Photo: Earth Science and Remote Sensing Unit , Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center · Public domainOsoyoos 1 ranks among the Canadian towns where the fewest working-age people have jobs
135 people have their usual place of work in Osoyoos 1, against 225 residents who travel to a job. Half the households in Osoyoos 1 had more than $73,600 in 2020, before tax; the middle of Canadian towns is $85,900. Joblessness at the 2021 census: 11% of Osoyoos 1’s labour force, next to 9.9% for the middle of Canadian towns.
Osoyoos 1 at work: what stands out
Fewer people in work than most towns
With 42% of its 15-to-64s in work in 2021, against 73% in the middle of Canadian towns, it has 30% of all adults employed. In work ↓
Shorter trips than most towns
Commutes take 20.1 minutes on average, against 26 in the middle of Canadian towns; 7% 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.
Jobs and income in Osoyoos 1 earn C
Better than 28% 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.
Osoyoos 1 at work: 42% of people aged 15 to 64
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.
For the wider area, the Labour Force Survey had 56% in work in October 2026. Counting those looking for work too, 34% of people aged 15 and over were in the labour force. Many residents are past working age, so among everyone 15 and over the share in work drops to 30%. May 2021, when the census was taken, was a pandemic spring; unemployment has come down since, as the Labour Force Survey records.
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.
Osoyoos 1 has a quicker trip to work than the middle of Canadian towns: 20.1 minutes
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 18.1 minutes. The middle of British Columbia’s towns averages 26.4 minutes. A quarter-hour or less for 53% 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.
More workers leave Osoyoos 1 each day than arrive
For every person who comes in to work, about 2 residents travel out. The job is inside the municipality for 17% of its commuters (70% in the middle of Canadian towns).
People with no fixed workplace are in neither count.
83% of Osoyoos 1’s residents in work leave it to work; Oliver takes the most
Coming the other way, Osoyoos sends the most (25).
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census (98-10-0459): commuting flows between municipalities (census subdivisions), rounded to 5; linked names have their own pages.
Earnings at home in Osoyoos 1: households
Before tax, 2020: lower than in 57% of Canadian towns.
Set beside British Columbia’s towns, where the median is $86,900, Osoyoos 1 sits 15% below. 2 of the 7 other places of 2,500+ in the Okanagan-Similkameen census division have 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).
Walking, cycling or transit: 5.3% of Osoyoos 1’s commuters
Transit barely figures here, against 3.5% in the middle of Canadian towns. 90% drive to work, more than the 87% in the middle of British Columbia’s towns. Home was the workplace for 15%, 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).
27% more people are on EI in the Okanagan-Similkameen census division than in 2019
Compared with a year earlier, the count in August 2026 rose by 15%. The count topped out in February 2021 at 5,270 people, 2.6 times the 2019 average. Roughly 4.5 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 beneficiaries: one figure for all of the Okanagan-Similkameen 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).
Walking in Osoyoos 1 earns C+
Better than 45% of Canadian towns on two measures together.
OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL); active commuting from the 2021 Census.
Osoyoos 1 and its neighbours: work and income
| Place | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Household income | Average trip | Jobs | Walk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Osoyoos 1 | 42% | 11% | $74K | 20.1 min | C | C+ |
| Oliver 4.4 km | 78% | 8.4% | $69K | 16.8 min | B+ | A |
| Electoral Area C, Okanagan-Similkameen 6.2 km | 74% | 7.5% | $68K | 21.5 min | C+ | B |
| Osoyoos 16.3 km | 74% | 12% | $66K | 17.4 min | B− | A |
| Electoral Area B, Okanagan-Similkameen 17.3 km | 84% | 7.2% | $64K | 24 min | B | A− |
| Electoral Area A, Okanagan-Similkameen 18 km | 76% | 8.4% | $81K | 16.4 min | A− | 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 Osoyoos 1, 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. Statistics Canada counts EI beneficiaries each month by census division. Seasonal work makes it swing, so read it as a trend, not a jobless rate.
- The Labour Force Survey. Sampled each month and released for regions rather than towns, so its rate describes the area around the town.
- In work. Working residents per resident of working age (15 to 64), from the 2021 Census.
- Unemployment. Unemployed people over the labour force (in work or looking), aged 15 and over, on census day.
- Household income. The census median total income of households in 2020, before tax; a neighbourhood’s is estimated from its dissemination areas’ income groups.
- Trip times. Commuters picked a band for their usual trip (under 15 minutes, 15 to 29, and so on). We place each person at the middle of their band, which lands a little above Statistics Canada’s own timed average.
- Which towns we compare. Towns and city neighbourhoods of 2,500 people or more, never a whole city and never a First Nations reserve. Middles are medians.
- A First Nations reserve. Osoyoos 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 Osoyoos 1
How do people in Osoyoos 1 get to work?
By car: 90% of commuters, 5.3% walk; on census day 15% of those in work worked from home.
How long is the commute from Osoyoos 1?
20.1 minutes is the average trip, with 53% of commuters there in under 15 minutes and 7% taking an hour or more.
Where do people in Osoyoos 1 work?
Only 17% work in Osoyoos 1 itself; the rest go first to Oliver (70) and Osoyoos (55).
How many jobs are there in Osoyoos 1?
The 2021 census counted about 135 people working in Osoyoos 1: 0.6 jobs for every resident who commutes to a fixed workplace. In June 2026, 27 businesses with employees were on Statistics Canada’s count.
What is the unemployment rate in Osoyoos 1?
Two figures answer it: 11% on census day in May 2021 (9.9% in the middle of Canadian towns), and 6.6% for the Thompson-Okanagan economic region in the Labour Force Survey of October 2026.
What is the average household income in Osoyoos 1?
The census puts Osoyoos 1 at $73,600 for 2020, before tax and at the median, against $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).