Photo: Ken Walker · CC BY-SA 2.5Jobs and earnings in Qualicum Beach, and the trip to work
The median household in Qualicum Beach had $76,200 before tax in 2020, against $85,900 in the middle of Canadian towns. In May 2021, unemployment in Qualicum Beach reached 7.7%, and the middle of Canadian towns sits at 9.9%. Workers in Qualicum Beach spend 22 minutes on the way to work on average, and 3.6% need an hour or more.
The work figures that set Qualicum Beach apart
A local job centre
With 1,780 jobs based in Qualicum Beach and 1,515 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 22 minutes (26 in the middle of Canadian towns), and 3.6% 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 and income in Qualicum Beach earn B
Better than 59% of Canadian towns on three measures together, #106 of 254 in British Columbia.
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.
Each working day, Qualicum Beach’s workforce swells by 12%
1,515 residents of Qualicum Beach had a usual place of work at the 2021 census, and 1,780 people had theirs in Qualicum Beach, wherever they lived.
Of those who commute, 39% stay within the municipality; the middle of Canadian towns is 70%.
People with no fixed workplace are in neither count.
Shorter than the middle of Canadian towns: commutes from Qualicum Beach average 22 minutes
Trips under 15 minutes: 44%, more than the 39% in the middle of British Columbia’s towns. Statistics Canada’s own average, timed exactly rather than by band, is 20.4 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.
Commuting time at the 2021 Census, to work only, for people who travel to a usual workplace or have none fixed.
1,192 people come into Qualicum Beach to work, most from Parksville and Electoral Area F, Nanaimo
67% of the people who work in Qualicum Beach live outside it, 285 of them in Parksville, 9 km away. Outbound, Parksville takes the most: 345 people.
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 Qualicum Beach work and where people who work there live, the ten largest each way.
In Qualicum Beach, 76% of the working-age population has a job
Of the 10 other places of 2,500 people or more in the Nanaimo census division, 9 have a smaller share of 15-to-64s in work.
The monthly Labour Force Survey, which covers the wider area, put its employment rate at 56% in October 2026. 35% of residents aged 15 and over were in the labour force, in work or seeking it. An older population pulls the all-ages rate down: 32% of residents 15 and over were in work. The census caught the labour market on 11 May 2021, deep in the pandemic, so unemployment and working from home both ran above normal.
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 Qualicum Beach earn
Before tax, 2020: lower than in 52% of Canadian towns.
5 of the 10 other places of 2,500+ in the Nanaimo census division have a higher median. That puts Qualicum Beach 12% below the median of British Columbia’s towns, $86,900. These are 2020 incomes, before tax, and they include pandemic benefits such as CERB, which lifted many lower incomes 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).
Without a car, 9.1% of Qualicum Beach’s commuters get to work
By car, truck or van: 86% of commuters, much as in the middle of British Columbia’s towns. Working at home: 25% here, 21% in the middle of Canadian towns. Transit takes 1.3% of commuters, against 3.5% in the middle of Canadian towns. The middle of British Columbia’s towns has 4.6% walking; here, 7% do.
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% more people are on EI in the Nanaimo census division than in 2019
For each 100 residents of working age in the division, about 3.7 are on EI. Set against the same month a year before, the count in August 2026 fell by 1%. At its peak, in January 2021, 7,290 people were on EI, 2.7 times the 2019 average.
Statistics Canada, Employment Insurance beneficiaries by census division (14-10-0323): all income benefits, not seasonally adjusted. Area behind the EI beneficiaries figures: the Nanaimo 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 Qualicum Beach earns A−
Better than 76% of Canadian towns on two measures together, #145 of 254 in British Columbia.
OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL); active commuting from the 2021 Census.
For jobs and income, Qualicum Beach is 274th of 652 Canadian towns of 6,700 to 13,000
| # | 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+ |
| … | ||||||
| 17 | Revelstoke British Columbia | 9,464 | 77% | 10% | $97K | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 25 | Saltspring Island British Columbia | 12,429 | 84% | 5.5% | $77K | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 272 | Silver Berry Alberta | 9,439 | 74% | 12% | $108K | B |
| 273 | Montmagny Quebec | 11,326 | 79% | 6.5% | $56K | B |
| 274 | Qualicum Beach British Columbia | 9,640 | 76% | 7.7% | $76K | B |
| 275 | Provinceton British Columbia | 11,625 | 75% | 6.8% | $128K | B |
| 276 | Rocky Mountain House Alberta | 8,144 | 68% | 15% | $82K | B |
| … | ||||||
| 652 | René-Goupil Quebec | 11,663 | 58% | 15% | $54K | D− |
Ordered by Jobs & income Grade: the top three, the places either side of Qualicum Beach, and others among British Columbia’s towns.
Work in and around Qualicum Beach
| Place | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Household income | Average trip | Jobs | Walk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Qualicum Beach | 76% | 7.7% | $76K | 22 min | B | A− |
| Electoral Area G, Nanaimo 5.2 km | 72% | 9.5% | $85K | 23.7 min | B− | B− |
| Electoral Area F, Nanaimo 6.8 km | 72% | 9% | $69K | 24.3 min | C | C |
| Parksville 8.6 km | 75% | 6.7% | $67K | 20 min | B− | A |
| Electoral Area H, Nanaimo 18.6 km | 65% | 13% | $69K | 28.1 min | D | 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 Qualicum Beach, where it comes from, and what it leaves out.
- 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. Built from the census table that pairs each worker’s home municipality with their workplace municipality. A job here means someone who usually works in the municipality, local or not.
- Employment Insurance. How many people in the census division drew Employment Insurance each month; it moves with layoffs and hiring, yet people who don’t qualify are absent from it.
- 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. Working residents per resident of working age (15 to 64), from the 2021 Census.
- 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. 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.
- 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 Qualicum Beach
What is the average household income in Qualicum Beach?
Before tax, half the households in Qualicum Beach had more than $76,200 in 2020; the middle of Canadian towns is $85,900.
How do people in Qualicum Beach get to work?
Driving takes 86% of commuters to work, 1.3% take public transit, 7% walk and 0.8% cycle, and on census day 25% of those in work were at home.
How long is the commute from Qualicum Beach?
About 22 minutes on average, with 44% under a quarter-hour and 3.6% at an hour or longer.
Where do people in Qualicum Beach work?
39% work in Qualicum Beach itself. Of those who leave, the most go to Parksville (345), then Nanaimo (180).
How many jobs are there in Qualicum Beach?
Some 1,780 people worked in Qualicum Beach at the 2021 census: 1.2 jobs per working resident with a fixed workplace. In June 2026, 303 businesses with employees were on Statistics Canada’s count.
What is the unemployment rate in Qualicum Beach?
On census day in May 2021, unemployment stood at 7.7% of the labour force (9.9% in the middle of Canadian towns). For a recent figure, the Labour Force Survey put the Vancouver Island and Coast economic region at 5.2% in October 2026.
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).