Photo: RockyGoat · Public domain96% of Valemount’s commuters work without leaving it
The median household in Valemount had $61,700 before tax in 2020, and the middle of Canadian towns sits at $85,900. Of everyone in Valemount working or looking for work in May 2021, 4.7% were unemployed, against 9.9% in the middle of Canadian towns. Workers in Valemount spend 16.7 minutes on the way to work on average, and 9.5% need an hour or more.
Valemount at work: what stands out
Less unemployment than most towns
Census day in 2021 put 4.7% out of work (9.9% in the middle of Canadian towns), and the area’s monthly survey gave 6.1% in October 2026. Unemployment ↓
Lower incomes than most towns
Half of households had more than $61,700 before tax in 2020, where the middle of Canadian towns is $85,900. Household income ↓
A local job centre
565 people work in Valemount and 345 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 16.7 minutes on average, against 26 in the middle of Canadian towns; 9.5% 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 Valemount: B
Better than 56% of Canadian towns on three measures together.
Its strongest measure is trip times; 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.
Work for 77% of 15-to-64s in Valemount
Of the 5 other places of 2,500 people or more in the Fraser-Fort George census division, 3 have a smaller share of 15-to-64s in work.
The Labour Force Survey’s employment rate for the wider area was 59% in October 2026. Add those looking for a job to those with one, and 61% of residents 15 and over were in the labour force. Counting retirees, 59% 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.
Household income in Valemount
Before tax, 2020: lower than in 85% of Canadian towns.
Against the middle of British Columbia’s towns ($86,900), Valemount’s median is 29% below. Every other place of 2,500 or more in the Fraser-Fort George census division has a higher median. 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).
Each working day, Valemount’s workforce swells by 58%
345 residents of Valemount had a usual place of work at the 2021 census, and 565 people had theirs in Valemount, wherever they lived.
Inbound commuters outnumber outbound ones about 16 to 1 in Valemount.
People with no fixed workplace are in neither count.
How long the commute from Valemount takes
The middle of British Columbia’s towns averages 26.4 minutes. Trips under 15 minutes: 75%, more than the 39% in the middle of British Columbia’s towns. Statistics Canada’s own average, timed exactly rather than by band, is 15.4 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.
235 people come into Valemount to work, most from Electoral Area H, Fraser-Fort George and Lethbridge
- Electoral Area H, Fraser-Fort George170
- Lethbridge10
- Calgary10
- Edmonton10
- Kamloops10
- Deep Creek 210
- Prince George10
Of everyone working in Valemount, 42% come in from elsewhere; 170 make the 58 km trip from Electoral Area H, Fraser-Fort George. Outbound, Parkland County takes the most: 10 people.
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 Valemount work and where people who work there live, the ten largest each way.
Without a car, 16% of Valemount’s commuters get to work
The car takes 80% of commuters here, under the 87% in the middle of British Columbia’s towns. Fewer worked at home than in the middle of Canadian towns: 6.9% against 21%. Transit barely figures here, against 3.5% in the middle of Canadian towns. By bike: 8.4% of commuters, well above the 0.9% 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).
How residents who commute got to work, 2021 Census; working at home is counted apart.
7% more people are on EI in the Fraser-Fort George census division than in 2019
The highest month was April 2021: 5,300 people, 2.1 times the 2019 level. For each 100 residents of working age in the division, about 4.8 are on EI. Compared with a year earlier, the count in August 2026 rose by 4%.
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). Valemount doesn’t get its own EI beneficiaries figures; the ones here come from the Fraser-Fort George census division.
Walkability in Valemount: graded A+
Better than 98% of Canadian towns on two measures together.
OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL); active commuting from the 2021 Census.
Around Valemount: jobs, pay and the commute
Distances here run 58–145 km: that is how far the nearest places with figures are from Valemount.
| Place | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Household income | Average trip | Jobs | Walk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Valemount | 77% | 4.7% | $62K | 16.7 min | B | A+ |
| Electoral Area H, Fraser-Fort George 58 km | 81% | 5.6% | $66K | 21.6 min | B | C+ |
| Jasper 79.5 km | 67% | 9.1% | $98K | 12.3 min | A− | A+ |
| Hinton 130 km | 72% | 12% | $105K | 17.4 min | A | A− |
| Clearwater 141 km | 61% | 15% | $67K | 20.3 min | C− | B+ |
| Electoral Area A (Wells Gray Country), Thompson-Nicola 145.3 km | 57% | 19% | $64K | 30.7 min | D− | 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 Valemount, where it comes from, and what it leaves out.
- Household income. The 2020 income of the household at the midpoint, all sources and before tax. Inside a city we rebuild it from the dissemination areas’ income bands, so there it is an estimate.
- Trip times. How long getting to work normally takes, averaged from the census’s time bands at their middles; expect it to read slightly high against the timed figure.
- 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. Sampled each month and released for regions rather than towns, so its rate describes the area around the town.
- In work. Everyone with a job, whatever their age, divided by the residents aged 15 to 64 at the 2021 Census: below the municipality the census doesn’t split work by age, and this is the one rate every town and neighbourhood can be given.
- Unemployment. A census-day figure: people without a job who were looking, divided by all those working or looking, ages 15 and up.
- 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 Valemount
How many jobs are there in Valemount?
The 2021 census counted about 565 people working in Valemount: 1.6 jobs for every resident who commutes to a fixed workplace. In June 2026, 79 businesses with employees were on Statistics Canada’s count.
What is the unemployment rate in Valemount?
At the 2021 census 4.7% of the labour force had no job and was looking (9.9% in the middle of Canadian towns). The latest monthly survey, for the Cariboo economic region, gives 6.1% in October 2026.
What is the average household income in Valemount?
Before tax, half the households in Valemount had more than $61,700 in 2020; the middle of Canadian towns is $85,900.
How do people in Valemount get to work?
By car: 80% of commuters, 7.4% walk and 8.4% cycle; on census day 6.9% of those in work worked from home.
How long is the commute from Valemount?
16.7 minutes is the average trip, with 75% of commuters there in under 15 minutes and 9.5% taking 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).