Average salary in Toronto and other cities, 2026

Average salary in Toronto and other cities: the key numbers

Statistics Canada doesn't publish one salary figure per city. Its yearly income survey covers eight big metro areas, and its tax data covers every one. Both count the whole metro area, suburbs included.^1,2,3 The four figures below are for people who worked full time all year.

1. Full-year full-time workers, 2024

   Toronto: median salary

   Half of Toronto-area workers who worked all year at 30 or more hours a week earned more than this, and half earned less. The average was $97,300.¹

   $74,600a year
2. Full-year full-time workers, 2024

   Vancouver: median salary

   The average was $94,100. Vancouver also had the highest two-bedroom rent of the ten metro areas on this page.^1,4

   $72,500a year
3. Full-year full-time workers, 2024

   Montréal: median salary

   Second-lowest of the eight metro areas the survey covers, with an average of $84,300.¹

   $68,500a year
4. Full-year full-time workers, 2024

   Highest: Ottawa-Gatineau

   The national capital region had the highest median on every measure we checked. Of its full-year full-time workers, 37.9% earned $100,000 or more.¹

   $83,600a year

Across Canada, the full-year full-time median was $70,200 in 2024 and the average $85,500.¹ For provinces, ages and occupations, see our guide to the average salary in Canada.

Average and median salary by city

Ottawa-Gatineau had the highest full-year full-time median in 2024, $83,600, and Winnipeg the lowest of the eight metro areas the income survey covers, $64,000. Toronto ranked second on the median and first on the average, $97,300.¹

First three columns: Canadian Income Survey employment income, which includes net self-employment income; full-year full-time means 52 weeks at 30 or more hours a week. The survey does not publish Hamilton or Halifax. Statistics Canada rates Calgary's full-time median C (good) for quality and the other figures A or B. Fourth column: wages, salaries and commissions of every tax filer who had any, including part-time and part-year workers. Last column: what employers offered for vacant jobs from April to June 2026, by economic region, a different boundary from the metro area; where the region's name differs, it is shown under the figure. Ottawa-Gatineau's figure is for the Ottawa (Ontario) region. Sources: income survey¹, tax data², job vacancies⁵.

The tax data is the only source that covers all ten metro areas. It counts everyone who earned any wages in 2023, so its medians sit well below the full-time figures.²

Median wages, salaries and commissions of tax filers, 2023

Everyone aged 15 and older who reported any employment pay on a T4 slip, full time or part time. The small print under each name shows the middle half of earners, from the 25th to the 75th percentile: a quarter made less than the first figure and a quarter more than the second. Source: T1 Family File²

• Ottawa-Gatineau$23,230 to $95,560$57,980
• Québec City$23,010 to $81,500$52,000
• Edmonton$22,650 to $88,670$51,780
• Calgary$21,870 to $90,760$51,260
• Hamilton$19,490 to $87,640$50,250
• Vancouver$22,230 to $85,060$50,050
• Toronto$20,220 to $87,050$48,990
• Montréal$20,360 to $79,960$48,010
• Halifax$21,770 to $80,890$47,890
• Winnipeg$20,210 to $73,530$43,900
• Canada$20,010 to $81,510$47,650

$0$30,000$60,000

On this measure Québec City ranks second after Ottawa-Gatineau, at $52,000, and Toronto ranks seventh of the ten at $48,990. Winnipeg is lowest at $43,900.²

Average salary in Toronto

Full-year full-time workers in the Toronto metro area had a median employment income of $74,600 in 2024 and an average of $97,300. The $22,700 gap between the two was the widest of the eight metro areas in the survey, by our calculation. A group of high earners pulls Toronto's average up: 32.3% of its full-year full-time workers earned $100,000 or more, against 27.7% across Canada.¹

Widen the count to everyone who earned any employment income, including part-time and part-year workers, and Toronto's median falls to $49,500.¹ Tax data for 2023 tells the same story from another angle: the Toronto wage earner in the middle made $48,990, a quarter made less than $20,220, and a quarter made more than $87,050.²

Income survey figures cover the Toronto census metropolitan area. The vacant-jobs figure is for the Toronto economic region. Sources: income survey^1,6, tax data^2,7, job vacancies⁵.

