March 7th, 2021 | Posted in Data & Insights
The interactive charts on this page let you slice and dice Canadian income data — by geography, sex, and age group — answering questions such as:
- What’s the average income in Toronto? How does this compare for men vs women?
- How many people in Vancouver are making more than $100,000 per year?
- Which major Canadian city has the highest (and lowest) average incomes?
- Who’s better off — women in Montreal, or women in Calgary?
Note: Throughout this analysis, “income” refers to pre-tax individual income. All data is sourced from StatsCan, and is based on ~28 million tax returns submitted for the 2018 tax year. At the bottom of the page, you can find the data sources and a downloadable spreadsheet for further perusal.
Exploring Geographical Regions — by Age Group & Sex
| Geography | Output |
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Tip: try clicking the legend labels on the chart to hide / show data sets. For example — if you hide the data for “Both Sexes” and “Males”, this lets you focus on incomes for Females only.
Exploring Age Groups — by Geography & Sex
| Age Group | Output |
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Head-to-Head Comparison
| Group A | Group B | |
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| Geography | ||
| Sex | ||
| Age Group |
| Delta | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Average Income | |||
| Count |
A Few Findings & Curiosities
Here are some of my take-aways / insights after poking and prodding the data:
- Canadians reach their peak income in the 45-54 year old age range. Average income is $66,968, versus $45,953 in the 25-34 age group
- Over 20% of men are earning $100,000+ in Ottawa, Calgary, and Edmonton. “Only” 15% of men in Toronto and Vancouver are exceeding the $100,000 threshold
- In comparison with the point above, there isn’t any place where 20% of women are earning $100,000+. Only 10% of women in Ottawa and Calgary are exceeding that threshold
- Nunavut is the only place in Canada where women are out-earning men; in the 25 to 34 year old age group, women earn an average of $51,159 per year, compared to $48,493 for men
- Calgary is home to the largest share of high-income earners — 2.4% of Calgarians are earning $250,000+, versus 1% for Canadians as a whole
If you come across any surprising facts and figures as you sift through the data, let me know in the comments below!
Final Thoughts & Data
For more data and insights about how Canadians are earning and spending their money:
- How much does the average Canadian household spend in a year?
- Interactive Canadian income tax calculator (2020 tax year)
- A profile of high-income Canadians
All of the data in this post can be downloaded in spreadsheet form here.
Data sources:
This is amazing, ty!
Cheers — you’re welcome Dave!
This is fascinating and so easy to use!
Really curious to see such a low average income in Toronto — $54K average across all age groups / both sexes.
As a comparison, Ottawa has $60K average income, and lower rents to boot!
Thanks Andrea! Great insight about Toronto vs Ottawa.
We can see from this data that Toronto has higher inequality:
– Only 50% of people in Toronto make above $35K per year, compared to 60% in Ottawa
– On the other hand, 1.6% of Torontonians make $250K+, versus only 1.2% in Ottawa
Something to consider is also government heavy city vs. Private industry heavy city, and population size.
This is a really cool tool!
Be great to see average incomes versus housing costs across the county – how are folks affording these crazy house prices on such low averages?
Yes, that would be very interesting. How can young people possibly afford houses without parents or fother family members injecting cash?
My two cents —
I think in many cases, homeownership in TOR / VAN is made possible by having a two-income household, and some (or a lot) of help from the bank of Mom & Dad.
Also, as a data point, 11% of people in Toronto are earning $100K+ per year. Homeownership in major urban centres is out of reach for those with an average income, but it is still possible for many.
Hi Val,
I had the same thought recently! Something is in the works — have found some data on average household income / average rent prices in various cities in Canada.
I’m in the process of wrangling & visualizing the data.
Stay tuned 🙂
Are the figures pre-tax or after tax?
Hi Enrique, these figures are pre-tax.
I’ve clarified at the top of the page —
Note: The “income” definition used for this analysis is pre-tax individual income. All data is sourced from StatsCan, and is based on ~28 million tax returns submitted for the 2018 tax year.
I’m interested in working in Canada.
Apologies for basic question, but are the figures quoted in CAN or USD?
Would be very interesting to see median Income instead of average income.
[…] seems to be a gender pay divide in Canada’s income distribution. Over 20 percent of men are making $100,000 or more in Ottawa, Edmonton, […]
This should also include or mention the distinction between fulltime and part time. Full time average income in Toronto is actually $80k which is a lot higher than the $50k overall average.
[…] Exploring Canadian incomes by province, age group, and sex […]
[…] Exploring Canadian incomes by province, age group, and sex […]