Photo: Michael Rogers. Original uploader was Mjrogers50 at en.wikipedia · CC BY-SA 3.0Rossland has fewer jobs than residents in work: 0.5 for each
77% of people aged 15 to 64 in Rossland had a job at the 2021 census, next to 73% for the middle of Canadian towns. Half the households in Rossland had more than $96,200 in 2020, before tax, and the middle of Canadian towns sits at $85,900. Workers in Rossland spend 18.3 minutes on the way to work on average, and 2.5% need an hour or more.
What stands out about work in Rossland
Work near the middle
Of residents aged 15 to 64, 77% held a job in 2021; the middle of Canadian towns is 73%, and over all adults the share is 61%. In work ↓
Shorter trips than most towns
The average trip to work is 18.3 minutes (26 in the middle of Canadian towns), and 2.5% 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 Rossland earn A
Better than 94% of Canadian towns on three measures together, #13 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.
How long the commute from Rossland takes
Statistics Canada’s own average, timed exactly rather than by band, is 15.8 minutes. The middle of British Columbia’s towns averages 26.4 minutes. Trips under 15 minutes: 52%, more than the 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.
The daily tide in Rossland runs outward
Each person commuting in is matched by about 6 residents going out. 34% 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.
66% of Rossland’s residents in work leave it to work; Trail takes the most
Of those coming in, Trail supplies the most: 70.
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census (98-10-0459): commuting flows between municipalities (census subdivisions), rounded to 5; linked names have their own pages.
In and out of work in Rossland
All 4 other places of 2,500 people or more in the Kootenay Boundary census division have a smaller share of 15-to-64s in work.
Counting those looking for work too, 69% of people aged 15 and over were in the labour force. Take in all adults, retirees with them, and only 61% were working. In October 2026, 54% of the wider area’s adults had a job, on the Labour Force Survey’s count. Statistics Canada counted on 11 May 2021, with much of the country under pandemic rules: more people were out of work or at home than usual.
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 Rossland earn
Before tax, 2020: higher than in 82% of Canadian towns.
Set beside British Columbia’s towns, where the median is $86,900, Rossland sits 11% above. No other place of 2,500 or more in the Kootenay Boundary census division has a higher median. 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).
Walking, cycling or transit: 15% of Rossland’s commuters
Transit takes 0.9% of commuters, against 3.5% in the middle of Canadian towns. More people walk to work here than in the middle of British Columbia’s towns: 12% against 4.6%. Fewer drive than in the middle of British Columbia’s towns: 83% against 87%. Home was the workplace for 24%, where the middle of Canadian towns has 21%.
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census: main mode of commuting; average durations by mode from table 98-10-0458 (whole municipalities only).
33% more people are on EI in the Kootenay Boundary census division than in 2019
The highest month was January 2021: 1,740 people, 2.5 times the 2019 level. Roughly 4.5 in every 100 people aged 15 to 64 in the division draw EI. Compared with a year earlier, the count in August 2026 fell by 1%.
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). Rossland doesn’t get its own EI beneficiaries figures; the ones here come from the Kootenay Boundary census division.
Rossland grades A+ for walkability
Better than 98% of Canadian towns on two measures together, #57 of 254 in British Columbia.
OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL); active commuting from the 2021 Census.
Ranked on jobs and income, Rossland is 47th among 761 Canadian towns of 3,000 to 5,900
| # | Place | People | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Household income | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Crescentwood Manitoba | 3,060 | 87% | 5% | $123K | A+ |
| 2 | Cornwallis Manitoba | 4,705 | 85% | 2.1% | $99K | A+ |
| 3 | New Maryland New Brunswick | 4,455 | 81% | 6.5% | $118K | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 10 | Smithers British Columbia | 5,627 | 83% | 6% | $85K | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 19 | Electoral Area A, Bulkley-Nechako British Columbia | 5,829 | 82% | 7.4% | $98K | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 24 | Invermere British Columbia | 4,305 | 82% | 5.9% | $84K | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 45 | Riverside Park South - Revelstoke Ontario | 3,030 | 76% | 7.2% | $144K | A |
| 46 | Riverview Manitoba | 4,649 | 82% | 8.1% | $89K | A |
| 47 | Rossland British Columbia | 4,355 | 77% | 11% | $96K | A |
| 48 | Normanview Residents Group Saskatchewan | 3,916 | 78% | 8.1% | $89K | A |
| 49 | Belgravia Alberta | 5,478 | 79% | 9.2% | $128K | A |
| … | ||||||
| 761 | Saint-Alexis-des-Monts Quebec | 3,190 | 61% | 11% | $50K | D− |
Ordered by Jobs & income Grade: the top three, the places either side of Rossland, and others among British Columbia’s towns.
The work picture around Rossland
| Place | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Household income | Average trip | Jobs | Walk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rossland | 77% | 11% | $96K | 18.3 min | A | A+ |
| Warfield 3.7 km | 72% | 7.1% | $89K | 17.5 min | A− | B− |
| Trail 7.8 km | 69% | 7.9% | $68K | 15.1 min | C+ | A− |
| Montrose 15.1 km | 73% | 4.4% | $94K | 18.7 min | A− | C+ |
| Electoral Area B (Lower Columbia-Old-Glory), Kootenay Boundary 16.6 km | 65% | 8.8% | $83K | 22.2 min | C+ | B− |
| Fruitvale 18.4 km | 75% | 7% | $83K | 24.6 min | B− | 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 Rossland, where it comes from, and what it leaves out.
- The Labour Force Survey. The most recent unemployment rate on the page comes from this monthly survey, which covers the wider metro area or economic region, not the town.
- In work. Why 15 to 64? Otherwise retirees would pull the rate down in older towns. The census can’t say how old a neighbourhood’s workers are, so the count of people in work takes every age.
- Unemployment. The census-week jobless rate for residents 15 and over. Its base is the labour force, those employed plus those actively looking.
- 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. 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. Counts of workers with a fixed workplace, by where they live and where they work, both taken as whole municipalities; the jobs figure takes everyone who works here, wherever home is.
- 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.
- 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 Rossland
How many jobs are there in Rossland?
Statistics Canada counted 193 businesses with employees in June 2026.
What is the unemployment rate in Rossland?
At the 2021 census 11% of the labour force had no job and was looking (9.9% in the middle of Canadian towns). The latest monthly survey, for the Kootenay economic region, gives 4.1% in October 2026.
What is the average household income in Rossland?
The census puts Rossland at $96,200 for 2020, before tax and at the median, against $85,900 in the middle of Canadian towns.
How do people in Rossland get to work?
Driving takes 83% of commuters to work, 0.9% take public transit, 12% walk and 2.2% cycle, and on census day 24% of those in work were at home.
How long is the commute from Rossland?
About 18.3 minutes on average, with 52% under a quarter-hour and 2.5% at an hour or longer.
Where do people in Rossland work?
34% work in Rossland itself. Of those who leave, the most go to Trail (620), then Castlegar (110).
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).