Canada’s median household after-tax income rose to $73,000 in 2020 by 9.8% from 2015, says Statistics Canada based on data from the 2021 Census of Population.
In the comprehensive income portrait of the Canadian population, the agency says pandemic relief benefits were an important component of income in 2020 and over two-thirds of Canadian adults received income from support from provincial and territorial governments, one or more federal pandemic relief programs and other programs like Canada Child Benefit, Old Age Security, the Guaranteed Income Supplement, and the harmonized sales tax and goods and services tax credit at the federal level.
The median income not adjusted for inflation in 2015 was $70,336.
The household after-tax income of families with children also increased from 2015 due to government reliefs and programs.
Statistics Canada says the pandemic relief programs offset this reduction in earnings and the successive increases in child benefits during this period, increased the median household after-tax income to $73,000. The median federal emergency and recovery benefits received by families was $10,000, while the median Canada Child Benefit received by families was $5,880. This was $4,160 in 2015.
In 2020, the median family employment income was $63,200.
Highlights of the report:
- Canada’s median household after-tax income rose 9.8% to $73,000 in 2020.
- The increase is largely due to pandemic benefits. The median family employment income was $63,200.
- Due to the pandemic, 13,835 fewer Canadian adults received employment income in 2020 than in 2019.
- 69.6% of Canadians received employment income in 2020. The median employment income was $37,200, down 2.1% from 2019.
- Of the 30.3 million Canadian adults aged 15 and older, more than two-thirds (68.4%), or 20.7 million people, received payments from one or more of the federal, provincial or territorial pandemic-relief benefits.
- Around 27.6% of Canadian adults received federal emergency and recovery benefits mostly through CERB. The median amount received in 2020 was $8,000.
- 9 in 10 seniors aged 65 and older received top-ups to existing federal programs, and the median amount received was $500.
- From 2015 to 2020, families with children saw faster growth in their after-tax income than other types of families. For couples with children, median after-tax income grew 10.5%, compared with 6.8% for couples without children.
- Income inequality from 2015 to 2020 reduced and 11.1% of Canadians were in a low-income situation in 2020, down from 14.4% in 2015.
Table: Median total income and various components of total income for economic families and persons not in economic families, Canada; 2015 and 2020/Credit: Statistics Canada – Census of Population, 2016 and 2021
Median household after-tax income in provinces:
- After-tax incomes reduced in Alberta (-4.6%) and Newfoundland and Labrador (-1.3%) compared to 2019 due to lower oil prices and COVID-19 slowdowns.
- Median after-tax household income increased in eight provinces and in the three territories from 2015 to 2020, with British Columbia, Ontario, Nunavut, Quebec, Prince Edward Island, and Yukon all recording increases above the national average (+9.8%). Saskatchewan (+2.8%) recorded the smallest increase among the provinces.
- Though median income reduced in Alberta, households in Alberta have the highest median after-tax income among the provinces.
Credit: Statistics Canada
2020 Median household after-tax income in:
- Newfoundland and Labrador — $63,200, a decrease of 1.3% from 2015.
- Prince Edward Island — $64,000, an increase of 10.3%.
- Nova Scotia — $62,400 8.3%.
- New Brunswick — $62,000, an increase of 9.2%.
- Quebec — $63,200, an increase of 12.1%.
- Ontario — $79,500, an increase of 12.8%.
- Manitoba — $69,000, an increase of 7.8%.
- Saskatchewan — $73,000, an increase of 2.8%.
- Alberta — $83,000, a decrease of 4.6%.
- British Columbia — $76,000, an increase of 14.3%.
- Yukon — $88,000, an increase of 10.0%.
- Northwest Territories — $109,000, an increase of0.9%.
- Nunavut — $104,000, an increase of 11.8%.
Income in cities and towns:
Median after-tax income and growth from 2015 to 2020 were faster in large urban centres than in the rest of the country.
- Among Census Areas, Wood Buffalo had the highest median income at $143,000 and Elliot Lake had the lowest median after-tax income at $47,600.
- Among major cities, median after-tax income was highest in Oshawa at $89,000.
- Median after-tax income grew the fastest in Chilliwack, rising 17.8% from $62,800 in 2015 to $74,000 in 2020.
2020 Median household after-tax income in:
Credit: Statistics Canada
- St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador — $72,500, a decrease of 2.0% from 2015.
- Halifax, Nova Scotia — $69,500, an increase of 8.6% from 2015.
- Saint John, New Brunswick, — $65,000, an increase of 7.6%.
- Québec, Quebec — $65,500, an increase of 8.4%.
- Montréal, Quebec — $65,500, an increase of 12.9%.
- Ottawa–Gatineau, Ontario and Quebec — $84,000, an increase of 11.3%.
- Toronto, Ontario $85,000, an increase of 14.1%
- Hamilton, Ontario $80,000, an increase of 11.9%.
- Winnipeg, Manitoba, $71,500, an increase of 8.3%.
- Saskatoon, Saskatchewan $77,500, no change from 2015.
- Calgary, Alberta $87,000, a decrease of 5.4% from 2015.
- Edmonton, Alberta, $84,000, a decrease of 3.4% from 2015.
- Vancouver, British Columbia $79,500, an increase of 16.1%.
Today, Statistics Canada also released a detailed analysis of the composition of families and living arrangements in the country according to the 2021 census.