Bowen TownOur island. Our say.Add your name ↗

Homes for workers. Room for local firms.

What it costs to get work done on Bowen

A job has a price. So does the trip. Let the people who keep our islands working live here.

Pick a job. See the pay.
The crewThe crossingThe job

When a crew comes from off-island,
the journey can be part of the bill.

516jobs to explore

4broad pay benchmarks

13islands, each in view

Pay in September 2026 dollarsOfficial CPI · updated 2 Nov 2026

01 / What does the job pay?

One job. A clear comparison.

Choose a trade or job. See its pay in four places. What a worker earns is one part of the price you pay.

516 of 516 jobs · all NOC 2021 groups

Which pay figure?
Which dollars?

Default: September 2026-dollar estimates. We raise the old pay by the rise in prices. These are not measured current wages. Middle pay puts half the workers on each side. Average pay adds their pay and divides by their count.

One job · four places

Carpenters

Middle pay · September 2026 dollarsNOC 72310

CPI adjusted
Start at $0Same scale · pay per hour
  1. Canada$34.35/hour

    September 2026-dollar estimate · Canada CPI +6.9% from 2023-2024 average
    Source period: 2023-2024 · Labour Force Survey

    Original pay & source
    Original median
    $32.12/hour
    Published low / high
    $22.00/hour / $44.23/hour
    Source period
    2023-2024 · Labour Force Survey
    CPI calculation
    170 ÷ 158.979167 = 1.069323. Average of 24 months, 2023-01 to 2024-12.
    Source record
    Revised 2025-11-19 · CSV line 30704
    Read the Job Bank data ↗
  2. British Columbia$34.15/hour

    September 2026-dollar estimate · British Columbia CPI +6.7% from 2023-2024 average
    Source period: 2023-2024 · Labour Force Survey

    -0.6%vs Canada
    Original pay & source
    Original median
    $32.00/hour
    Published low / high
    $23.00/hour / $43.71/hour
    Source period
    2023-2024 · Labour Force Survey
    CPI calculation
    163.5 ÷ 153.200000 = 1.067232. Average of 24 months, 2023-01 to 2024-12.
    Source record
    Revised 2025-11-19 · CSV line 30778
    Read the Job Bank data ↗
  3. Vancouver region: Lower Mainland–Southwest$33.62/hour

    September 2026-dollar estimate · British Columbia CPI +6.7% from 2023-2024 average
    Source period: 2023-2024 · Labour Force Survey

    -2.1%vs Canada
    Original pay & source
    Original median
    $31.50/hour
    Published low / high
    $22.50/hour / $43.00/hour
    Source period
    2023-2024 · Labour Force Survey
    CPI calculation
    163.5 ÷ 153.200000 = 1.067232. Average of 24 months, 2023-01 to 2024-12.
    Source record
    Revised 2025-11-19 · CSV line 30780
    Read the Job Bank data ↗
  4. Vancouver Island and Coast$34.15/hour

    September 2026-dollar estimate · British Columbia CPI +6.7% from 2023-2024 average
    Source period: 2023-2024 · Labour Force Survey

    -0.6%vs Canada
    Original pay & source
    Original median
    $32.00/hour
    Published low / high
    $23.08/hour / $45.00/hour
    Source period
    2023-2024 · Labour Force Survey
    CPI calculation
    163.5 ÷ 153.200000 = 1.067232. Average of 24 months, 2023-01 to 2024-12.
    Source record
    Revised 2025-11-19 · CSV line 30779
    Read the Job Bank data ↗

Source: Job Bank, 19 November 2025 + monthly CPI. A bar shows one job in a broad region. It does not show pay on one island.

A region is bigger than an island.

These bars cover broad regions. They do not show pay on one island.

  • Vancouver: Lower Mainland–Southwest region, not city or CMA data.
  • Vancouver Island and Coast also takes in part of the mainland.

Bowen: Lower Mainland--Southwest region.

Prices rose. We show that.

Canada CPI adjusts Canada pay. BC CPI adjusts BC and both regions. We use the average CPI for the old pay period. The full method and the old figures are below.

Read the CPI source ↗
Want the full table?All 516 jobs, source figures and gaps · follows your search and pay choices

02 / The same service. A bigger bill.

A $390 service
becomes $770.

One firm adds $380 to visit just one island property. That is 97.4% more than its base service price.

This offer is for one check each year.

Source scope: air-cooled standby generators up to 26 kW.

