Photo: formulanone · CC BY-SA 2.0The share of 15-to-64s with a job in Marpole trails that of 74% of Canadian towns
Residents of Marpole take 30.1 minutes to reach work on average; the middle of Canadian towns is 26. Transit is the way to work for 29% of commuters here. In 2020, a household at the middle of Marpole had $68,200 before tax, next to $85,900 for the middle of Canadian towns.
What Marpole’s work numbers say
Lower incomes than most towns
The middle of Canadian towns is $85,900, and the median household here had $68,200 before tax in 2020. Household income ↓
Longer trips than most towns
Commutes take 30.1 minutes on average, against 26 in the middle of Canadian towns. Getting to work ↓
Many work from home
On census day, 31% of those in work were working at home; the middle of Canadian towns is 21%. Getting 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 Marpole: D
Better than 9% of Canadian towns on three measures together, #245 of 254 in British Columbia.
Its strongest measure is household income; its weakest, trip times.
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.
What households in Marpole earn
Before tax, 2020: lower than in 71% of Canadian towns.
Marpole’s median is 22% below the middle of British Columbia’s towns ($86,900). Of the 95 other places of 2,500 or more in the Greater Vancouver census division, 90 have a higher median. Incomes here are 2020’s and include the pandemic payments, CERB among them, that propped up the lower end.
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census: median total income of households in 2020, before tax (a neighbourhood’s estimated from its dissemination areas’ income groups).
Walk, cycle or ride transit: the choice of 36% of Marpole’s commuters
Fewer drive than in the middle of British Columbia’s towns: 62% against 87%. Home was the workplace for 31%, where the middle of Canadian towns has 21%.
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.
The share of 15-to-64s in work in Marpole: 70%
Of the 95 other places of 2,500 people or more in the Greater Vancouver census division, 18 have a smaller share of 15-to-64s in work.
By October 2026, the Labour Force Survey had 63% of the wider area’s adults in work. Add those looking for a job to those with one, and 64% of residents 15 and over were in the labour force. Across all ages 15 and over the share in work falls to 57%: many residents are past working age. Pandemic rules were in force on census day, 11 May 2021; the Labour Force Survey shows how jobs have moved since.
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.
EI claims in the Greater Vancouver census division run 63% above their 2019 level
In January 2021 it reached 117,570, the most in the series and 3.3 times the 2019 average. That is about 3.6 people on EI for every 100 aged 15 to 64 in the division. Over the year to August 2026, the count rose by 4%.
Statistics Canada, Employment Insurance beneficiaries by census division (14-10-0323): all income benefits, not seasonally adjusted. EI beneficiaries published for the Greater Vancouver census division, not by town. EI counts are context, not part of any grade.
People receiving Employment Insurance each month, as a share of the 2019 average (100).
Walking in Marpole earns A+
Better than almost every Canadian town on two measures together, #24 of 254 in British Columbia.
OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL); active commuting from the 2021 Census.
259th of 308: where Marpole ranks among Canadian towns of 19,700 to 38,000
| # | Place | People | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Household income | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Yellowknife Northwest Territories | 22,858 | 80% | 5.8% | $148K | A+ |
| 2 | Whitehorse Yukon | 34,129 | 82% | 5.6% | $112K | A+ |
| 3 | Arcola East Saskatchewan | 33,823 | 79% | 7.7% | $123K | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 7 | Fort St. John British Columbia | 24,383 | 76% | 8.9% | $102K | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 21 | Squamish British Columbia | 28,578 | 83% | 6.8% | $112K | A |
| 22 | Colwood British Columbia | 22,794 | 80% | 5.1% | $102K | A |
| … | ||||||
| 257 | East L'Amoreaux Ontario | 21,533 | 59% | 18% | $85K | D |
| 258 | Newtonbrook West Ontario | 23,978 | 67% | 14% | $80K | D |
| 259 | Marpole British Columbia | 28,182 | 70% | 10% | $68K | D |
| 260 | Milliken Ontario | 24,431 | 57% | 19% | $83K | D |
| 261 | Fenside-Parkwoods Ontario | 20,615 | 66% | 16% | $79K | D |
| … | ||||||
| 308 | Parc-Extension Quebec | 29,066 | 61% | 16% | $48K | D− |
Ordered by Jobs & income Grade: the top three, the places either side of Marpole, and others among British Columbia’s towns.
Neighbouring places to Marpole, compared
| Place | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Household income | Average trip | Jobs | Walk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Marpole | 70% | 10% | $68K | 30.1 min | D | A+ |
| Oakridge 1.8 km | 68% | 10% | $90K | 27.8 min | C | A+ |
| Sunset 2.8 km | 72% | 8.9% | $93K | 31.2 min | C | A+ |
| Kerrisdale 2.9 km | 68% | 8.2% | $93K | 27.1 min | C+ | A+ |
| Shaughnessy 3.7 km | 70% | 8.7% | $139K | 26 min | B | A+ |
| South Cambie 4.1 km | 77% | 7.7% | $98K | 27.1 min | B | A+ |
| Riley Park 4.3 km | 80% | 7.1% | $107K | 27.6 min | A− | 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 Marpole, where it comes from, and what it leaves out.
- 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.
- 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. 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. 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. 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.
- Which towns we compare. Towns and city neighbourhoods of 2,500 people or more, never a whole city and never a First Nations reserve. Middles are medians.
- Neighbourhood figures. Everything here sums the dissemination areas inside Marpole’s lines, since the census has no neighbourhood profile; where people commute is on Vancouver’s page.
Questions about work in Marpole
What is the average household income in Marpole?
At $68,200 before tax in 2020, the median household in Marpole compares with $85,900 in the middle of Canadian towns.
How do people in Marpole get to work?
62% of commuters drive, 29% take public transit, 5.4% walk and 1.3% cycle; 31% of everyone in work worked at home on census day.
How many jobs are there in Marpole?
Statistics Canada counts jobs for whole municipalities only; Vancouver has the total and the commuting flows.
What is the unemployment rate in Marpole?
Two figures answer it: 10% on census day in May 2021 (9.9% in the middle of Canadian towns), and 6.7% for the Vancouver metro area in the Labour Force Survey of October 2026.
Sources: Statistics Canada, 2021 Census of Population (Census Profile) · 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).