Summary

• This research bulletin compares median employment income levels in Canada’s largest metropolitan areas, which Statistics Canada designates as Census Metropolitan Areas (CMAs).
• Median employment income in Canada’s 41 CMAs ranged from a low of $31,540 in St. Catharines, Ontario, to a high of $45,500 in Ottawa-Gatineau.
• CMAs containing capital cities are heavily concentrated at the top of the list of higher income CMAs. Of the ten highest income CMAs, five include either a federal or provincial capital. None of the CMAs in which there is a provincial or federal capital have median employment incomes substantially below the national average.
• The CMAs in Alberta and Saskatchewan generally perform well on this indicator. All CMAs in these two provinces were in the top third of Canadian CMAs for median employment income.
• The CMAs in Quebec and Atlantic Canada are clustered towards the bottom of the national rankings.
• The performance of Ontario’s CMAs varied greatly on this indicator. Several of that province’s CMAs were in the top half of the national rankings while several others were in the bottom half.