Okanagan-Similkameen. Electoral Area B, Okanagan-Similkameen is where the largest group of commuters out goes, 55 of them.
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 Keremeos work and where people who work there live, the ten largest each way.
Leaving the car at home: 9.3% of commuters in Keremeos
87% drive to work, about the same as in the middle of British Columbia’s towns. Only 9.5% worked at home on census day, against 21% in the middle of Canadian towns. Transit barely figures here, against 3.5% 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.
25.6 minutes from Keremeos to work, about the middle of Canadian towns
Trips under 15 minutes: 51%, more than the 39% in the middle of British Columbia’s towns. An hour or more: 7% of commuters, close to the middle of British Columbia’s towns. Statistics Canada’s own average, timed exactly rather than by band, is 22.8 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.
Commuting time at the 2021 Census, to work only, for people who travel to a usual workplace or have none fixed.
27% more people are on EI in the Okanagan-Similkameen census division than in 2019
February 2021 was the busiest month, with 5,270 people on EI, 2.6 times 2019’s average. That is about 4.5 people on EI for every 100 aged 15 to 64 in the division. Over the year to August 2026, the count rose by 15%.
Statistics Canada, Employment Insurance beneficiaries by census division (14-10-0323): all income benefits, not seasonally adjusted. EI beneficiaries published for the Okanagan-Similkameen census division, not by town. EI counts are context, not part of any grade.
People receiving Employment Insurance each month, as a share of the 2019 average (100).
Keremeos on foot: a A grade
Better than 93% of Canadian towns on two measures together.
OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL); active commuting from the 2021 Census.
How Keremeos compares with the places nearby
| Place | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Household income | Average trip | Jobs | Walk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Keremeos | 64% | 10% | $53K | 25.6 min | D | A |
| Electoral Area B, Okanagan-Similkameen 8.3 km | 84% | 7.2% | $64K | 24 min | B | A− |
| Electoral Area G, Okanagan-Similkameen 10.6 km | 63% | 15% | $52K | 28.8 min | D− | B− |
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 Keremeos, where it comes from, and what it leaves out.
- 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. A monthly household survey by Statistics Canada, reported for metro areas and economic regions only. It supplies a recent rate next to the 2021 census figure.
- In work. Everyone with a job, whatever their age, divided by the residents aged 15 to 64 at the 2021 Census: below the municipality the census doesn’t split work by age, and this is the one rate every town and neighbourhood can be given.
- Unemployment. The share of people 15 and over in the labour force, working or looking for work, who had no job on census day in May 2021.
- Household income. The 2020 income of the household at the midpoint, all sources and before tax. Inside a city we rebuild it from the dissemination areas’ income bands, so there it is an estimate.
- 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.
- Which towns we compare. The comparison pool is places of 2,500 people or more, towns or neighbourhoods inside cities, without whole cities or reserves, and we compare with its median.
Questions about work in Keremeos
What is the unemployment rate in Keremeos?
At the 2021 census 10% of the labour force had no job and was looking (9.9% in the middle of Canadian towns). The latest monthly survey, for the Thompson-Okanagan economic region, gives 6.6% in October 2026.
What is the average household income in Keremeos?
Keremeos’s middle household had $53,300 in 2020, before tax; Canadian towns have $85,900 at their middle.
How do people in Keremeos get to work?
Driving takes 87% of commuters to work, 9.3% walk, and on census day 9.5% of those in work were at home.
How long is the commute from Keremeos?
About 25.6 minutes on average, with 51% under a quarter-hour and 7% at an hour or longer.
Where do people in Keremeos work?
Only 44% work in Keremeos itself; the rest go first to Electoral Area B, Okanagan-Similkameen (55) and Penticton (55).
How many jobs are there in Keremeos?
Some 435 people worked in Keremeos at the 2021 census: 1.4 jobs per working resident with a fixed workplace. In June 2026, 78 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).