Photo: rpaterso · CC BY-SA 2.0Households in Oak Bay earn more than those in 92% of Canadian towns
Oak Bay is the usual workplace of 2,650 people, and 3,970 of its own residents commute to a job. On census day, 38% of workers here were at home, next to 21% in the middle of Canadian towns. 80% of people aged 15 to 64 in Oak Bay had a job at the 2021 census; the middle of Canadian towns is 73%.
Work in Oak Bay: the figures worth knowing
More people in work than most towns
At the 2021 census 80% of the 15-to-64s were in work (73% in the middle of Canadian towns); across all ages 15 and over, 50%. In work ↓
Less unemployment than most towns
The Labour Force Survey had the area at 4.8% in October 2026; on census day in 2021 the town’s own rate was 7%, where the middle of Canadian towns had 9.9%. Unemployment ↓
Higher incomes than most towns
Household income at the median was $108,300 in 2020, before tax; Canadian towns have $85,900 at the middle. Household income ↓
Shorter trips than most towns
The average trip to work is 20.9 minutes (26 in the middle of Canadian towns), and 2.8% last an hour or longer. The trip to work ↓
Many work from home
38% of workers worked at home on census day, against 21% in the middle of Canadian towns. Getting 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 and income in Oak Bay earn A+
Better than 97% of Canadian towns on three measures together, #7 of 254 in British Columbia.
Its strongest measure is household income; its weakest, trip times.
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 Oak Bay
Of the 15 other places of 2,500 people or more in the Capital census division, 7 have a smaller share of 15-to-64s in work.
Across all ages 15 and over the share in work falls to 50%: many residents are past working age. In October 2026, 61% of the wider area’s adults had a job, on the Labour Force Survey’s count. Participation, the share of residents 15 and over working or looking for work, came to 53%. These are census figures from May 2021, during COVID’s third wave; jobs have recovered since, which the Labour Force Survey shows.
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.
Oak Bay households: $108,300 a year at the median
2 of the 15 other places of 2,500+ in the Capital census division have a higher median. Oak Bay’s median is 25% above 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).
20.9 minutes from Oak Bay to work, under the middle of Canadian towns
Trips under 15 minutes: 39%, close to the middle of British Columbia’s towns. Long trips are rarer than in the middle of British Columbia’s towns: 2.8% take an hour or more, against 6.3%. Statistics Canada’s own average, timed exactly rather than by band, is 18.8 minutes. In the middle of British Columbia’s towns, the average commute is 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.
27% of commuters from Oak Bay go without a car
By bus, train or subway: 5.7%, against 3.5% in the middle of Canadian towns. More people cycle to work here than in the middle of British Columbia’s towns: 11% against 0.9%. The car takes 70% of commuters here, under the 87% in the middle of British Columbia’s towns.
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census: main mode of commuting; average durations by mode from table 98-10-0458 (whole municipalities only).
Oak Bay empties a little on a working day
About 2 residents leave for work for each person who comes in. Of those who commute, 18% stay within the municipality; the middle of Canadian towns is 70%.
People with no fixed workplace are in neither count.
82% of Oak Bay’s residents in work leave it to work; Victoria takes the most
- Victoria825
- Saanich655
- Langford105
- Central Saanich80
- Esquimalt60
- View Royal50
- Colwood35
- North Saanich30
- Sooke25
- Sidney15
- Victoria1,960
- Saanich715
- Esquimalt120
- View Royal110
- Central Saanich70
- Langford70
- North Saanich60
- Sidney50
- Colwood40
- Surrey15
Victoria sends the largest group the other way, 825 people.
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census (98-10-0459): commuting flows between municipalities (census subdivisions), rounded to 5; linked names have their own pages.
EI claims in the Capital census division run 44% above their 2019 level
In the twelve months to August 2026 the number rose by 7%. The highest month was January 2021: 15,570 people, 3 times the 2019 level. Roughly 3.2 in every 100 people aged 15 to 64 in the division draw EI.
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 Capital census division as a whole, not for Oak Bay alone.
