What it's like to live in Vernon

The city and the region

The 2021 Census counted 44,519 people in the City of Vernon, up 11% from 2016, and 67,086 in the wider Vernon area. BC Stats' 2025 estimates are 49,527 for the city and 73,500 for the census agglomeration. The City describes Vernon as the economic anchor of the North Okanagan, serving a regional population of more than 100,000. Next door, the District of Coldstream (about 11,380 people in 2025) is made up of Coldstream in the west and Lavington in the east.

Climate

Up the hill it's a different world: SilverStar lists 700 cm of annual snowfall.

Health care

• Vernon Jubilee Hospital provides 24-hour emergency and trauma services, acute and obstetrical care and core specialties, including chemotherapy, CT scanning, an intensive care unit and general surgery. It had 205 funded beds at the end of fiscal 2023/24.
• Vernon Urgent and Primary Care Centre, at 3105 28th Avenue downtown, offers same-day care for non-emergency concerns by appointment, 9:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. daily, including for people without a family doctor. Book at 250-541-1097.
• Finding a family doctor: register on B.C.'s Health Connect Registry, or call 8-1-1 if you can't register online.

Schools and education

• School District 22 serves Vernon, Coldstream, Lavington, Lumby and Cherryville with 14 elementary and 5 secondary schools, plus online learning (vLearn). Secondary schools are Clarence Fulton, Kalamalka, Vernon Secondary, W.L. Seaton and Charles Bloom (Lumby).
• French Immersion: early (K–7) and late (Grades 6/7) at École Beairsto, and Grades 8–12 at W.L. Seaton Secondary.
• Independent schools listed by the Ministry of Education include Vernon Christian School (K–12), Pleasant Valley Christian Academy and St James.
• Okanagan College's Vernon campus overlooks Kalamalka Lake and offers Associate of Arts and Science degrees, computer information systems, writing and publishing, health care assistant, early childhood education and trades training. BC Transit Route 90 connects Vernon with UBC Okanagan in Kelowna.

Getting around

• Vernon sits where Highways 97 and 6 meet; the Trans-Canada is about 45 minutes north.
• Kelowna International Airport (YLW) is about 30 minutes south, with 21 direct routes including Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver.
• The Vernon Regional Transit System runs local Routes 1 to 9 plus regional routes to Enderby, Lumby and UBC Okanagan.
• Vernon Regional Airport, about 10 minutes from downtown, serves general aviation with a 1,072-metre runway.

Lakes, trails and SilverStar

• SilverStar Mountain Resort: 133 marked runs, a 760 m vertical and a ski-in, ski-out village. Next door, Sovereign Lake Nordic Centre in Silver Star Provincial Park has 50 km of groomed trails; the park is 22 km from Vernon.
• Kalamalka Lake Provincial Park: more than 14 km of trails and three buoyed swimming bays, Jade, Juniper and Cosens.
• Beaches: the City's directory lists 30 beach and lake-access spots, including Kal Beach on Kalamalka Lake and Kin Beach and Paddlewheel Park on Okanagan Lake.
• Ellison Provincial Park: 220 hectares on Okanagan Lake, about 16 km from downtown, with western Canada's only freshwater dive park.
• Okanagan Rail Trail: a former rail line turned multi-use trail from Coldstream toward Kelowna with an easy 1.3% grade, linked to downtown through Polson Park. One section near the Lake Country boundary isn't finished yet.
• Grey Canal Trail: follows a historic irrigation canal built from 1906 to 1914 around Coldstream, Vernon and Swan Lake.
• Swan Lake: a wildlife management area on a major migration corridor where more than 200 bird species occur.
• Golf: Tourism Vernon lists Predator Ridge (two courses), The Rise, Vernon Golf & Country Club, Hillview and Spallumcheen, with a season from April to October.

Arts, events and hockey

• Kal Tire Place is home to the Vernon Vipers hockey team, with 3,006 fixed seats.
• Vernon and District Performing Arts Centre has a 750-seat main theatre.
• Vernon Winter Carnival, founded in 1961, bills itself as Western Canada's largest winter carnival; the 2027 carnival runs February 5 to 14.
• Vernon Farmers' Market: Mondays and Thursdays at Kal Tire Place and Saturdays on Kalamalka Lake Road.
• The City names Davison Orchards, Planet Bee and Historic O'Keefe Ranch among the area's agri-tourism attractions, and Okanagan Spirits has distilled in Vernon since 2004.

Work and the economy

The City of Vernon describes a diverse economy spanning professional services, forestry, agriculture, tourism, technology, manufacturing and retail. Major employers it lists include Interior Health, School District 22, the City and the Regional District, Okanagan College, Tolko Industries, Kal Tire, Okanagan Spring Brewery, tekmar Control Systems, Kingfisher Boats and Davison Orchards.

Be realistic: the Thompson-Okanagan unemployment rate was 7.2% in August 2026, above B.C.'s 6.6%, and WorkBC notes the region's rate is consistently higher than the province's. Many people who move here bring their work with them.

Common questions

Last reviewed October 2, 2026 by Sean Phillips, REALTOR®.