Canadian Income Survey, 2023
Released: 2025-05-01
$74,200
2023
The median after-tax income of Canadian families and unattached individuals was $74,200 in 2023, increasing 1.2% from $73,300 in 2022, after being adjusted for inflation. Canada's official poverty rate was 10.2% in 2023, which was not statistically different from the 2022 rate (9.9%) or the 2019 rate (10.3%) observed before the COVID-19 pandemic.
Median market income for Canadian families and unattached individuals was $68,700 in 2023, a 1.5% increase from $67,700 in 2022. Median government transfers declined from $10,500 in 2022 to $10,000 in 2023. Although median government transfers decreased for a third consecutive year, they were higher in 2023 than in 2019 ($9,400), pre-pandemic.
Increases in after-tax income for seniors
In 2023, the median after-tax income was $79,700 for senior families, up 3.4% from 2022, while it rose 4.3% to $36,400 for unattached seniors. Increases in market income and government transfers contributed to the growth in median after-tax income for seniors. For senior families, median market income rose by 5.0% to $52,100 in 2023, while government transfers increased by 1.4% to $36,200. Unattached seniors saw their median market income rise by 9.3% to $16,500, and government transfers rose by 3.2% to $22,900.
Income across Canada
Provincially, families and unattached individuals in Alberta ($88,500) and Ontario ($78,600) had the highest median after-tax income in 2023, while those in Nova Scotia ($62,900) and New Brunswick ($62,700) had the lowest. Among the territories, the Northwest Territories ($102,100) had the highest median after-tax income, followed by Nunavut ($90,800) and Yukon ($84,500).
These income differences between provinces and territories do not take into account regional factors, such as the cost of living and the age of the population.
The median after-tax income for families and unattached individuals grew in Nova Scotia (+3.5%), Alberta (+2.9%) and Ontario (+1.4%) in 2023, while it declined in Saskatchewan (-2.8%). It was relatively unchanged in the other provinces and the territories.
Diverging poverty trends for seniors and non-seniors
According to the Market Basket Measure, Canada's Official Poverty Line, 10.2% of the population—approximately 4 million Canadians—lived below the poverty line in 2023.
The poverty rate for seniors aged 65 years and older was 5.0% in 2023, down from 6.0% in 2022. Among individuals aged 18 to 64 years, the poverty rate was higher in 2023 (11.6%) compared with 2022 (11.1%). For children younger than 18 years, the rate was 10.7% in 2023, which was relatively unchanged from 2022.
Similarly, people in senior families saw a decrease in their poverty rate, going from 4.3% in 2022 to 3.6% in 2023. Over the same period, unattached seniors also experienced a decline in their poverty rate (from 13.8% to 11.5%). Conversely, people in non-senior families saw an increase (from 7.1% to 7.7%).
Poverty across Canada
Among the provinces, Quebec (7.4%) continued to have the lowest poverty rate in 2023, although it was up 0.8 percentage points from the previous year. Conversely, Nova Scotia and Saskatchewan (12.9% each) had the highest rates. While Nova Scotia's poverty rate was relatively unchanged from 2022, Saskatchewan's increased 1.8 percentage points.
The poverty rate in the territories was relatively stable in 2023, at 22.8%. This rate was more than double the provincial average (10.2%), despite generally larger incomes in the territories, reflecting the higher cost of living in the North. People in Nunavut (43.4%) experienced the highest poverty rate, followed by those in the Northwest Territories (17.0%) and Yukon (9.9%).
The proposed methodology for the 2023-base Market Basket Measure of poverty
For close to two years, Statistics Canada, along with Employment and Social Development Canada, has been working towards updating or "rebasing" the Market Basket Measure (MBM). The Poverty Reduction Act stipulates that the MBM should be reviewed on a regular basis to ensure it keeps reflecting the up-to-date cost of a basket of goods and services representing a modest, basic standard of living in Canada. This is done through comprehensive reviews of the MBM, which include extensive consultations with the stakeholder community and ensure that the MBM always uses the latest available data and methods. A rebasing typically results in a change to the poverty thresholds. Therefore, the poverty rates generated by the new base year are not directly comparable with the poverty rates generated by the previous base year. For clarity, the rebased poverty measure is referred to as the "2023-base MBM," while the existing measure is referred to as the "2018-base MBM."