The walkability of Oak Bay: A+
Better than 98% of Canadian towns on two measures together, #59 of 254 in British Columbia.
OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL); active commuting from the 2021 Census.
How Oak Bay ranks: 10th of 499 Canadian towns of 13,000 to 25,100
| # | Place | People | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Household income | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Yellowknife Northwest Territories | 22,858 | 80% | 5.8% | $148K | A+ |
| 2 | Sillery Quebec | 13,950 | 81% | 6.2% | $120K | A+ |
| 3 | Central Saanich British Columbia | 18,184 | 85% | 4.9% | $103K | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 8 | Stonebridge Saskatchewan | 15,230 | 80% | 7% | $101K | A+ |
| 9 | Saint-Augustin-de-Desmaures Quebec | 20,864 | 82% | 5.3% | $111K | A+ |
| 10 | Oak Bay British Columbia | 18,626 | 80% | 7% | $108K | A+ |
| 11 | Canmore Alberta | 17,341 | 79% | 9.7% | $107K | A+ |
| 12 | Saint-Michel Quebec | 17,303 | 83% | 4.7% | $98K | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 18 | Fort St. John British Columbia | 24,383 | 76% | 8.9% | $102K | A+ |
| 19 | Terrace British Columbia | 13,648 | 77% | 6.5% | $91K | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 499 | Oakridge Ontario | 13,913 | 51% | 21% | $60K | D− |
Ordered by Jobs & income Grade: the top three, the places either side of Oak Bay, and others among British Columbia’s towns.
Neighbouring places to Oak Bay, compared
| Place | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Household income | Average trip | Jobs | Walk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oak Bay | 80% | 7% | $108K | 20.9 min | A+ | A+ |
| Victoria 3.2 km | 79% | 8.1% | $68K | 21.2 min | B | A+ |
| Saanich 6.3 km | 77% | 6.8% | $93K | 21.3 min | A | A+ |
| Esquimalt 7 km | 78% | 7.9% | $76K | 21.7 min | B+ | A+ |
| New Songhees 1A 8.5 km | 67% | 16% | $59K | 23.4 min | D | A+ |
| View Royal 10.4 km | 78% | 5.6% | $97K | 22.1 min | A | A |
| Colwood 13.2 km | 80% | 5.1% | $102K | 24.9 min | A | A |
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 Oak Bay, where it comes from, and what it leaves out.
- Trip times. Our average assumes everyone in, say, the 15-to-29-minute band takes 22 minutes. Across all the bands that runs a shade above Statistics Canada’s measured average.
- Where people commute. Only people with a usual place of work are in it: those who work from home or have no fixed site are not. Home and work are both counted by municipality.
- 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.
- 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. A census-day figure: people without a job who were looking, divided by all those working or looking, ages 15 and up.
- 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. Any town of 2,500 or more counts, and so does any city neighbourhood that size; the city as a whole and First Nations reserves don’t. The middle is the median.
Questions about work in Oak Bay
Where do people in Oak Bay work?
18% work in Oak Bay itself. Of those who leave, the most go to Victoria (1,960), then Saanich (715).
How many jobs are there in Oak Bay?
The 2021 census counted about 2,650 people working in Oak Bay: 0.7 jobs for every resident who commutes to a fixed workplace. In June 2026, 753 businesses with employees were on Statistics Canada’s count.
What is the unemployment rate in Oak Bay?
In October 2026 the Labour Force Survey put the Victoria metro area at 4.8%; the 2021 census, which counts the town itself, found 7%, against 9.9% in the middle of Canadian towns.
What is the average household income in Oak Bay?
The census puts Oak Bay at $108,300 for 2020, before tax and at the median, against $85,900 in the middle of Canadian towns.
How do people in Oak Bay get to work?
By car: 70% of commuters, 5.7% take public transit, 9.7% walk and 11% cycle; on census day 38% of those in work worked from home.
How long is the commute from Oak Bay?
20.9 minutes is the average trip, with 39% of commuters there in under 15 minutes and 2.8% taking an hour or more.
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).