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Housing affordability is on a lot of people’s minds these days. Tenants across the country are organizing against abusive rent increases, the Bank of Canada is squeezing mortgage holders and tenants with raised interest rates, and political parties across the spectrum are talking about the out-of-control cost of housing.
Just how out-of-control are rents, in particular? What hourly wage does a full-time worker need to make to afford a two-bedroom apartment without spending more than 30 per cent of their income on rent? This number is called a rental wage, and we’ve calculated it nationally, in the provinces, in cities, and in 795 neighbourhoods, in an interactive map.
The situation varies across regions, but it’s dire everywhere. The rental wage is higher than the minimum wage in every province, without exception. Some cities—particularly in Quebec, which has stronger tenant protections than most provinces—continue to harbour islands of affordability, but those zones are shrinking.
To get started, click on a province to filter to the cities within it. Click on a city to jump to its neighbourhoods map. Hover over anything for additional information. To reset the map, reload the page. The map may take a moment to load.
Click here to read the full report that this map is based on. To see older data for comparison, click here to look over our equivalent map from 2018.
