Five-year average
household income
growth
This figure represents data from
2010 to 2015. We present the
actual percentage growth, with
a floor of 0 and ceiling of 30 to
arrive at a score out of 30 (30%
of total score)
average
household income
This figure represents data
from 2015. We took the raw
number and divided it by 10,000
to arrive at a score out of 15
(15% of total score)
average household
income under 35
This figure represents the average
household income for household
maintainers, or primary income
earners, under the age of 35 in
2015. Again, the score is derived
by taking the number and dividing
it by 10,000 to get a score out of
15 (15% of total score)
Five-year
population growth
This figure represents data from
2010 to 2015. We present the actual
percentage growth, with a floor of 0
and ceiling of 10 to arrive at a score
out of 10 (10% of total score)
unemployment rate
This figure uses the unemploy-
ment rate from the September
2015 Labour Market Survey. We
took the number 10 and subtracted
the community's unemployment
rate from it to arrive at a score out
of 10, with a floor of 0 and a ceiling
of 10 (10% of total score)
percentage oF
households with
university degrees
We took this percentage for the
year 2015 and capped the score
out of 20 (20% of total score)
a note about
exclusions:
We only considered cities with
more than 10,000 permanent
residents. We excluded bedroom
communities, such as West
Vancouver, Port Moody and
White Rock, which have high
incomes but relatively small job
markets. And we didn't consider
UBC, which technically is its own
jurisdiction.
Finally, it should be mentioned
that while we believe Environics'
data is the best available, it is
not without its limitations. Our
income numbers, for example, are
produced using Statistics Canada
and Canada Revenue Agency
data projected forward to 2015.
And the unemployment rate uses
figures from Statistics Canada's
September 2015 Labour Force
Survey, which only calculates
a regional number and will not
reflect changes that occurred in
the latter half of 2015.
Category weights shown in brackets. Full methodology below
27.3% $126,850 $105,086 7.4% 5.5% 9.4% 71.8
28.0% $96,902 $69,276 9.9% 5.5% 8.6% 67.6
11.4% $130,035 $114,078 5.3% 6.1% 32.1% 65.0
16.5% $99,174 $72,716 10.4% 6.1% 15.9% 63.5
11.5% $94,206 $72,190 8.3% 6.1% 25.1% 60.3
11.5% $107,591 $92,254 9.5% 6.1% 15.2% 60.1
11.6% $95,139 $73,228 10.9% 6.1% 16.8% 59.1
11.2% $108,061 $88,946 4.6% 6.1% 19.3% 58.7
11.6% $78,080 $61,320 8.8% 6.1% 23.8% 58.2
11.6% $100,569 $79,326 6.9% 6.1% 17.3% 57.7
16.0% $87,555 $68,245 6.8% 5.7% 14.9% 57.6
11.5% $87,026 $69,385 6.5% 6.1% 28.5% 57.5
5-Year
income
growth (30%)
average
household
income (15%)
average
household income
under 35 (15%)
5-Year
population
growth (10%)
unemploYment
rate (10%)
households
with degrees
(20%)
score
(100%)
To compare this year's
ranking to last year's, go to
BCBusiness.ca/bestcities
JANUARY 2016 bcbusiness 37 BCBUSiNESS.CA
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