ONE SERVICE VISIT
The service
$390
The island trip
+ $380
The total
$770

Before GST and extra work.

Where: Salt Spring, Pender, Galiano, Saturna and Mayne. “Pender” is the firm’s combined label.

When it applies: one property gets the full trip fee. Shared visits may split it. Both charges are plus GST.

Source: undated listed terms, seen 1 November 2026. This is an offer, not a paid invoice or an island-wide average. The offer does not name Bowen. Read the terms ↗

03 / The costs near you

Bowen: the price of a visit

Some firms list a fee. Others set it when you book. Here is what each source says.

These are service prices, not staff wages. We have kept each stated price and date. CPI is not added to these offers.

Published service terms

Plan the job and the crossing

Gator Plumbing & Drainage

Bowen; Salt Spring; Galiano; Pender; Mayne; Saturna; Gambier; Keats; Denman; Hornby

Ferry and travel built into a quote
Fee not listedUndated offer · seen 1 Nov 2026

Planned kitchen and bath work only. A paid site visit comes before the quote. Ferry fares and travel time are part of the quote. No dollar fee or tax terms are listed here.

Read the source ↗

Source details · 1 records

C20 · Fee not listed

Source scope: Planned major kitchen/bath renovations only; paid prequote site visit; ferry fees and travel time factored into project quote

undated page observed 2026-11-01 · Tax: not specified

Direct supplier evidence includes Denman/Hornby; no dollar surcharge or mainland matched quote, no emergency-service representation.

Source location: Ferry-Accessible Islands We Serve / FAQ Do you charge for ferry travel and travel time?

Original source ↗

04 / Every island has a place here

Thirteen islands. Clear gaps.

Choose an island to see the sources we hold. No local wage has been filled in from a bigger region.

Keep the work close to home.

Let the people who do the work live here.

More homes that workers can afford. Room for local firms. A stronger year-round workforce. Put these at the heart of island planning.

The sources show real travel costs. They do not tell us how much of a bill comes from Islands Trust rules.

Back to the home page ↗

05 / Check the work

The figures are open.

Keep the data. Check a source. Make your own comparison.

Pay in today’s dollars ↓Adjusted and original pay · CSVOriginal job pay ↓All 516 jobs · four places · CSVService costs ↓All 23 records and terms · CSVIsland coverage ↓All 13 region links · CSV

Job Bank data, 19 November 2025 ↗ · Official CPI, released 2026-10-19 ↗ · Full CPI method ↓

How we use the figures

Pay and prices have dates.

We multiply old pay by the latest CPI, then divide by average CPI for its old earnings period. Most pay uses 2023–2024 or 2024. Census 2021 income uses 2020. The original source labels stay in view. Canada CPI is used for Canada; BC CPI is used for BC and both regions. No island CPI is made up.

We give each month equal weight. The survey’s own monthly weights are not on file. These are CPI-adjusted estimates, not a new wage survey. Job Bank can update low-pay figures for later legal minimums; it does not date each update. BC’s general minimum is $18.25/hour from 1 June 2026. We do not change the old source numbers to match it.

A fair gap needs matching dates.

The percent gap is (place pay ÷ chosen base pay − 1) × 100. Units and old earnings periods must match. Both adjusted figures use September 2026 dollars. This does not fix gaps in survey methods, skill or hours. CPI measures changes in prices, not which place costs more to live in.

A gap stays a gap.

A blank means the source has no figure. It never means zero. We do not fill a missing mean with a median. Pay per year stays per year. Some Census pay includes what people earn from their own firms. Doctor figures start with fees paid for care, then take off costs to run the practice. Some regional rates are higher. Some are lower. We have no measured Gulf Island wage premium.

One source can have more than one row.

The 23 service-cost rows include sums from the same source. They are not 23 quotes. Each source has its exact scope, date, tax terms and notes in “Source details.” Quotes, old estimates and listed offers stay distinct from paid bills.

For Tony Aly’s island sites. We keep the source files, hashes and checks so each figure can be traced.

How to read this page

At a glance

Worker pay is one part of the bill.

  1. 01

    Worker pay

    What people earn in the source's broad region.

  2. 02

    Work costs

    A business may charge for staff, tools and other costs.

  3. 03

    Trip costs

    A named quote may add travel, ferries, tax or a stay.

The pay data cover broad areas, not each island. Price-updated pay is an estimate, not a new wage survey. The costs do not measure the Trust's share of a bill.

Sources for this guide

Keep going

More for our island

01Building rules02Our island03Who has signed

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