Today, Statistics Canada is releasing the discussion paper, "The proposed methodology for the 2023-base Market Basket Measure of poverty," which describes the proposed 2023-base changes for both the MBM and the Northern Market Basket Measure (MBM-N). It also compares the official 2018-base MBM and MBM-N poverty rates and thresholds with the preliminary 2023-base poverty rates and thresholds, and it prioritizes outstanding research topics. Following today's release, a short review period will be held to discuss the results with the public, as well as academic, non-governmental, provincial and territorial partners. This review will allow time for feedback and any final recommendations to be received, after which the proposed 2023-base methodology will be updated (if necessary) and will become final in fall 2025.
As the comprehensive review is not yet complete, these results should be treated as preliminary.
• At the Canada level, the proposed 2023-base poverty threshold would be 2.0% higher (in inflation-adjusted terms) than the 2018-base threshold. Levels in the new base are higher primarily because the cost of the basket was rebased using updated census and price data.
• The 2018-base poverty rate was 10.2% in 2023, while the 2023-base poverty rate would be 10.9% for the same year.
• In addition, 2023-base poverty thresholds are produced back to 2020, covering a period during which the poverty rate was increasing following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. According to the 2018-base poverty line, the number of individuals in poverty increased by 1.614 million (+68%) from 2020 to 2023. Meanwhile, according to the preliminary 2023-base poverty line, this number increased by 1.696 million (+66%).
For more information regarding Canada's Official Poverty Line, refer to Opportunity for All: Canada's First Poverty Reduction Strategy.
Racialized groups and Indigenous populations typically experience higher poverty rates
In 2023, the poverty rate for individuals who are members of racialized groups was 14.0%, up 1.0 percentage point from 2022 (13.0%), but it was relatively unchanged for non-racialized Canadians (8.5%).
In the provinces, 17.5% of the Indigenous population lived below the poverty line in 2023. Further, this population continued to be nearly twice as likely to be living in poverty compared with the non-Indigenous population (9.9%).
Persons with a disability are at a lower risk of poverty compared with pre-pandemic levels
In 2023, 12.0% of persons with a disability aged 15 years and older lived below the poverty line. This proportion was relatively unchanged from 2022, but it was down 1.7 percentage points from the pre-pandemic rate in 2019 (13.7%). Conversely, the poverty rate for persons without a disability aged 15 years and older in 2023 (7.7%) was virtually unchanged compared with 2019.
Seniors with a disability are less likely to be living in poverty compared with younger persons with a disability. For example, persons with a disability aged 65 years and older had a poverty rate of 6.5% in 2023, compared with a poverty rate of 14.4% for those with a disability aged 15 to 64 years.
Fewer seniors are in low income
Statistics Canada also reports low income based on the low-income measure, after tax (LIM-AT). The LIM-AT was virtually unchanged from 2022 to 2023 (12.0%). In 2023, the LIM-AT for seniors (13.8%) decreased by 1.6 percentage points compared with the previous year (15.4%). This trend reflects faster growth in income among lower-income seniors compared with all Canadians. Conversely, the LIM-AT for children increased by 1.2 percentage points in 2023 (13.2%) compared with 2022 (12.0%).
Food insecurity continues to increase
In 2023, approximately 10 million people, or 25.5% of the population in the provinces, lived in households that reported experiencing some form of food insecurity. This was an increase of almost 1.3 million people from the previous year and marked the third consecutive annual increase. The proportion of people who were marginally food insecure (6.4%) remained relatively stable, while the proportions of those who were moderately (12.4%) and severely (6.7%) food insecure increased.
Nearly half (47.8%) of people in one-parent families lived in food-insecure households in 2023. Unattached non-seniors (31.7%) were also at a higher risk of food insecurity.
People in senior families (12.6%), specifically senior couples (8.7%), were at a lower risk of experiencing food insecurity in 2023. Unattached seniors (14.3%) were also less likely to experience food insecurity.
In the territories, 37.4% of people lived in a household with some degree of food insecurity in 2023. Nunavut (58.1%) had the highest rate, followed by the Northwest Territories (34.2%) and Yukon (21.8%).
