With unemployment rates that have typically trended above the provincial average, 68% of employment here is in the service-producing sector. Projected growth of jobs 2018-2028: 29.2% (3,800 jobs).
By Charlene Rooke
Terrace
COAST MOUNTAIN COLLEGE
Where: Prince Rupert, Smithers, Hazelton and Haida Gwaii campuses round out the North Coast regional college.
What: The Freida Diesing School of Northwest Coast Art in Terrace is the only First Nations northern art program of its kind in Canada. The Applied Coastal Ecology program is a gem of the Prince Rupert campus, Smithers offers workplace-ready business and social/human services, and the Haida Gwaii campus in Masset offered a new business administration certificate this past fall.
Size: 30-acre main campus and nearly 6,000 students over five locations.
Community: The Terrace campus has a yurt and a longhouse for campus and community activities, a new fitness centre and student-prepared food and catering through the Waap Haawk Cafeteria. Get treatments from esthetics students at The Spa in Smithers. The Hazelton and Haida Gwaii campuses offer summer Field Schools immersed in aspects of local First Nations culture and history.
BUY
Terrace single-family residential properties were up 9% in 2019 (average value $312,000), condos were flat (average value $120,100 and two-bedrooms rent for around $1,500). Condos on the resale market get snapped up quickly: recent listings were in the $150,000 range.