Average income in Toronto

Income is wider than salary: it adds pensions, investment income and government benefits, and it counts everyone with any income, including people who don't work. Toronto-area residents with income had an average total income of $66,400 in 2024 and a median of $44,400.⁶ The Toronto median sat below Canada's $46,300, even though Toronto's employment income medians were above the national ones.^6,1

Tax records show the same pattern. The median total income of Toronto-area tax filers was $41,900 in 2023, the lowest of the ten metro areas on this page and below the national $45,000.⁷ The data doesn't say why. It does show how a Toronto average can mislead: average total income in Toronto, $66,400 in 2024, was above Canada's $61,600, while the median was below.⁶

Toronto pay by age and gender

Toronto pay peaks between 45 and 54, as it does nationally. The table counts everyone with any employment income, including part-time and part-year workers, which keeps the medians for the youngest and oldest groups low.⁶

Everyone in each age group with employment income. Statistics Canada rates the Toronto figures A or B for quality unless marked. Source:⁶

Among Toronto's full-year full-time workers, the median for men was $82,000 and for women $65,800 in 2024. Women's median was 80.2% of men's, by our calculation, against 82.3% nationally.¹

Jobs on offer in Toronto in 2026

Employers in the Toronto economic region had 89,210 vacant jobs in the second quarter of 2026 and offered an average of $31.55 an hour for them, the highest of the regions on this page. The vacancy rate was 2.5%, below the national 3.1%.⁵ Statistics Canada notes that the offered wage "may be different from the actual wage paid once the position is filled."⁵

Average salary in Vancouver

Vancouver's full-year full-time workers had a median employment income of $72,500 in 2024 and an average of $94,100. Only Toronto had a wider gap between average and median, by our count. Of Vancouver's full-year full-time workers, 31.8% earned $100,000 or more.¹

Counting everyone with employment income, Vancouver's median was $46,100, the second-lowest of the eight metro areas after Winnipeg.¹ The median wage of Vancouver-area tax filers was $50,050 in 2023.² Employers in the Lower Mainland-Southwest region offered an average of $30.95 an hour for vacant jobs in the second quarter of 2026.⁵

Rent is where Vancouver stands apart. The average two-bedroom rented for $2,364 a month in October 2025, the highest of the ten metro areas on this page, and new listings asked $3,030 in the second quarter of 2026.^4,8 A year at the CMHC average equals 39.1% of Vancouver's full-time median, by our calculation.^4,1

Average salary in Montréal

Montréal's full-year full-time workers had a median employment income of $68,500 in 2024, below the national $70,200, and an average of $84,300.¹ Everyone with employment income had a median of $47,100, and the median wage of tax filers was $48,010 in 2023.^1,2

Vacant jobs in the Montréal economic region offered an average of $31.45 an hour in the second quarter of 2026, close to Toronto's $31.55.⁵ Lower rent offsets lower pay. The average two-bedroom rented for $1,346 in October 2025, and a year of that rent equals 23.6% of the Montréal full-time median, by our calculation.^4,1

Ottawa, Calgary, Edmonton and other cities

Ottawa-Gatineau

Ottawa-Gatineau had the highest median on every pay and income measure on this page. Its full-year full-time median was $83,600 in 2024, its tax filers' median wage $57,980 in 2023, and its median total income $56,040.^1,2,7 It also had the smallest gap between men and women: women's full-time median was 96.5% of men's, by our calculation.¹

Calgary and Edmonton

Calgary's full-year full-time median was $73,800 in 2024 and Edmonton's $71,700. Statistics Canada rates the Calgary figure C (good) for quality, so treat the gap with care.¹ In 2023 tax data, Edmonton's median wage was slightly higher: $51,780 against $51,260.² Rent separates them more clearly: $1,908 for an average two-bedroom in Calgary in October 2025 and $1,598 in Edmonton.⁴ Our Calgary vs Edmonton guide compares the two cities in detail.

