Calgary 
Alberta Living Wage Network has published the hourly wages required for residents of various Alberta cities to earn to maintain a modest standard of living in 2022.
A living wage is not the same as the minimum wage, which is the legal minimum all employers must pay to their employees. Alberta’s minimum wage is $15 per hour.
The living wage is defined as “the hourly rate of pay needed for a household to maintain a modest standard of living, once government transfers have been added to the family’s income, and taxes have been subtracted.”
Credit: Alberta Living Wage
Alberta Living Wage Network says they have used the Ontario Living Wage Network methodology which calculates a living wage that would allow each adult is working full-time hours and includes more than the basics of food, clothing and shelter and is based on the income needs of three household types: a two-parent family with 2 young children, a lone-parent family with one child and a single individual living alone.
The weighing of the family types is as follows:
• Family of four: 32.6%
• Lone parent: 7.7%
• Single individual: 59.6%
The available rate is calculated based on the average of all available 2022 months at the time of calculation (January to September 2022).
A living wage varies across communities as costs of living in a specific community including unexpected costs, and small investments in education and childcare are taken into account while calculating the amount.
Alberta Living Wage in 2022
In 2022, the living wage in Calgary is $22.40 per hour while you need to make $21.40 per hour to live modestly in Edmonton. Last year, it was $18.60 and $18.10 respectively.
- Calgary: $22.40 (a family of four: $22.05; a single parent with one child: $28.93; a single individual, $21.72)
- Canmore: $32.75
- Cochrane: $22.35
- Drayton Valley: $19.65
- Drumheller: $21.20
- Edmonton: $21.40
- Fort McMurray: $22.50
- Grand Prairie: $19.65
- Lethbridge: $20.30
- Medicine Hat: $17.50
- Red Deer: $19.65
- Rocky Mountain House: $21.85
- Spruce Grove: $20.70
- St. Albert: $22.40
- Stony Plain: $20.40
Detailed information on the methodology and calculation by Alberta Living Wage Network is given here.
