(who compiled the raw numbers
for us), measuring income for the
under-35 group is a good way of
measuring the overall economic
health of a community.
"It's one of the most mobile
portions of the population," explains
Miron. "When we see under-35 house-
hold incomes popping up, that's an
indication that we have relatively low
unemployment, higher participation
rates and higher incomes. If you're a
young family and trying
to figure out where the
best place is to raise a
young family, the places
where you see the high-
est incomes under 35 are
a good indicator."
As for the overall top
10 list, while there has
been a repeat standout
performance from some
of last year's winners
(Fort St. John is number
one again, by a decent
margin; neighbouring
com mu n it y D aw s on
Creek moves up a few
spots to number two;
North Van and Coquitlam hold their
ground in the top five), there are also
some noteworthy shifts. The City of
Vancouver falls down seven spots, out
of the top 10, while Squamish leaps eight
spots to number four. Why? As you might
guess, Vancouver proper is faced with a
variety of constraints that limit its ability
to grow—both physically (through
adding more people) and eco-
nomically (fewer and fewer work-
ers can afford to live there on local
incomes). Those people move to
places like Langley or Delta or
Squamish—all big winners on this year's
list. "It's not necessarily that they want
to live in some of these communities,"
adds Miron, "but that is where the land
is available. These communities improve
because they can physically grow."
One final note: unher-
a lded, perhaps, but
worth mentioning is
the big jump from two
communities low on the
2015 list, Prince Rupert
(number 36 last year)
and Terrace (number
34). This year PR and
Terrace are 24 and 25
respectively—and a big
reason for the rise is their
five-year income growth,
which is over 20 per cent
in each case. As Miron
points out, it's a sign of
good things to come for
those two communities,
currently in the crosshairs of a slew of
energy development plans.
"Overall it means that a lot more
money is flowing into the local economy.
The service sector will increase in those
economies, and we will see those being
much more wealthy and economically
healthy—it's a big positive feedback loop."
The BesT CiTies
Methodology
To evaluate B.C.'s Best
Cities for Work, we looked
at six economic indicators,
each weighted differently,
that we believe reflect
the health of a city's job
market. each statistic was
divided or multiplied to
come up with a score
suitable to its weighting.
rank
1 Fort St. John
2 DawSon Creek
3 north VanCouVer
(DiStriCt)
4 SquamiSh
5 Coquitlam
6 langley (DiStriCt)
7 Surrey
8 Delta
9 new weStminSter
10 Port Coquitlam
11 kelowna
12 riChmonD
city
As for the over-
all top 10 list,
there has been a
repeat standout
performance
from some of
last year's win-
ners—with Fort
St. John at num-
ber one again, by
a decent margin
36 BcBusiness JanuaRY 2016
f o r w o r k i n B . C .
BUILDING BC – ONE BUSINESS
LEADER AT A TIME.