Québec City and Winnipeg

Québec City's full-time median, $70,800, sat just above the national figure, and its tax filers' median wage, $52,000, was second only to Ottawa-Gatineau's.^1,2 It also had the lowest rent of the ten, $1,276 for a two-bedroom.⁴ Winnipeg was lowest on most pay measures: a full-time median of $64,000, a median wage of $43,900 and an offered wage of $26.00 an hour.^1,2,5

Hamilton and Halifax

The income survey doesn't publish either city, so the tax data is the best guide. Hamilton-area tax filers had a median wage of $50,250 in 2023 and Halifax-area filers $47,890.² Halifax rents are high for its pay. A year at the CMHC average of $1,828 a month equals 45.8% of the Halifax median wage, by our calculation, third-highest of the ten after Vancouver and Toronto.^4,2 New two-bedroom listings asked $2,400 in the second quarter of 2026, also third-highest. In Hamilton they asked $2,150.⁸

Salary and rent: how far pay goes in each city

A bigger salary doesn't mean more left over. To compare, we divided a year of average two-bedroom rent by each city's median pay. CMHC treats housing as affordable "when housing costs less than 30% of before-tax household income."⁹ Our figures use one person's pay, not a household's, so they show what a single earner would face.

Average rent: CMHC Rental Market Survey, purpose-built row and apartment buildings with three or more units, first two weeks of October 2025.^4,10 Asking rent: Statistics Canada's experimental estimates from listings on major rental sites; for Ottawa-Gatineau the figure is the Ontario part.^8,11 Shares: 12 months of the CMHC average rent divided by the 2024 full-year full-time median¹ or by the 2023 median wages of tax filers.² Rent and pay come from different years, so read the shares as rough guides.

On the full-time median, a year of rent took 39.1% in Vancouver, 32.9% in Toronto and 31.0% in Calgary, the three above CMHC's 30% line. Québec City was lowest at 21.6%, by our calculation.^4,1

CMHC's average is a weighted average "of all units combined, whether vacant or occupied," so it includes tenants on older leases.¹⁰ Statistics Canada says gaps between asking and paid rent come from "existing lease agreements signed in the past that are subject to price controls in some provinces."¹¹ Someone moving now pays closer to the asking rent: $3,030 in Vancouver and $2,650 in Toronto in the second quarter of 2026.⁸ Statistics Canada says its asking rents "are experimental and subject to revision."¹¹

Rent is one cost among many. Our guide to the best places to live in Canada adds jobs, crime, commutes and climate.

How to read city salary numbers

• A metro area is bigger than the city. Statistics Canada builds a census metropolitan area from "one or more adjacent municipalities centred on a population centre," adding nearby places where many people commute to the core.³ The Toronto figures on this page include its suburbs.
• Monthly wage figures stop at the provinces. The Labour Force Survey's monthly wage table covers Canada and the ten provinces, not cities.¹² The newest city figures are yearly ones for 2024 and 2023, plus the 2026 wages employers offered for vacant jobs.^1,2,5
• Newer tax data is late. Statistics Canada says the 2024 tax data, usually out in the spring, "will be delayed to winter 2026/2027" while it redesigns the file.²
• Use the median for typical pay. A median splits people so that "half the population had higher income and half had lower income."¹³ High earners pull averages up, most of all in Toronto and Vancouver.¹
• Match the group to yourself. If you work full time all year, compare with the full-year full-time median. The tax-data median includes students and part-timers, so it runs lower.^1,2
• None of these figures adjusts for living costs. Statistics Canada says its regional income gaps are "not adjusted to consider regional factors, such as the cost of living or the age structure of the population."¹³

