Photo: Globalphotobank · CC BY-SA 4.0Working-age people in Williams Lake have jobs less often than in 64% of Canadian towns
Before tax, the typical household in Williams Lake brought in $76,500 in 2020; the middle of Canadian towns is $85,900. An hour or more each way is the commute for 5% of workers in Williams Lake; the average is 15.6 minutes. The 2021 census put unemployment in Williams Lake at 7.9%, next to 9.9% for the middle of Canadian towns.
What stands out about work in Williams Lake
A local job centre
6,425 people work in Williams Lake and 3,980 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 15.6 minutes on average, against 26 in the middle of Canadian towns; 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.
Jobs & income in Williams Lake: graded B+
Better than 66% of Canadian towns on three measures together, #93 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.
Each working day, Williams Lake’s workforce swells by 56%
Williams Lake takes in some 5 workers for every resident it sends out. 86% 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.
How long the commute from Williams Lake takes
Statistics Canada’s own average, timed exactly rather than by band, is 14.2 minutes. 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.
2,990 people come into Williams Lake to work, most from Electoral Area E, Cariboo and Electoral Area F, Cariboo
- Electoral Area E, Cariboo1,090
- Electoral Area F, Cariboo840
- Electoral Area D, Cariboo720
- Mile 108 Recreational Ranch105
- Kamloops30
- Cariboo K20
- Quesnel15
- Electoral Area H, Cariboo15
- Electoral Area L, Cariboo15
- Williams Lake 115
Of everyone working in Williams Lake, 47% come in from elsewhere; 1,090 make the 7 km trip from Electoral Area E, Cariboo. Going the other way, Electoral Area D, Cariboo is the biggest single destination (270).
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census (98-10-0459): commuting flows between municipalities (census subdivisions), rounded to 5; linked names have their own pages.
Work for 72% of 15-to-64s in Williams Lake
Of the 8 other places of 2,500 people or more in the Cariboo census division, 5 have a smaller share of 15-to-64s in work.
Take in all adults, retirees with them, and only 56% were working. The monthly Labour Force Survey, which covers the wider area, put its employment rate at 59% in October 2026. Participation, the share of residents 15 and over working or looking for work, came to 61%. The figures are a snapshot of 11 May 2021, when pandemic rules still kept many people out of work or at home.
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.
Earnings at home in Williams Lake: households
Before tax, 2020: lower than in 51% of Canadian towns.
Williams Lake’s median is 12% below the middle of British Columbia’s towns ($86,900). Of the 8 other places of 2,500 or more in the Cariboo census division, 5 have 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).
12% of commuters from Williams Lake go without a car
Transit takes 3.4% of commuters, close to the middle of Canadian towns. On foot: 7.3% of commuters, well above the 4.6% in the middle of British Columbia’s towns. By car, truck or van: 87% of commuters, much as in the middle of British Columbia’s towns. Home was the workplace for 7.7%, under the 21% in the middle of Canadian towns.
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census: main mode of commuting; average durations by mode from table 98-10-0458 (whole municipalities only).
In the Cariboo census division, 14% fewer people receive EI than in 2019
In the twelve months to August 2026 the number rose by 7%. The count topped out in April 2021 at 3,550 people, 1.8 times the 2019 average. For each 100 residents of working age in the division, about 4.7 are on EI.
Statistics Canada, Employment Insurance beneficiaries by census division (14-10-0323): all income benefits, not seasonally adjusted. EI beneficiaries: one figure for all of the Cariboo 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).
Williams Lake earns A− for walkability
Better than 83% of Canadian towns on two measures together, #121 of 254 in British Columbia.
OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL); active commuting from the 2021 Census.
Out of 658 Canadian towns of 8,000 to 15,500, Williams Lake comes 210th on jobs and income
| # | Place | People | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Household income | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Silverwood Heights Saskatchewan | 8,153 | 81% | 5.8% | $118K | A+ |
| 2 | North Saanich British Columbia | 12,986 | 85% | 5.9% | $121K | A+ |
| 3 | Sillery Quebec | 13,950 | 81% | 6.2% | $120K | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 16 | Revelstoke British Columbia | 9,464 | 77% | 10% | $97K | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 23 | Saltspring Island British Columbia | 12,429 | 84% | 5.5% | $77K | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 208 | Uplands Ontario | 8,819 | 68% | 11% | $114K | B+ |
| 209 | Crestview-Tanglewood Ontario | 8,302 | 73% | 12% | $102K | B+ |
| 210 | Williams Lake British Columbia | 11,462 | 72% | 7.9% | $77K | B+ |
| 211 | Vieux-Montréal Quebec | 14,615 | 79% | 7.9% | $87K | B+ |
| 212 | Lakewood Saskatchewan | 14,880 | 75% | 9.7% | $79K | B+ |
| … | ||||||
| 658 | René-Goupil Quebec | 11,663 | 58% | 15% | $54K | D− |
Ordered by Jobs & income Grade: the top three, the places either side of Williams Lake, and others among British Columbia’s towns.
Around Williams Lake: jobs, pay and the commute
| Place | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Household income | Average trip | Jobs | Walk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Williams Lake | 72% | 7.9% | $77K | 15.6 min | B+ | A− |
| Electoral Area D, Cariboo 6.4 km | 79% | 6.5% | $86K | 20.9 min | A | C− |
| Electoral Area E, Cariboo 6.8 km | 77% | 7.4% | $92K | 22.7 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 Williams Lake, where it comes from, and what it leaves out.
- In work. Why 15 to 64? Otherwise retirees would pull the rate down in older towns. The census can’t say how old a neighbourhood’s workers are, so the count of people in work takes every 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. The census median total income of households in 2020, before tax; a neighbourhood’s is estimated from its dissemination areas’ income groups.
- Trip times. One way, on a usual day, from the census’s travel-time bands. Band midpoints overstate it a little next to the figure Statistics Canada times.
- Where people commute. Who travels where, from the census: workers with a regular workplace, sorted by the municipality they live in and the one they work in.
- 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. A monthly household survey by Statistics Canada, reported for metro areas and economic regions only. It supplies a recent rate next to the 2021 census figure.
- 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.
Questions about work in Williams Lake
Where do people in Williams Lake work?
86% work in Williams Lake itself; of those who leave, the most go to Electoral Area D, Cariboo (270), then Mile 108 Recreational Ranch (45).
How many jobs are there in Williams Lake?
Some 6,425 people worked in Williams Lake at the 2021 census: 1.6 jobs per working resident with a fixed workplace. Statistics Canada counted 690 businesses with employees in June 2026.
What is the unemployment rate in Williams Lake?
In October 2026 the Labour Force Survey put the Cariboo economic region at 6.1%; the 2021 census, which counts the town itself, found 7.9%, against 9.9% in the middle of Canadian towns.
What is the average household income in Williams Lake?
At $76,500 before tax in 2020, the median household in Williams Lake compares with $85,900 in the middle of Canadian towns.
How do people in Williams Lake get to work?
Driving takes 87% of commuters to work, 3.4% take public transit, 7.3% walk and 1% cycle, and on census day 7.7% of those in work were at home.
How long is the commute from Williams Lake?
About 15.6 minutes on average, with 74% under a quarter-hour and 5% at 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, 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).