Photo: (WT-shared) Bulliver at wts wikivoyage · CC BY-SA 1.0Summerland has higher household incomes than 60% of Canadian towns
76% of people aged 15 to 64 in Summerland had a job at the 2021 census; the middle of Canadian towns is 73%. The census counted 2,220 people working in Summerland and 3,230 residents commuting to a fixed workplace. 8.2% of the labour force in Summerland was out of work at the 2021 census; the middle of Canadian towns is 9.9%.
Summerland and work: the main findings
Work near the middle
In work at the 2021 census: 76% of people aged 15 to 64, against 73% in the middle of Canadian towns, and 50% of everyone 15 and over. In work ↓
Shorter trips than most towns
The average trip to work is 21.3 minutes (26 in the middle of Canadian towns), and 4.1% 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.
On jobs and income, Summerland grades B+
Better than 70% of Canadian towns on three measures together, #83 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.
A shorter commute than the middle of Canadian towns: 21.3 minutes from Summerland
Timed exactly, the average is 18.1 minutes (Statistics Canada). The middle of British Columbia’s towns averages 26.4 minutes. Trips under 15 minutes: 44%, more than the 39% in the middle of British Columbia’s towns. An hour or more: 4.1% of commuters, under the 6.3% 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.
Each working day, more people leave Summerland for work than come in
About 2 residents leave for work for each person who comes in. 46% 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.
54% of Summerland’s residents in work leave it to work; Penticton takes the most
Coming the other way, Penticton sends the most (365).
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 Summerland
Of the 6 other places of 2,500 people or more in the Okanagan-Similkameen census division, 4 have a smaller share of 15-to-64s in work.
For the wider area, the Labour Force Survey had 56% in work in October 2026. The labour force, people 15 and over with a job or seeking one, took in 54% of residents that age. Counting retirees, 50% of everyone aged 15 and over was working. 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.
What households earned in Summerland: $81,900 in 2020
Against the middle of British Columbia’s towns ($86,900), Summerland’s median is 6% below. No other place of 2,500 or more in the Okanagan-Similkameen census division has a higher median. CERB and the other emergency payments of 2020 are counted in these incomes, which lifted the lower ones 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).
8.7% of commuters from Summerland go without a car
21% worked at home on census day, about the same as in the middle of Canadian towns. Few ride transit: 0.4%, where the middle of Canadian towns has 3.5%. The middle of British Columbia’s towns has 4.6% walking; here, 7.2% do. 88% drive to work, more than the 87% in the middle of British Columbia’s towns.
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census: main mode of commuting; average durations by mode from table 98-10-0458 (whole municipalities only).
EI claims in the Okanagan-Similkameen census division run 27% above their 2019 level
Compared with a year earlier, the count in August 2026 rose by 15%. At its peak, in February 2021, 5,270 people were on EI, 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. Area behind the EI beneficiaries figures: 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).
The walkability of Summerland: A−
Better than 80% of Canadian towns on two measures together, #131 of 254 in British Columbia.
OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL); active commuting from the 2021 Census.
175th of 621: where Summerland ranks among Canadian towns of 8,600 to 16,700
| # | 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 | Walsh Acres/Lakeridge/Garden Ridge Saskatchewan | 9,325 | 80% | 6.7% | $127K | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 12 | Revelstoke British Columbia | 9,464 | 77% | 10% | $97K | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 20 | Saltspring Island British Columbia | 12,429 | 84% | 5.5% | $77K | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 173 | Loretteville Quebec | 15,653 | 81% | 7.3% | $74K | B+ |
| 174 | Crestview Manitoba | 8,658 | 77% | 7.5% | $84K | B+ |
| 175 | Summerland British Columbia | 12,343 | 76% | 8.2% | $82K | B+ |
| 176 | Vieux-Bourg Quebec | 14,774 | 82% | 7.6% | $67K | B+ |
| 177 | Georgian Bluffs Ontario | 12,061 | 76% | 8.7% | $95K | B+ |
| … | ||||||
| 621 | René-Goupil Quebec | 11,663 | 58% | 15% | $54K | D− |
Ordered by Jobs & income Grade: the top three, the places either side of Summerland, and others among British Columbia’s towns.
The work picture around Summerland
| Place | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Household income | Average trip | Jobs | Walk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Summerland | 76% | 8.2% | $82K | 21.3 min | B+ | A− |
| Electoral Area F, Okanagan-Similkameen 6.7 km | 77% | 5.6% | $109K | 22.2 min | A | C+ |
| Naramata 7.5 km | 76% | 8.9% | $92K | 26.9 min | B | B− |
| Penticton 1 14.8 km | 65% | 7.8% | $69K | 20.6 min | C | C− |
| Penticton 15 km | 75% | 8.4% | $68K | 17 min | B | 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 Summerland, where it comes from, and what it leaves out.
- Household income. What the median household took in during 2020 before tax, as the census recorded it; an estimate built from income groups when the place is a neighbourhood.
- Trip times. The census asks how long the trip to work usually takes, in bands; our average uses each band’s middle, so it runs a little above Statistics Canada’s 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.
- 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. Monthly, and only for metro areas and economic regions. It is the up-to-date rate we set beside the census’s 2021 snapshot.
- 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. It counts only people who wanted work and had none in May 2021, as a share of those working or searching; students and retirees who weren’t looking stay out of both sides.
- 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.
Questions about work in Summerland
How do people in Summerland get to work?
88% of commuters drive, 0.4% take public transit, 7.2% walk and 1.1% cycle; 21% of everyone in work worked at home on census day.
How long is the commute from Summerland?
The average commute is 21.3 minutes; 44% of trips take under 15 minutes and 4.1% an hour or more.
Where do people in Summerland work?
46% work in Summerland itself. Of those who leave, the most go to Penticton (1,230), then Kelowna (130).
How many jobs are there in Summerland?
The 2021 census found about 2,220 people with their usual workplace in Summerland, or 0.7 for each resident who travels to a fixed job. Statistics Canada counted 498 businesses with employees in June 2026.
What is the unemployment rate in Summerland?
At the 2021 census 8.2% of the labour force had no job and was looking (9.9% in the middle of Canadian towns). The latest monthly survey, for the Thompson-Okanagan economic region, gives 6.6% in October 2026.
What is the average household income in Summerland?
The median household in Summerland had $81,900 before tax in 2020, 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).