Average Salary in Canada by Province (2025)
Average and median salary by province
In 2025, the median full-time employee in Canada earned $1,320 a week, about $68,600 a year, and the average was $1,510 a week, about $78,500 a year. These are Statistics Canada's figures for usual pay at a person's main job, before tax, from the Labour Force Survey. Statistics Canada publishes them as weekly and hourly wages; the yearly amounts on this page are estimates, worked out as the weekly wage multiplied by 52 and rounded to the nearest $100.
| Province | Median a year (est.) | Average a year (est.) | Median weekly |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alberta | $72,800 | $83,200 | $1,400 |
| British Columbia | $71,900 | $81,800 | $1,384 |
| Ontario | $70,200 | $81,700 | $1,350 |
| Saskatchewan | $65,200 | $73,300 | $1,255 |
| Quebec | $65,200 | $73,600 | $1,254 |
| Newfoundland and Labrador | $64,900 | $75,200 | $1,248 |
| Nova Scotia | $62,000 | $69,800 | $1,192 |
| New Brunswick | $59,700 | $67,200 | $1,149 |
| Manitoba | $59,000 | $67,600 | $1,134 |
| Prince Edward Island | $58,900 | $64,300 | $1,133 |
| Canada | $68,600 | $78,500 | $1,320 |
Alberta had the highest median, $1,400 a week or about $72,800 a year, followed by British Columbia and Ontario. Prince Edward Island and Manitoba were nearly tied for the lowest, at about $58,900 and about $59,000 a year: their weekly medians were less than a dollar apart. Ontario's median of $1,350 a week works out to about $70,200 a year.
The average is higher than the median in every province. A smaller group of high earners lifts the average, so the median is the better guide to what a typical full-time job pays, and the average is the better guide to what full-time workers earn when all their pay is shared out evenly.
Salary vs income: why the numbers differ
Salary and income are not the same number, and the gap between them is large. In Ontario, the median full-time employee earned about $70,200 a year in 2025, while the median total income of everyone in the province aged 15 and over with income was $41,200 in 2020. Both figures come from Statistics Canada and both are correct: they answer different questions.
| Measure | Ontario median | Who's counted | Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Salary (this page) | about $70,200 | Full-time employees | 2025 |
| Total income (provinces page) | $41,200 | Everyone 15 and over with any income, including retirees, students and part-time workers | 2020 |
Who is counted is the biggest difference. This page counts only employees who usually work 30 hours or more a week. Total income counts everyone 15 and over who had any income at all, including retirees living on pensions, students with summer jobs, part-time workers and people on employment insurance or other benefits. Many of them have far lower incomes than a full-time worker, and that pulls the median down.
What is counted differs as well. Salary here is pay from a job: wages or salary, plus tips, commissions and bonuses. Total income adds self-employment earnings, investment income, private pensions, the Canada Pension Plan, Old Age Security and other government payments. For a full-time worker that extra income is usually small, but for a retiree it can be almost everything.
The years are also five apart. The total income figures come from the 2021 Census, which asked about income in 2020, while the wage figures are for 2025. Wages rose over those five years, so part of the gap is simply time.
The two numbers suit different purposes. Salary is the better yardstick for a job offer or a raise, because it sets full-time pay against full-time pay. Total income is the better yardstick for seeing how you compare with everyone in your province, and it is the measure the comparison calculator on this site uses.
Salary by age
Pay rises steeply over the first years of work. Across Canada in 2025, full-time employees aged 15 to 24 had a median of $863 a week, about $44,900 a year. Those aged 25 to 54, the core working years, had $1,400, about $72,800, and those 55 and over had $1,288, about $67,000.
| Age group | Median a year (est.) | Average a year (est.) | Median weekly |
|---|---|---|---|
| 15 to 24 | $44,900 | $49,200 | $863 |
| 25 to 54 | $72,800 | $81,600 | $1,400 |
| 55 and over | $67,000 | $80,200 | $1,288 |
The dip after 55 shows in the median but almost disappears in the average, which was $1,543 a week at 55 and over against $1,569 at 25 to 54. Pay is more spread out among older full-time workers: the gap between the average and the median is wider at 55 and over than at 25 to 54, so a group of high earners holds the average up even though the typical wage is lower.
What these salary figures include
The figures are usual wages at a person's main job, before income tax and other deductions such as Canada Pension Plan contributions and Employment Insurance premiums. They include tips, commissions and bonuses. They are not take-home pay, which is lower once tax and deductions come off.
Full-time means usually working 30 hours or more a week at the main or only job. Part-time employees are left out, and so are self-employed people, because the table covers employees only. Someone with a second job is counted at their main job alone, and the table covers the ten provinces but not the territories.
The Labour Force Survey is a sample survey, so each figure is an estimate with a margin of error. The yearly figures add a further step: multiplying a weekly wage by 52 assumes a full year of paid work at that weekly rate, so they are a guide to annual pay rather than a published annual salary.
Related
This page is for educational and informational purposes only. It is not financial, tax, or investment advice. Figures are estimates derived from public Statistics Canada data and may not reflect your circumstances. Contains information licensed under the Statistics Canada Open Licence; this is not an endorsement by Statistics Canada.