Compare areas

The areas on a map

Overall grades compared

We borrowed the four axes of Sosanggongin365, a Korean small-business data service (growth, stability, draw and spending power), and filled them with public data. Growth is net new licences (openings minus closures, per 100 businesses), shop fit-out permits (per 100 storefronts, 24 months) and 10-year land value growth. Stability is the 3-year survival rate of restaurants and of cafés and quick-service food, the vacancy rate and the closure rate. Draw is bus alightings, SkyTrain arrivals, pedestrians at intersections, students, and arts and culture venues. Spending power is household income, residents and office workers. Each measure becomes a percentile among the 22 areas (lowest 0, highest 100). An axis score is the mean of its percentiles, and the overall score is the mean of the four axes. Grades split the score ranking into five bands (grade 1 = top 20%), so they only show where an area stands among the 22. There are no sales data, and giving the four axes equal weight is a simple rule we chose.

The areas in one table

Bus and station figures are average daily alightings at the stops and stations within a 5-minute walk () of the area boundary, transfers included. Neighbouring areas share some stops and stations, so do not add areas together. Do not add bus and SkyTrain figures together either. Consumer-facing businesses are licences active in , counted in 13 trade groups; openings and closures come from the same licence data. Residents, household income and other mother tongue (the share of residents whose mother tongue is neither English nor French) are estimates from the 2021 census, shared out by how much of each census area lies within 800 m of the boundary.

Store site conditions compared

Land value is the median land assessment per m² of the parcels inside the area boundary (City of Vancouver 2025 property tax data, BC Assessment). It is not rent or sale price. We did not use the 2026 data because the split between land and building values changed (the totals are similar). "1-year change in assessed value" is the change in land and building together. Commercial and central zones is the share of the area (roads excluded) that the City’s zoning map puts in commercial zones (C-1 to C-8 and others) or in central and historic districts such as Downtown, Chinatown and Gastown. The rest is site-specific zoning (CD-1), residential or industrial. Liquor licences are premises on the BC liquor licence list, placed by address and counted inside the area boundary. Survival rates are our own estimates from City of Vancouver business licence records: the share of shops first licensed in that period that still had a licence 3 years later (or after). With fewer than 10 openings we show "Small sample".

Surroundings compared

Students are those enrolled at schools within a 10-minute walk (800 m) of the area boundary (BC Ministry of Education; only schools whose names matched). Arts and culture venues are places in the City’s cultural spaces inventory (2020) within 5 minutes (400 m). Shops are places in the Overture places list inside the boundary (confidence 0.5 or higher). Ground-floor shop zones is the share of the area that the City’s long-term development plan puts in mixed-use or historic districts with shops on the ground floor. Road works, parking meter rates, parking tickets and street service requests are counted on the area’s streets (within 40 m of the boundary). Road works and street requests are sorted fewest first.

Foot traffic and costs compared

Pedestrians is the median evening-peak pedestrian count at intersections on the area’s streets (within 40 m of the boundary), counted by the City in 2011–2019. The counts are old and may differ from today, and areas with few intersections can swing. Good sidewalks is the share of sidewalk segments rated "good" or "very good". The BIA levy is the yearly amount per $1M of assessed value in the City’s 2025-2026 table, and its share of commercial property tax. Land value growth is the 10-year (2015→2025) average yearly change of the median parcel. The parking ticket change compares 2025 with 2022; 2020 and 2021 are left out because COVID made them unusual.

How many storefronts are empty?