If you want to live and work on Salt Spring you've come to the right place! Here you'll find a laid back community of creative enterprising folks from all walks of life who enjoy living in a small, rural community surrounded by natural beauty. With 10,000 inhabitants, Salt Spring has attracted a diverse population of individuals and families who come here to live and work. Here are more insights on living and working on Salt Spring Island.
Live Here
Life here is full of all the rural charm one would expect in a small, island community. Being able to blend work with play is seamless here. Take a lunch-break, hike into the woods or on a mountain path. When the mood strikes enjoy a kayak paddle or a dip in one of our freshwater lakes to end your workday – these are just a few of the lifestyle options available here. Our rural environment brings people closer to the gifts of nature and a way to slow down, refocus, reenergize, and breathe.
One of the many ways living on Salt Spring is unique is it’s reputation for attracting and hosting numerous and varied year-round artistic, cultural and intellectual activities – from ArtSpring Theatre and the Pitch Fork Social, where talent from all over the world perform live, to engaging Salt Spring Forum programs where international leaders and influencers debate and dialogue, to the Salt Spring National Art Prize where the best visual artworks are exhibited, to our annual Salt Spring Film Festival that features contemporary documentary cinema.
Salt Spring has a long-standing reputation for being an artists' mecca. The Island has and is the inspiration for so much creativity - photography, writing, painting, sculpture, and architecture. As a result, it’s the home of many arts and crafts based-cottage industries as well as emerging green and digital technologies.
Growing families will find a full range of primary and secondary schooling, often with small classrooms and dedicated teachers. Our high school boasts a variety of creative and inspiring programs including performing arts options, late French Immersion and international students exchange. After-school and leisure time activities abound. Features of our year-round recreation include, an Olympic grade indoor pool, tennis and squash courts and a 9-hole golf course and sailing club that highlight our lengthy outdoor season.
Salt Spring’s world famous Saturday Market showcases food and products locally grown, harvested and made here. Our home-style and award winning restaurants, unique pop-up food caravans, wineries, a brewery, and cidery, all feature local food and food products.
Work Here
Salt Spring’s entrepreneurial and independent vibe is reflected in its workforce and throughout all economic sectors. Islanders are always finding new and meaningful ways to conduct business on and from Salt Spring. Many home-based digital professionals who live in remote nooks of the island find it easy to work on-line here.
Convenient access to knowledgeable resources and reliable business services including island-wide high-speed Internet, legal, insurance, and financial services, graphic and web design, printing and photography are all readily available here.
Salt Spring boasts a highly educated population and a thriving and varied professional business community – both active and semi-retired – that offers networking opportunities and connections beyond the expected. Work-life balance is the by-word here, in fact, you may find colleagues wearing gumboots to a meeting or leaving work with bags of extra apples or veggies from local hobby gardens.
The year-round economic scene includes strong clusters of commerce representing tourism, hospitality, health care – both conventional and alternative, food and agriculture, building construction, boutique retail and artisans of all types.
Need to travel regularly off Island? Salt Spring has three ferry terminals and a floatplane dock all with easy access to airports and trains to Vancouver, Victoria, and beyond.
People who choose to live and work here will find a welcoming, relaxed, engaging and resourceful rural community to call home.
