Photo: Sidney Museum · CC BY-SA 3.0Sidney has a larger share of its working-age people in jobs than 90% of Canadian towns
Median household income in Sidney was $76,800 in 2020, and the middle of Canadian towns sits at $85,900. An hour or more each way is the commute for 2.1% of workers in Sidney; the average is 19.8 minutes. Unemployment in Sidney stood at 4.7% on census day 2021, against 9.9% in the middle of Canadian towns.
The short version on work in Sidney
More people in work than most towns
84% of people aged 15 to 64 had a job at the 2021 census, against 73% in the middle of Canadian towns; counting everyone 15 and over, retirees included, it was 45%. 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 4.7%, where the middle of Canadian towns had 9.9%. Unemployment ↓
A local job centre
4,385 people work in Sidney and 3,115 residents commute to a fixed workplace; the middle of Canadian towns has 0.8 jobs per working resident. The daily tide ↓
Shorter trips than most towns
Commutes take 19.8 minutes on average, against 26 in the middle of Canadian towns; 2.1% 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.
The Jobs & income grade for Sidney: A
Better than 92% of Canadian towns on three measures together, #18 of 254 in British Columbia.
Its strongest measure is the share of 15-to-64s in work; 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.
In Sidney, 84% of people aged 15 to 64 have a job
Of the 15 other places of 2,500 people or more in the Capital census division, 12 have a smaller share of 15-to-64s in work.
Participation, the share of residents 15 and over working or looking for work, came to 47%. An older population pulls the all-ages rate down: 45% of residents 15 and over were in work. The Labour Force Survey’s employment rate for the wider area was 61% in October 2026. 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.
Each working day, Sidney’s workforce swells by 31%
3,115 residents of Sidney had a usual place of work at the 2021 census, and 4,385 people had theirs in Sidney, wherever they lived.
Sidney takes in some 2 workers for every resident it sends out. The job is inside the municipality for 45% of its commuters (70% in the middle of Canadian towns).
People with no fixed workplace are in neither count.
Time on the road to work from Sidney
Timed exactly, the average is 17.9 minutes (Statistics Canada). The middle of British Columbia’s towns averages 26.4 minutes. A quarter-hour or less for 49% 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.
Commuting time at the 2021 Census, to work only, for people who travel to a usual workplace or have none fixed.
2,983 people come into Sidney to work, most from North Saanich and Saanich
- North Saanich820
- Saanich715
- Central Saanich545
- Victoria325
- Langford180
- East Saanich 260
- Oak Bay50
- Colwood50
- Esquimalt40
- View Royal35
Of everyone working in Sidney, 68% come in from elsewhere; 820 make the 2 km trip from North Saanich. North Saanich is where the largest group of commuters out goes, 465 of them.
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 Sidney work and where people who work there live, the ten largest each way.
What households in Sidney earn
Before tax, 2020: lower than in 51% of Canadian towns.
12 of the 15 other places of 2,500+ in the Capital census division have a higher median. Sidney’s median is 12% below the middle of British Columbia’s towns ($86,900). 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).
20% of commuters from Sidney go without a car
By bike: 3.8% of commuters, well above the 0.9% in the middle of British Columbia’s towns. The car takes 77% of commuters here, under the 87% in the middle of British Columbia’s towns. By bus, train or subway: 3.3%, much as 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).
How residents who commute got to work, 2021 Census; working at home is counted apart.
EI claims in the Capital census division run 44% above their 2019 level
In January 2021 it reached 15,570, the most in the series and 3 times the 2019 average. Roughly 3.2 in every 100 people aged 15 to 64 in the division draw EI. Compared with a year earlier, the count in August 2026 rose by 7%.
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 Capital 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).
The walkability of Sidney: A+
Better than 97% of Canadian towns on two measures together, #62 of 254 in British Columbia.
OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL); active commuting from the 2021 Census.
Sidney places 44th of 596 on jobs and income among Canadian towns of 9,400 to 18,200
| # | Place | People | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Household income | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | North Saanich British Columbia | 12,986 | 85% | 5.9% | $121K | A+ |
| 2 | Sillery Quebec | 13,950 | 81% | 6.2% | $120K | A+ |
| 3 | Central Saanich British Columbia | 18,184 | 85% | 4.9% | $103K | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 12 | Revelstoke British Columbia | 9,464 | 77% | 10% | $97K | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 42 | Weyburn Saskatchewan | 11,871 | 80% | 7.5% | $80K | A |
| 43 | Moncton New Brunswick | 12,238 | 80% | 7.2% | $91K | A |
| 44 | Sidney British Columbia | 13,445 | 84% | 4.7% | $77K | A |
| 45 | Thames Centre Ontario | 15,475 | 80% | 7.7% | $113K | A |
| 46 | Argyle North Saskatchewan | 9,971 | 75% | 8% | $102K | A |
| … | ||||||
| 596 | René-Goupil Quebec | 11,663 | 58% | 15% | $54K | D− |
Ordered by Jobs & income Grade: the top three, the places either side of Sidney, and others among British Columbia’s towns.
The places around Sidney, side by side
| Place | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Household income | Average trip | Jobs | Walk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sidney | 84% | 4.7% | $77K | 19.8 min | A | A+ |
| North Saanich 2.4 km | 85% | 5.9% | $121K | 21.8 min | A+ | B |
| East Saanich 2 7.4 km | 72% | 12% | $58K | 20.9 min | C− | B |
| Central Saanich 9.4 km | 85% | 4.9% | $103K | 21.7 min | A+ | A− |
| Electoral Area A, Cowichan Valley 11.2 km | 75% | 7% | $95K | 28.1 min | B− | C |
| Cobble Hill 13.4 km | 83% | 5.9% | $91K | 30.1 min | B+ | B− |
| Highlands 15.5 km | 83% | 4.9% | $124K | 27.3 min | A | 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 Sidney, where it comes from, and what it leaves out.
- 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. 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. People in work of any age over residents aged 15 to 64 (2021 Census). The census doesn’t cross work with age below the municipality, so this is the one rate every town and neighbourhood has; retirees don’t weigh on it.
- 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. Taken from the 2021 Census, which asked about 2020: wages, pensions, investment income and government transfers together, before income tax, for the median household.
- 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.
- Where people commute. Jobs count everyone whose usual workplace lies in the municipality, residents or commuters from elsewhere, from Statistics Canada’s home-by-workplace table.
- Which towns we compare. Comparisons are with the median of Canadian towns and city neighbourhoods counting 2,500 people or more, reserves and entire cities excluded.
Questions about work in Sidney
How many jobs are there in Sidney?
About 4,385 people had their usual place of work in Sidney at the 2021 census, 1.4 for each working resident with a fixed workplace. In June 2026, 593 businesses with employees were on Statistics Canada’s count.
What is the unemployment rate in Sidney?
Two figures answer it: 4.7% on census day in May 2021 (9.9% in the middle of Canadian towns), and 4.8% for the Victoria metro area in the Labour Force Survey of October 2026.
What is the average household income in Sidney?
The median household in Sidney had $76,800 before tax in 2020, against $85,900 in the middle of Canadian towns.
How do people in Sidney get to work?
77% of commuters go by car, 3.3% take public transit, 13% walk and 3.8% cycle. On census day 20% of everyone in work stayed home to work.
How long is the commute from Sidney?
On average 19.8 minutes; 49% take under 15 minutes and 2.1% take an hour or longer.
Where do people in Sidney work?
Only 45% work in Sidney itself; the rest go first to North Saanich (465) and Saanich (345).
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).