Photo: The original uploader was RandyMac at English Wikipedia . · CC BY-SA 3.0Trail has 2 jobs for every resident in work
Of Trail’s residents aged 15 to 64, 69% were employed when the 2021 census was taken, against 73% in the middle of Canadian towns. From Trail, the drive or ride to work averages 15.1 minutes, with 2.7% going an hour or longer. Before tax, the typical household in Trail brought in $68,000 in 2020; the middle of Canadian towns is $85,900.
Where Trail stands out on work
Lower incomes than most towns
The median household had $68,000 before tax in 2020; the middle of Canadian towns is $85,900. Household income ↓
Shorter trips than most towns
The average trip to work is 15.1 minutes (26 in the middle of Canadian towns), and 2.7% 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.
Trail grades C+ for jobs and income
Better than 44% of Canadian towns on three measures together, #156 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.
Household income in Trail
Before tax, 2020: lower than in 71% of Canadian towns.
2 of the 4 other places of 2,500+ in the Kootenay Boundary census division have a higher median. Against the middle of British Columbia’s towns ($86,900), Trail’s median is 22% below. That year, 2020, brought emergency benefits that count in these totals, before tax.
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census: median total income of households in 2020, before tax (a neighbourhood’s estimated from its dissemination areas’ income groups).
A working day adds 90% to the people at work in Trail
Each resident commuting out of Trail is matched by about 5 coming in. The job is inside the municipality for 73% 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 Trail
Timed exactly, the average is 13.2 minutes (Statistics Canada). The middle of British Columbia’s towns averages 26.4 minutes. A quarter-hour or less for 68% 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.
3,129 people come into Trail to work, most from Rossland and Fruitvale
64% of the people who work in Trail live outside it, 620 of them in Rossland, 8 km away. Outbound, Castlegar takes the most: 170 people.
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census (98-10-0459): commuting flows between municipalities (census subdivisions), rounded to 5; linked names have their own pages.
Work for 69% of 15-to-64s in Trail
Of the 4 other places of 2,500 people or more in the Kootenay Boundary census division, one has a smaller share of 15-to-64s in work.
The monthly Labour Force Survey, which covers the wider area, put its employment rate at 54% in October 2026. Participation, the share of residents 15 and over working or looking for work, came to 53%. Counting retirees, 49% 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.
13% of commuters in Trail walk, cycle or take transit
The car takes 86% of commuters here, under the 87% in the middle of British Columbia’s towns. Only 9% worked at home on census day, against 21% in the middle of Canadian towns. Few ride transit: 2.2%, where the middle of Canadian towns has 3.5%. More people walk to work here than in the middle of British Columbia’s towns: 10% against 4.6%.
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 count topped out in January 2021 at 1,740 people, 2.5 times the 2019 average. That works out to around 4.5 beneficiaries per 100 people aged 15 to 64 across the division. 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). Figures for EI beneficiaries are published for the Kootenay Boundary census division as a whole, not for Trail alone.
The Walkability grade for Trail: A−
Better than 80% of Canadian towns on two measures together, #128 of 254 in British Columbia.
OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL); active commuting from the 2021 Census.
Trail is 398th of 677 Canadian towns of 6,000 to 11,500 people for 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+ |
| … | ||||||
| 17 | Revelstoke British Columbia | 9,464 | 77% | 10% | $97K | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 37 | Fernie British Columbia | 7,086 | 78% | 9.4% | $107K | A |
| 38 | Coldstream British Columbia | 11,380 | 77% | 7.8% | $112K | A |
| … | ||||||
| 396 | Donnacona Quebec | 7,785 | 79% | 4.2% | $67K | C+ |
| 397 | Snelgrove Ontario | 11,109 | 72% | 11% | $146K | C+ |
| 398 | Trail British Columbia | 8,539 | 69% | 7.9% | $68K | C+ |
| 399 | Ranchlands Alberta | 7,376 | 72% | 12% | $91K | C+ |
| 400 | Hope Ontario | 6,997 | 72% | 12% | $139K | C+ |
| … | ||||||
| 677 | Beasley Ontario | 6,338 | 49% | 17% | $47K | D− |
Ordered by Jobs & income Grade: the top three, the places either side of Trail, and others among British Columbia’s towns.
Trail and its neighbours: work and income
| Place | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Household income | Average trip | Jobs | Walk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Trail | 69% | 7.9% | $68K | 15.1 min | C+ | A− |
| Warfield 4.2 km | 72% | 7.1% | $89K | 17.5 min | A− | B− |
| Montrose 7.8 km | 73% | 4.4% | $94K | 18.7 min | A− | C+ |
| Rossland 7.8 km | 77% | 11% | $96K | 18.3 min | A | A+ |
| Fruitvale 10.6 km | 75% | 7% | $83K | 24.6 min | B− | B+ |
| Electoral Area A, Kootenay Boundary 11.7 km | 75% | 6.1% | $96K | 22.4 min | A− | C+ |
| Electoral Area B (Lower Columbia-Old-Glory), Kootenay Boundary 12.6 km | 65% | 8.8% | $83K | 22.2 min | C+ | 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 Trail, where it comes from, and what it leaves out.
- The Labour Force Survey. Statistics Canada surveys households every month; the results come out for metro areas and economic regions, never for single towns, and keep the rate current after 2021.
- 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 census-week jobless rate for residents 15 and over. Its base is the labour force, those employed plus those actively looking.
- 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. 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. 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. How many people in the census division drew Employment Insurance each month; it moves with layoffs and hiring, yet people who don’t qualify are absent from it.
- 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 Trail
What is the unemployment rate in Trail?
Two figures answer it: 7.9% on census day in May 2021 (9.9% in the middle of Canadian towns), and 4.1% for the Kootenay economic region in the Labour Force Survey of October 2026.
What is the average household income in Trail?
At $68,000 before tax in 2020, the median household in Trail compares with $85,900 in the middle of Canadian towns.
How do people in Trail get to work?
86% of commuters drive, 2.2% take public transit, 10% walk and 0.5% cycle; 9% of everyone in work worked at home on census day.
How long is the commute from Trail?
The average commute is 15.1 minutes; 68% of trips take under 15 minutes and 2.7% an hour or more.
Where do people in Trail work?
Most stay: 73% work in Trail. The rest go first to Castlegar (170) and Rossland (70).
How many jobs are there in Trail?
The 2021 census found about 4,910 people with their usual workplace in Trail, or 2 for each resident who travels to a fixed job. In June 2026, 372 businesses with employees were on Statistics Canada’s count.
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).