Photo: Sam Beebe · CC BY 2.0Households in Terrace have higher incomes than those in 76% of Canadian towns
Most commutes from Terrace take well under an hour: the average is 15.9 minutes, and 5.7% take 60 minutes or longer. Jobs were held by 77% of people aged 15 to 64 in Terrace in 2021, against 73% in the middle of Canadian towns. Unemployment in Terrace stood at 6.5% on census day 2021, next to 9.9% for the middle of Canadian towns.
The work figures that set Terrace apart
Less unemployment than most towns
Unemployment, 6.5% at the 2021 census, compares with 9.9% in the middle of Canadian towns. Unemployment ↓
A local job centre
With 5,635 jobs based in Terrace and 4,485 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 15.9 minutes (26 in the middle of Canadian towns), and 5.7% 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.
The Jobs & income grade for Terrace: A+
Better than 96% of Canadian towns on three measures together, #10 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.
Work and the working-age population of Terrace
Of the 3 other places of 2,500 people or more in the Kitimat-Stikine census division, 2 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 67%. Take in all adults, retirees with them, and only 63% were working. 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.
Every working day, Terrace’s workforce grows by 22%
4,485 residents of Terrace had a usual place of work at the 2021 census, and 5,635 people had theirs in Terrace, wherever they lived.
For every resident who leaves Terrace for work, about 2 people come in. 81% 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.
Time on the road to work from Terrace
Timed exactly, the average is 14.6 minutes (Statistics Canada). In the middle of British Columbia’s towns, the average commute is 26.4 minutes. Trips under 15 minutes: 74%, 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.
Commuting time at the 2021 Census, to work only, for people who travel to a usual workplace or have none fixed.
1,993 people come into Terrace to work, most from Electoral Area E, Kitimat-Stikine and Electoral Area C (Part 1), Kitimat-Stikine
- Electoral Area E, Kitimat-Stikine920
- Electoral Area C (Part 1), Kitimat-Stikine830
- Kitimat55
- Kitsumkaylum 150
- Surrey15
- Prince Rupert15
- Kitselas 115
- Vancouver10
- Electoral Area B, Kitimat-Stikine10
- Nisga'a10
- Prince George270
- Kitimat220
- Electoral Area E, Kitimat-Stikine210
- Prince Rupert35
- Kulspai 620
- Nisga'a15
- Stewart10
- Kitimat-Stikine D (RDA)10
35% of the people who work in Terrace live outside it, 920 of them in Electoral Area E, Kitimat-Stikine, 4 km away. Of residents who leave for work, most head to Prince George (270).
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 Terrace work and where people who work there live, the ten largest each way.
What households earned in Terrace: $90,600 in 2020
The middle of British Columbia’s towns is $86,900, and Terrace is 4% above it. 2 of the 3 other places of 2,500+ in the Kitimat-Stikine census division have a higher median. In 2020 emergency benefits topped up many low incomes, and the census counts them here.
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census: median total income of households in 2020, before tax (a neighbourhood’s estimated from its dissemination areas’ income groups).
Terrace gets to work without a car for 12% of commuters
Only 11% worked at home on census day, against 21% in the middle of Canadian towns. Few ride transit: 2.1%, where the middle of Canadian towns has 3.5%. On foot: 8% of commuters, well above the 4.6% in the middle of British Columbia’s towns. Driving to work is about as common as in the middle of British Columbia’s towns, at 88%.
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 Kitimat-Stikine census division run 14% above their 2019 level
The count topped out in February 2021 at 2,560 people, 2.3 times the 2019 average. For each 100 residents of working age in the division, about 5.1 are on EI. Set against the same month a year before, 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). Terrace doesn’t get its own EI beneficiaries figures; the ones here come from the Kitimat-Stikine census division.
Getting around Terrace on foot earns A−
Better than 84% of Canadian towns on two measures together, #120 of 254 in British Columbia.
OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL); active commuting from the 2021 Census.
How Terrace ranks: 22nd of 588 Canadian towns of 9,600 to 18,400
| # | 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+ |
| … | ||||||
| 20 | West Perth Ontario | 10,080 | 88% | 5% | $92K | A+ |
| 21 | Saltspring Island British Columbia | 12,429 | 84% | 5.5% | $77K | A+ |
| 22 | Terrace British Columbia | 13,648 | 77% | 6.5% | $91K | A+ |
| 23 | Notre-Dame-des-Laurentides Quebec | 16,222 | 85% | 5.9% | $97K | A+ |
| 24 | Stratford Prince Edward Island | 13,152 | 79% | 8% | $91K | A+ |
| 25 | Prince Rupert British Columbia | 12,903 | 75% | 9.5% | $96K | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 588 | René-Goupil Quebec | 11,663 | 58% | 15% | $54K | D− |
Ordered by Jobs & income Grade: the top three, the places either side of Terrace, and others among British Columbia’s towns.
Neighbouring places to Terrace, compared
| Place | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Household income | Average trip | Jobs | Walk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Terrace | 77% | 6.5% | $91K | 15.9 min | A+ | A− |
| Electoral Area E, Kitimat-Stikine 4.3 km | 73% | 11% | $86K | 18.1 min | A− | C |
| Electoral Area C (Part 1), Kitimat-Stikine 4.6 km | 83% | 8% | $97K | 25.9 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 Terrace, where it comes from, and what it leaves out.
- 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. People receiving EI benefits each month, counted for the census division. It follows the local job market; it isn’t an unemployment rate.
- In work. How many residents held a job in May 2021, set against how many were 15 to 64. It reads a little high where many people work past 65, since below the municipality the census gives no breakdown of workers by age.
- 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.
- 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. 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.
- 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 Terrace
Where do people in Terrace work?
81% work in Terrace itself; of those who leave, the most go to Prince George (270), then Kitimat (220).
How many jobs are there in Terrace?
About 5,635 people had their usual place of work in Terrace at the 2021 census, 1.3 for each working resident with a fixed workplace. In June 2026, 658 businesses with employees were on Statistics Canada’s count.
What is the unemployment rate in Terrace?
6.5% of the labour force was unemployed on census day in May 2021, against 9.9% in the middle of Canadian towns.
What is the average household income in Terrace?
Terrace’s middle household had $90,600 in 2020, before tax; Canadian towns have $85,900 at their middle.
How do people in Terrace get to work?
88% of commuters go by car, 2.1% take public transit, 8% walk and 1.4% cycle. On census day 11% of everyone in work stayed home to work.
How long is the commute from Terrace?
On average 15.9 minutes; 74% take under 15 minutes and 5.7% take an hour or longer.
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, 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).