Photo: David Stanley from Nanaimo, Canada · CC BY 2.0Shawnigan has 0.3 jobs for every resident in work, so most leave town for work
Unemployment in Shawnigan stood at 6.2% on census day 2021, next to 9.9% for the middle of Canadian towns. Workers in Shawnigan spend 33.9 minutes on the way to work on average, and 12% need an hour or more. Before tax, the typical household in Shawnigan brought in $100,000 in 2020; the middle of Canadian towns is $85,900.
The work numbers behind Shawnigan
Less unemployment than most towns
On census day in 2021 6.2% were unemployed, against 9.9% in the middle of Canadian towns; by October 2026 the Labour Force Survey put the area at 5.2%. Unemployment ↓
Higher incomes than most towns
The middle of Canadian towns is $85,900, and the median household here had $100,000 before tax in 2020. Household income ↓
Longer trips than most towns
The average trip to work is 33.9 minutes (26 in the middle of Canadian towns), and 12% 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 Shawnigan earn B−
Better than 51% of Canadian towns on three measures together, #135 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.
78% of working-age people in Shawnigan have jobs
Of the 10 other places of 2,500 people or more in the Cowichan Valley census division, 7 have a smaller share of 15-to-64s in work.
Add those looking for a job to those with one, and 66% of residents 15 and over were in the labour force. An older population pulls the all-ages rate down: 62% of residents 15 and over were in work. By October 2026, the Labour Force Survey had 56% of the wider area’s adults in work. 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.
Earnings at home in Shawnigan: households
Before tax, 2020: higher than in 86% of Canadian towns.
Set beside British Columbia’s towns, where the median is $86,900, Shawnigan sits 15% above. No other place of 2,500 or more in the Cowichan Valley census division has a higher median. Incomes are for 2020, the first pandemic year, so CERB and other emergency payments are part of them.
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census: median total income of households in 2020, before tax (a neighbourhood’s estimated from its dissemination areas’ income groups).
Commuting times in Shawnigan
Only 21% get to work within a quarter-hour, against 39% in the middle of British Columbia’s towns. Timed exactly, the average is 30.6 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.
Commuting time at the 2021 Census, to work only, for people who travel to a usual workplace or have none fixed.
Shawnigan is quieter on a working day than at night
2,470 residents of Shawnigan had a usual place of work at the 2021 census, and 815 people had theirs in Shawnigan, wherever they lived.
It sends out some 5 workers for every one it takes 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 Shawnigan’s residents in work leave it to work; Electoral Area A, Cowichan Valley takes the most
Coming the other way, Cobble Hill sends the most (75).
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 Shawnigan work and where people who work there live, the ten largest each way.
Walk, cycle or ride transit: the choice of 5.1% of Shawnigan’s commuters
Few ride transit: 0.7%, where the middle of Canadian towns has 3.5%. Nearly everyone drives: 92% of commuters go by car, truck or van. Home was the workplace for 23%, 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).
How residents who commute got to work, 2021 Census; working at home is counted apart.
33% more people are on EI in the Cowichan Valley census division than in 2019
Compared with a year earlier, the count in August 2026 rose by 4%. In August 2021 it reached 3,820, the most in the series and 2.5 times the 2019 average. That works out to around 4.3 beneficiaries per 100 people aged 15 to 64 across the division.
Statistics Canada, Employment Insurance beneficiaries by census division (14-10-0323): all income benefits, not seasonally adjusted. EI beneficiaries: the Cowichan Valley 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).
How walkable Shawnigan is: B−
Better than 47% of Canadian towns on two measures together, #201 of 254 in British Columbia.
OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL); active commuting from the 2021 Census.
Out of 659 Canadian towns of 6,900 to 13,400, Shawnigan comes 332nd 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+ |
| … | ||||||
| 17 | Revelstoke British Columbia | 9,464 | 77% | 10% | $97K | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 25 | Saltspring Island British Columbia | 12,429 | 84% | 5.5% | $77K | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 330 | Bois-des-Filion Quebec | 10,666 | 82% | 6.3% | $83K | B− |
| 331 | Electoral Area A, Comox Valley British Columbia | 8,415 | 77% | 7.3% | $71K | B− |
| 332 | Electoral Area B, Cowichan Valley British Columbia | 9,903 | 78% | 6.2% | $100K | B− |
| 333 | Beaubassin East / Beaubassin-est New Brunswick | 8,138 | 73% | 12% | $83K | B− |
| 334 | Woodbine Alberta | 8,075 | 70% | 15% | $117K | B− |
| … | ||||||
| 659 | René-Goupil Quebec | 11,663 | 58% | 15% | $54K | D− |
Ordered by Jobs & income Grade: the top three, the places either side of Shawnigan, and others among British Columbia’s towns.
Neighbouring places to Shawnigan, compared
| Place | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Household income | Average trip | Jobs | Walk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shawnigan | 78% | 6.2% | $100K | 33.9 min | B− | B− |
| Electoral Area A, Cowichan Valley 6.6 km | 75% | 7% | $95K | 28.1 min | B− | C |
| Cobble Hill 7 km | 83% | 5.9% | $91K | 30.1 min | B+ | B− |
| Cowichan Bay 9.6 km | 81% | 5.9% | $89K | 25.4 min | A− | B− |
| Cowichan 13.3 km | 43% | 14% | $76K | 19.5 min | C | C+ |
| Electoral Area E, Cowichan Valley 13.4 km | 77% | 6.9% | $84K | 22.4 min | B+ | C+ |
| Duncan 14.7 km | 70% | 9.5% | $53K | 21.3 min | C− | 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 Shawnigan, 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. 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.
- The Labour Force Survey. Statistics Canada’s monthly survey, published for metro areas and economic regions rather than towns: it gives a current rate beside the census’s 2021 one.
- In work. We divide the number of employed residents by the number aged 15 to 64. Workers past 64 still count on top, because the 2021 Census crosses work with age only for whole municipalities; in return, a retirement town’s pensioners don’t drag the rate down.
- Unemployment. The share of people 15 and over in the labour force, working or looking for work, who had no job on census day in May 2021.
- Household income. Half of households had more than this before tax in 2020, half less, counting every source of income. For a neighbourhood we estimate the median from the income brackets of its dissemination areas.
- 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.
- The municipality’s figures. Statistics Canada counts Shawnigan as part of Electoral Area B, Cowichan Valley, so every census figure on this page is the whole municipality’s.
Questions about work in Shawnigan
Where do people in Shawnigan work?
18% work in Shawnigan itself. Of those who leave, the most go to Electoral Area A, Cowichan Valley (295), then Victoria (245).
How many jobs are there in Shawnigan?
The 2021 census found about 815 people with their usual workplace in Shawnigan, or 0.3 for each resident who travels to a fixed job. In June 2026, 293 businesses with employees were on Statistics Canada’s count.
What is the unemployment rate in Shawnigan?
The 2021 census found 6.2% unemployed, against 9.9% in the middle of Canadian towns; the Labour Force Survey’s latest, for the Vancouver Island and Coast economic region, is 5.2% (October 2026).
What is the average household income in Shawnigan?
Before tax, half the households in Shawnigan had more than $100,000 in 2020; the middle of Canadian towns is $85,900.
How do people in Shawnigan get to work?
92% of commuters drive, 0.7% take public transit, 3.7% walk and 0.7% cycle; 23% of everyone in work worked at home on census day.
How long is the commute from Shawnigan?
The average commute is 33.9 minutes; 21% of trips take under 15 minutes and 12% 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).