How We Crunched the Numbers
To determine the most economically resilient cities in B.C., we examined 10 indicators with weightings ranging from 5 to 15 percent, including six carried over from last year's Most Resilient Cities ranking and four new ones. We reconfigured this year's indicators to be less specific to pandemic recovery and to consider economic resilience more broadly, including its social and environmental aspects. Each city received a score out of 100 points and is ranked accordingly.
Five-year population growth (maximum score of 10 points)
This figure represents the population growth for each city from 2016 to 2021. We gave the highest-growth city 10 points and scored the others in proportion to that.
Household financial vulnerability (15 points) This figure–an index created by Environics Analytics–looks at a range of household financial variables, including debt, liquid assets and discretionary income, to show how precarious a typical household's finances are in a given city. The higher the index value, the more vulnerable households are on average. We gave the lowest value 15 points and scored the other cities in relation to that.
Resident sense of belonging (5 points)* We derived this indicator from Environics Analytics' Communitylife survey. Cities with a greater share of residents reporting a “very strong” or “somewhat strong” sense of belonging scored higher than those with more people reporting a “somewhat weak” or “very weak” one. We assumed that cities with a stronger sense of community had stronger social resilience. The community with the greatest sense of belonging received a score of 5, with the others scoring in proportion.
Residential greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions per 10,000 residents (5 points)*
This number reveals the at-home GHG emissions produced by a city annually for each 10,000 people, measured in tonnes of CO2. Derived from B.C.'S Provincial Inventory of GHG emissions, it reflects residential energy use, including emissions estimates from electricity, natural gas, wood, oil and propane consumption. Given the economic risk and uncertainty posed by climate change, we assumed a positive correlation between a city's environmental and economic resilience. Communities using less energy and/or cleaner sources see fewer emissions on average, so the city with the lowest value received 5 points, with the others scoring accordingly.
Rental vacancy rate per 10,000 residents
(10 points)*
This indicator reflects the reported vacancy rate for rental housing units from Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp.'s annual Rental Market Survey. Housing market observers such as the Royal Bank of Canada consider 3 to 5 percent a healthy rental vacancy rate. So a vacancy rate of 4 percent received the maximum score of 10, with cities above or below that value scoring proportionately less.
Residential sales per 10,000 residents
(10 points)
This number, from quarterly BC Assessment data, reflects the yearto-date sales totals for single-family and strata residential properties to the end of September 2021. After dividing sales totals by total city population, we multiplied that figure by 10,000 to determine the number of sales per 10,000 residents. We gave the highest value 10 points and scored the others accordingly.
Housing starts per 10,000 residents
(10 points)
We derived this value from the year-to-date housing starts from CMHC'S monthly Starts and Completions Survey to the end of September 2021. The city with the highest number of housing starts per 10,000 residents received a score of 10, with the others scoring in relation to that.
Change in jobs per 10,000 residents
(10 points)
This figure measures the change in the employed labour force from January to September 2021, derived from Statcan's monthly Labour Force Survey. We scored the year-to-date difference in jobs out of a maximum value of 10.
Average annual unemployment rate
(10 points)
For this indicator, we averaged unemployment rates for each city from the first three quarters of the year. The averages were derived from rates reported in Statcan's monthly Labour Force Survey for January through September 2021. We gave the lowest average 10 points and evaluated the others in relation to that.
Economic diversity
(15 points)*
We derived this value by applying the Herfindahlhirschman Index–a common means of measuring market concentration–to Statcan employment data to determine the labour force diversity of a city's residents. The closer this number is to 10,000, the less diverse a city's workforce is, while a number closer to 0 represents a more diverse workforce. We gave the lowest value 15 points and scored the others in relation to that.
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