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Note to readers
Although estimates for the territories are available and presented, the Canadian Income Survey (CIS) estimates at the Canada level currently only include the provinces.
The CIS estimates are based on probability samples and are therefore subject to sampling variability, especially for smaller groups and geographies. As a result, year-to-year estimates will show more variability than trends observed over longer periods. For example, because the sample sizes in the three territories are relatively small, territorial estimates tend to have a high sampling variability, which can lead to larger year-over-year changes than those that would be observed if the samples were larger. For this reason, caution should be used when comparing year-over-year territorial estimates.
In this release, differences between estimates are statistically significant at the 95% confidence level unless otherwise noted.
Definitions
An economic family refers to a group of two or more persons who live in the same dwelling and are related to each other by blood, marriage, common-law union, adoption or a foster relationship. This concept differs from the census family concept used in the Annual Income Estimates for Census Families and Individuals.
Senior families refer to families in which the highest income earner is aged 65 years or older.
Non-senior families refer to families in which the highest income earner is younger than 65 years.
Indigenous population refers to persons who self-identified as First Nations (North American Indian), Métis or Inuk (Inuit). Persons living on reserves and other Indigenous settlements in the provinces are excluded from the CIS.
Racialized group is derived directly from the concept of visible minority. A visible minority refers to whether a person is a visible minority or not, as defined by the Employment Equity Act. This act defines visible minorities as "persons, other than Indigenous peoples, who are non-Caucasian in race or non-white in colour." The visible minority population consists mainly of the following groups: South Asian, Chinese, Black, Filipino, Arab, Latin American, Southeast Asian, West Asian, Korean and Japanese. Measurement for population groups designated as visible minorities started in 2020.
Persons with a disability refers to persons aged 15 years and older (persons aged 16 years and older for years prior to 2022) who met the disability screening questions criteria.
This release analyzes income on the basis of medians. The median is the level of income at which half the population had higher income and half had lower income. Income estimates are expressed in 2023 constant dollars to factor in inflation and enable comparisons across time in real terms.
After-tax income is the total of market income and government transfers, less income tax.
Market income consists of employment income and private pensions, as well as income from investments and other market sources.
Government transfers include benefits such as Old Age Security, the Guaranteed Income Supplement, the Canada Pension Plan and the Quebec Pension Plan, Employment Insurance, social assistance, the goods and services tax credit, provincial tax credits, and child benefits.
For 2020, 2021 and part of 2022, government transfers included emergency response and recovery benefits in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The low-income measure defines an individual as having low income if their household's adjusted after-tax income falls below 50% of the median adjusted after-tax income.
The Market Basket Measure is based on the cost of a specific basket of goods and services representing a modest, basic standard of living. It includes the costs of food, clothing, footwear, transportation, shelter and other expenses for a reference family. These costs are compared with the disposable income of families to determine whether they fall below the poverty line. The poverty estimates, unless noted otherwise, are derived using the 2018-base methodology. For more information, please see, Report on the second comprehensive review of the Market Basket Measure.
Food insecurity in this release refers to persons living in households that experienced marginal, moderate or severe food insecurity.
Food insecurity data were collected during the CIS interview, which was conducted from January to June 2024, and are being released with the reference year 2023 income estimates. Food insecurity is the inadequate or insecure access to food due to financial constraints and refers to the 12-month period prior to the interview. Statistics Canada refers to these as 2023 estimates, but some users may prefer to use the more precise timing of January to June 2024.
Products
The infographics "Income of Canadians, 2023," and "Canada's Official Poverty Dashboard of Indicators: Trends, May 2025," are now available.
"The proposed methodology for the 2023-base Market Basket Measure of poverty" paper is now available.
Three new tables related to the Market Basket Measure are now available: Average basket coefficient by after-tax income decile, Aggregate and average components of after-tax income according to the Market Basket Measure threshold, by after-tax income decile, and Market Basket Measure thresholds by Market Basket Measure region and family size, in current dollars.
Contact information
For more information, or to enquire about the concepts, methods or data quality of this release, contact us (toll-free 1-800-263-1136; 514-283-8300; infostats@statcan.gc.ca) or Media Relations (statcan.mediahotline-ligneinfomedias.statcan@statcan.gc.ca).
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