Squamish has a higher median income than its Sea to Sky neighbours and higher than three other similarly-sized communities in B.C.
On measures of income inequality, Squamish had lukewarm numbers, neither overly high nor low.
These were some key findings about the community following its latest results from the 2021 census, which were released earlier in July.
Squamish workers' median individual total income was $51,200 in 2020, beating out the median income of Whistlerites, who reported $44,800.
Locals also had a higher median income than Pemberton residents, who reported $49,600, while folks in Lions Bay reported $50,800 as their median.
While Squamish residents seem to be making better money in comparison with their neighbours, the director of SFU's city program said it would be better to compare locals' income with similarly-sized communities.
Andy Yan said that Squamish more closely resembles Cranbrook, Pitt Meadows and White Rock on a population basis.
As of 2021, Squamish has a population of about 23,800. The other three respective communities have populations of about 20,500, 19,100 and 21,900.
There are still clear differences between these communities, but they provide better benchmarks than the much larger communities in the Metro Vancouver area.
"I think to [look at] those comp[arison] communities, I think is a way to kind of understand, OK, you're doing worse or are you doing better?" said Yan.
"But I think there's always this ongoing and just kind of profound concern that we are becoming a more unequal society."
In 2020, the median individual total income for White Rock residents was $43,600, as reported in the latest census.
Pitt Meadows' median was $46,800, while Cranbrook's was $41,200.
In terms of measuring inequality in a community, Squamish scores 0.303 on the Gini index for total household income.
"That it's like, you know, it's not high. It's not low," said Yan. "It's the fact that there is a level of inequality. It's the idea that [about 30%] of the wealth would have to move around before you'd have a level of equity."
The Gini index is a measurement of social stratification in a community, with a score of 1 being a perfectly unequal society where one person controls all of the wealth. It varies between 0 (perfect equality) and 1 (extreme inequality).
The higher the Gini index, between 0 and 1, the greater the inequality, according to the National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies.
The respective numbers for White Rock, Pitt Meadows and Cranbrook were 0.395, 0.284 and 0.288.
On a broader basis, the Greater Vancouver area has a Gini index of 0.366.
Perhaps the most stratified community is West Vancouver, with a number of 0.574.
Finally, there were also census numbers available for how many low-income people were in each community.
The census numbers showed 1,480 people in Squamish who were classified as low income by Statistics Canada, based on the after-tax low-income measure. This amounts to about 6.3% of the population.
By comparison, the benchmark communities that Yan named, White Rock, Pitt Meadows and Cranbrook, had low-income populations of 2,645, 1,235, and 1,795, respectively.
On a percentage basis, this would be 12.8%, 6.5% and 9.1%, for those respective communities.
The thresholds for being considered low income by the agency are based on household after-tax income and number of people.
A one-person household making $26,503 after tax is considered low-income.
The thresholds for two, three, four and five people households are $37,480, $45,904, $53,005 and $59,261, respectively.
