Photo: Sam Beebe · CC BY 2.0Households in Kitimat have higher incomes than those in 89% of Canadian towns
When the 2021 census was taken, 9.4% of people in Kitimat who wanted a job had none, and the middle of Canadian towns sits at 9.9%. Workers in Kitimat spend 15.1 minutes on the way to work on average, and 1.7% need an hour or more. Of Kitimat’s residents aged 15 to 64, 71% were employed when the 2021 census was taken; the middle of Canadian towns is 73%.
The work numbers behind Kitimat
Higher incomes than most towns
The middle of Canadian towns is $85,900, and the median household here had $104,200 before tax in 2020. Household income ↓
A local job centre
With 4,305 jobs based in Kitimat and 3,075 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 15.1 minutes (26 in the middle of Canadian towns), and 1.7% 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.
Jobs & income in Kitimat: graded A
Better than 90% of Canadian towns on three measures together, #25 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.
$104,200 a year: the median household in Kitimat
The middle of British Columbia’s towns is $86,900, and Kitimat is 20% above it. No other place of 2,500 or more in the Kitimat-Stikine census division has a higher median. The year is 2020: emergency benefits like CERB count in these incomes, and they raised the bottom of the range.
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census: median total income of households in 2020, before tax (a neighbourhood’s estimated from its dissemination areas’ income groups).
Each working day, Kitimat’s workforce swells by 37%
For every resident who leaves Kitimat for work, about 8 people come in. 95% 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.
Time on the road to work from Kitimat
Trips under 15 minutes: 62%, more than the 39% in the middle of British Columbia’s towns. Timed exactly, the average is 13 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.
1,396 people come into Kitimat to work, most from Edmonton and Terrace
- Edmonton245
- Terrace220
- Calgary180
- Electoral Area C (Part 1), Kitimat-Stikine135
- Electoral Area E, Kitimat-Stikine100
- Kelowna45
- Surrey35
- Kitamaat 235
- Airdrie20
- Maple Ridge20
- Terrace55
- Kitamaat 225
- Halifax10
- Prince Rupert10
- Electoral Area E, Kitimat-Stikine10
32% of the people who work in Kitimat live outside it, 245 of them in Edmonton, 994 km away. The main destination the other way is Terrace, with 55.
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census (98-10-0459): commuting flows between municipalities (census subdivisions), rounded to 5; linked names have their own pages.
How many in Kitimat have a job: 71% of 15-to-64s
None of the 3 other places of 2,500 people or more in the Kitimat-Stikine census division has a smaller share of 15-to-64s in work.
The labour force, people 15 and over with a job or seeking one, took in 62% of residents that age. Take in all adults, retirees with them, and only 56% were 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.
Kitimat gets to work without a car for 6.1% of commuters
Few ride transit: 2%, where the middle of Canadian towns has 3.5%. Nearly everyone drives: 93% of commuters go by car, truck or van. Only 7.2% worked at home on census day, against 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).
14% more people are on EI in the Kitimat-Stikine census division than in 2019
The count topped out in February 2021 at 2,560 people, 2.3 times the 2019 average. Per 100 residents aged 15 to 64, about 5.1 receive EI. Over the year to August 2026, the count fell by 1%.
Statistics Canada, Employment Insurance beneficiaries by census division (14-10-0323): all income benefits, not seasonally adjusted. EI beneficiaries published for the Kitimat-Stikine 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).
Kitimat on foot: a B+ grade
Better than 67% of Canadian towns on two measures together, #163 of 254 in British Columbia.
OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL); active commuting from the 2021 Census.
Kitimat next to Canadian towns of 7,000 to 13,500: 67th of 657 on jobs and income
| # | 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+ |
| 4 | North Saanich British Columbia | 12,986 | 85% | 5.9% | $121K | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 19 | Revelstoke British Columbia | 9,464 | 77% | 10% | $97K | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 27 | Saltspring Island British Columbia | 12,429 | 84% | 5.5% | $77K | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 65 | Riverbend Alberta | 9,193 | 75% | 12% | $120K | A |
| 66 | Rhatigan Ridge Alberta | 7,066 | 77% | 9.7% | $161K | A |
| 67 | Kitimat British Columbia | 10,019 | 71% | 9.4% | $104K | A |
| 68 | North Dumfries Ontario | 13,051 | 81% | 7.4% | $127K | A |
| 69 | Kincardine Ontario | 13,169 | 75% | 8.3% | $102K | A |
| … | ||||||
| 657 | René-Goupil Quebec | 11,663 | 58% | 15% | $54K | D− |
Ordered by Jobs & income Grade: the top three, the places either side of Kitimat, and others among British Columbia’s towns.
Work in and around Kitimat
The nearest places to Kitimat with figures are 50–56 km away.
| Place | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Household income | Average trip | Jobs | Walk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kitimat | 71% | 9.4% | $104K | 15.1 min | A | B+ |
| Electoral Area E, Kitimat-Stikine 50.5 km | 73% | 11% | $86K | 18.1 min | A− | C |
| Terrace 51 km | 77% | 6.5% | $91K | 15.9 min | A+ | A− |
| Electoral Area C (Part 1), Kitimat-Stikine 55.6 km | 83% | 8% | $97K | 25.9 min | A | 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 Kitimat, 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. 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.
- 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. 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 Kitimat
How long is the commute from Kitimat?
On average 15.1 minutes; 62% take under 15 minutes and 1.7% take an hour or longer.
Where do people in Kitimat work?
95% work in Kitimat itself; of those who leave, the most go to Terrace (55), then Kitamaat 2 (25).
How many jobs are there in Kitimat?
About 4,305 people had their usual place of work in Kitimat at the 2021 census, 1.4 for each working resident with a fixed workplace. Statistics Canada counted 247 businesses with employees in June 2026.
What is the unemployment rate in Kitimat?
About 9.4%, by the census of May 2021, against 9.9% in the middle of Canadian towns.
What is the average household income in Kitimat?
The census puts Kitimat at $104,200 for 2020, before tax and at the median, against $85,900 in the middle of Canadian towns.
How do people in Kitimat get to work?
93% of commuters go by car, 2% take public transit, 3.1% walk and 1% cycle. On census day 7.2% of everyone in work stayed home to work.
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, 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).