canada · ten provinces + three territories

Where does your money go further?

Cheap houses don’t tell the whole story. Neither do big salaries. Here’s a look at living costs, income, and housing — with the dates and fine print left in.

2025 rent & living costs · 2024 income · recent resale prices · checked October 17, 2026

Compare living costs Explore the buying example

01 — the everyday cost of living

What does a basic life cost?

This is the official Market Basket Measure: a modest, basic standard of living for two adults and two children. It includes food, clothing, transportation, shelter, communication and other necessities. Lower basket cost comes first — this is not an income-adjusted province ranking.

2025 annual costs · 2023-base basket · CAD. Both a town of 5,000 and one of 20,000 fall within the same under-30,000 category; there is no separate official basket for those exact sizes. Selected cities are examples, not provincial averages.

1
Quebec
Population under 30,000
$47,106/ year
About $3,926 / month for the reference family
See the annual breakdown
Food
$16,027
Clothing
$3,222
Transportation
$6,135
Shelter
$10,332
Communication services
$1,552
Other expenses
$9,838
2
New Brunswick
Population under 30,000
$50,975/ year
About $4,248 / month for the reference family
See the annual breakdown
Food
$16,635
Clothing
$2,860
Transportation
$6,694
Shelter
$13,196
Communication services
$1,895
Other expenses
$9,696
3
Saskatchewan
Population under 30,000
$51,502/ year
About $4,292 / month for the reference family
See the annual breakdown
Food
$16,458
Clothing
$2,733
Transportation
$6,528
Shelter
$14,718
Communication services
$1,618
Other expenses
$9,446
4
Nova Scotia
Population under 30,000
$51,917/ year
About $4,326 / month for the reference family
See the annual breakdown
Food
$16,562
Clothing
$2,692
Transportation
$6,912
Shelter
$14,309
Communication services
$1,770
Other expenses
$9,673
5
Newfoundland and Labrador
Population under 30,000
$52,422/ year
About $4,369 / month for the reference family
See the annual breakdown
Food
$17,302
Clothing
$2,708
Transportation
$6,410
Shelter
$14,108
Communication services
$1,958
Other expenses
$9,935
6
Ontario
Population under 30,000
$52,873/ year
About $4,406 / month for the reference family
See the annual breakdown
Food
$15,835
Clothing
$3,064
Transportation
$7,398
Shelter
$15,587
Communication services
$1,464
Other expenses
$9,525
7
Manitoba
Population under 30,000
$53,873/ year
About $4,489 / month for the reference family
See the annual breakdown
Food
$16,786
Clothing
$3,161
Transportation
$7,054
Shelter
$15,396
Communication services
$1,610
Other expenses
$9,866
8
Prince Edward Island
Population under 30,000
$54,134/ year
About $4,511 / month for the reference family
See the annual breakdown
Food
$16,746
Clothing
$2,734
Transportation
$6,668
Shelter
$16,561
Communication services
$1,774
Other expenses
$9,650
9
British Columbia
Population under 30,000
$54,687/ year
About $4,557 / month for the reference family
See the annual breakdown
Food
$16,665
Clothing
$2,895
Transportation
$6,635
Shelter
$17,168
Communication services
$1,540
Other expenses
$9,784
10
Alberta
Population under 30,000
$55,854/ year
About $4,655 / month for the reference family
See the annual breakdown
Food
$17,098
Clothing
$2,567
Transportation
$6,531
Shelter
$18,389
Communication services
$1,485
Other expenses
$9,784

Basket components may differ from the total by a dollar or two because of rounding. This is a poverty-line benchmark, not an average spending budget, and it excludes savings goals and debt repayments.

The North has its own cost picture.

Yukon, Northwest Territories and Nunavut use the Northern Market Basket Measure, adapted for northern life. These are also 2025 annual costs for two adults and two children, in current dollars with a 2023-base basket. The regions and basket methods differ, so they stay outside the provincial ranking above. There isn’t one territory-wide basket or a matching 5,000-versus-20,000 breakdown.

Yukon

rural north: $65,200 / year
rural south: $67,075 / year
Whitehorse: $67,951 / year

Northwest Territories

Beaufort Delta: $83,881 / year
Sahtu: $86,493 / year
Tlicho: $70,137 / year
Dehcho: $72,236 / year
South Slave: $71,451 / year
Yellowknife: $76,287 / year

Nunavut

Baffin (excluding Iqaluit): $110,718 / year
Kivalliq: $99,297 / year
Kitikmeot: $106,435 / year
Iqaluit: $117,179 / year

Northern basket source ↗

02 — recent rent & resale prices

Renting and buying tell different stories.

Compare recent observed rents separately from resale home prices. Comparable averages run from lower to higher price, not “best affordability”: wages, the kind of home, local availability and the report’s coverage still matter. Different price measures are labelled and placed after the comparable averages, not ranked against them.

Surveyed rents include people already in their homes, not just newly advertised rentals. A newcomer may pay more. Apartment surveys don’t cover every rental type or community. Territory-wide figures are left unavailable when there isn’t a verified comparable observation; capital-city figures are never silently substituted.

Newfoundland and Labrador

$1,194/ month

Average two-bedroom rent · surveyed row/apartment units

October 2025 · Surveyed urban centres of 10,000+; private row/apartment buildings with 3+ units. Not all homes or rural areas.

Rental source