With a mission to inform, empower, celebrate and advocate for British Columbia's current and aspiring business leaders, BCBusiness go behind the headlines and bring readers face to face with the key issues and people driving business in B.C.
Issue link: http://digital.canadawide.com/i/1490198
Category weights shown in brackets. Full methodology on page 40 JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2023 BCBUSINESS.CA 33 RENTAL VACANCY RATE PER 10,000 POPULATION (10%) RESIDENTIAL SALES PER 10,000 POPULATION (10%) HOUSING STARTS PER 10,000 POPULATION (10%) CHANGE IN JOBS PER 10,000 POPULATION (10%) AVERAGE ANNUAL UNEMPLOYMENT RATE (10%) ECONOMIC DIVERSITY (15%) 2022 RANK 0.4% 166 204 662 5.0% 797 1 0.8% 129 175 150 5.1% 757 2 2.0% 166 102 147 4.5% 869 3 0.5% 189 46 22 4.4% 821 4 1.4% 162 34 662 5.0% 754 5 2.0% 98 207 150 5.1% 732 6 0.6% 156 143 243 5.2% 788 7 0.5% 157 172 22 4.4% 897 8 1.6% 80 16 22 4.4% 770 9 2.6% 130 43 359 5.7% 796 10 0.0% 182 84 662 5.0% 1,153 11 1.2% 144 72 662 5.0% 756 12 0.6% 131 44 359 5.7% 826 13 0.6% 130 55 147 4.5% 911 14 0.8% 127 96 150 5.1% 714 15 1.0% 113 83 150 5.1% 704 16 0.9% 149 70 243 5.2% 780 17 Vancouver Island put forth another strong showing, with its communities once again representing half of this year's top 10. However, this belies the region's somewhat more tumultuous results, which saw Sidney and Campbell River (No. 27) jump 15 and 11 spots, respectively, while Comox (No. 14), Courtenay (No. 24) and Saanich (No. 31) all saw double-digit drops. Nevertheless, overall healthy population growth, secure household finances, solid residential sales and development and the tightest unem- ployment rates in the province continue to make the region a top contender. The performance of B.C.'s Interior and Northern communities were relatively sta- ble, with most seeing only minor shuffling in this year's ranking. Continuing trends from years prior, the Thompson-Okanagan had healthy representation in the top half of this year's list, with only Kamloops (No. 39) seeing a double-digit change as low housing starts drove a drop of 11 spots. THE COMEBACK KID Squamish—one of the province's fastest- g row ing communities over the last decade—is no stranger at the top of our annual list. In fact, this is its fourth time in the No. 1 position in the nine-year history of our ranking. After spending an unprecedented two-year stint in the lower half of the pack, Squamish has made a commanding comeback, propelled by high growth, healthy housing sales, an active construction industry, strong job creation and a low unemployment rate. According to Squamish Mayor Armand Hurford, there's a key factor behind the com- munity's success that our ranking doesn't quite capture: "One of the things that does set Squamish apart is our access to the out- doors and the lifestyle here—it's a very desir- able place to live, work and play." As affordability challenges in nearby Metro Vancouver spur residents to look fur- ther afield for housing opportunities, Squa- mish has been capitalizing on its relatively lower costs by leveraging those offerings to attract new residents—as well as like- minded entrepreneurs. "Business owners have developed their business around this lifestyle," says Hurford. "We've seen success