Common questions

How we did this

We pulled every figure from Statistics Canada's Web Data Service on Oct. 7, 2026. Pay comes from the 2024 Canadian Income Survey^1,6 and 2023 tax data,^2,7 offered wages from the job vacancy survey for the second quarter of 2026,⁵ and rents from CMHC's October 2025 survey and Statistics Canada's asking-rent estimates.^4,8

We covered the eight metro areas the income survey publishes, plus Hamilton and Halifax from the tax data. Gaps between figures, women's pay as a share of men's and the rent shares are our own arithmetic on the published numbers, and we label each one. We did not collect Reddit posts or other first-hand reports for this page.

No one paid for this page, and it has no affiliate links. We will update it when Statistics Canada releases 2025 income survey data and the delayed 2024 tax data.

Sources

Show all 13 sourcesHide sources

1. Statistics Canada. "Table 11-10-0240-01, Distribution of employment income of individuals by gender and work activity, Canada, provinces and selected census metropolitan areas (Canadian Income Survey)." 2024 data, released April 29, 2026. www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/tv.action?pid=1110024001
2. Statistics Canada. "Table 11-10-0072-01, Wages, salaries and commissions of tax filers aged 15 years and over by sex and age group (T1 Family File)." 2023 data, released April 1, 2025. www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/tv.action?pid=1110007201
3. Statistics Canada. "Dictionary, Census of Population, 2021: Census metropolitan area (CMA) and census agglomeration (CA)." 2021. www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2021/ref/dict/az/Definition-eng.cfm?ID=geo009
4. Statistics Canada / CMHC. "Table 34-10-0133-01, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, average rents for areas with a population of 10,000 and over." Released Dec. 17, 2025 (October 2025 survey). www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/tv.action?pid=3410013301
5. Statistics Canada. "Table 14-10-0441-01, Job vacancies, payroll employees, job vacancy rate, and average offered hourly wage by economic regions, quarterly, unadjusted for seasonality." Second quarter of 2026, released Sept. 15, 2026. www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/tv.action?pid=1410044101
6. Statistics Canada. "Table 11-10-0239-01, Income of individuals by age group, gender and income source, Canada, provinces and selected census metropolitan areas (Canadian Income Survey)." 2024 data, released April 29, 2026. www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/tv.action?pid=1110023901
7. Statistics Canada. "Table 11-10-0008-01, Tax filers and dependants with income by total income, sex and age (T1 Family File)." 2023 data, released July 18, 2025. www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/tv.action?pid=1110000801
8. Statistics Canada. "Table 46-10-0092-01, Asking rent and paid rent prices, by rental unit type and number of bedrooms, experimental estimates." Second quarter of 2026, released Sept. 9, 2026. www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/tv.action?pid=4610009201
9. Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC). "Identifying core housing need." Aug. 14, 2019. www.cmhc-schl.gc.ca/professionals/housing-markets-data-and-research/housing-research/core-housing-need/identifying-core-housing-need
10. Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC). "Rental Market Survey methodology." Retrieved Oct. 7, 2026. www.cmhc-schl.gc.ca/professionals/housing-markets-data-and-research/housing-research/surveys/methods/methodology-rental-market-survey
11. Statistics Canada. "The Daily: Quarterly rent statistics, second quarter 2026." Sept. 9, 2026. www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quotidien/260909/dq260909c-eng.htm
12. Statistics Canada. "Table 14-10-0063-01, Employee wages by industry, monthly, unadjusted for seasonality (Labour Force Survey)." August 2026 data, released Sept. 4, 2026. www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/tv.action?pid=1410006301
13. Statistics Canada. "The Daily: Canadian Income Survey, 2024." April 29, 2026. www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quotidien/260429/dq260429a-eng.htm

Update log

• Oct. 7, 2026, 3:18 a.m. ETFirst published. Canadian Income Survey data for 2024, tax data for 2023, job vacancy data for the second quarter of 2026, CMHC rents for October 2025.

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