Who are Canada’s top 1%? (2022)

TOP 1% INCOME = $513,700

There are 287,490 people in Canada who hit this high income tax bracket and it is an increase of 1.8%.

The median income is $345,300 (meaning the middle person of the 287,490 people, earns this amount).

The average income is $513,700 meaning the ones at the very top are pulling the average way up by over $168K.

They pay an average of $190,400 in taxes a year, but the median taxes paid is $118,400 (meaning that median person earning $345,300, paid this amount).

Women ARE 1/4 of THE 1%

The average income for men in this group is $513,700, and they’re 75.3% of this group.

The average income for women in this group is $534,400, and they’re 24.7% of this group.

But the good news is that in 1982, only 11% of the 1% were women, and now it is 24.7%, which is promising.

LIKELY MOSTLY MARRIED, OR A SINGLE WOMAN

80.9% of them are in a relationship – either married or common-law, and out of that, men skew higher to be in a relationship at 85.4%, and women skew lower at 67.4%.

older ON AVERAGE around 53 years old

Top 1% earners, are around 53 years old, but the rest of the 99% of Canada’s average age is 48 years old.

Were they just as rich last year?

For the most part yes. 72% of the ones filing this income this year, made the same last year.

But 5 years ago, only 49.9% of them were in this group.

Basically, they were already probably making this money before consistently and have continued making this kind of money.

WHAT ABOUT IN 2018?

In 2018, the top 1% earned an average of $244,800, or 10% of all the income in Canada, mostly living in urban cities:

• 27% in Toronto
• 12% in Montréal
• 9% in Vancouver
• 9% in Calgary

& The top 1% of the 1%?

…and the 1% of the 1% (basically 0.1%) had an income of at least $790,000.

NET WORTH = $3,500,829

To be in the top 10% of Canadians, your net worth must be at least $3,500,829. This includes your registered accounts, pensions, everything.

If you have $1,702,396 you are in the top 20% of Canadians.

If you have $1,446,753 you are in the top 30% of Canadians.

Now to give you an idea of what that looks like against a general net worth chart, here is one I found on net worths by age, both the average and median:

And just for fun:

AVERAGE HOUSEHOLD SPEND = $68,980

This is about $5748 every month.

In 2019, almost two-thirds of total household spending on goods and services were allocated to shelter (29.3%) or about $1684 a month, transportation (18.5%) at $1063.38 a month and food (14.9%) or $856.45 a month.

Your city also matters a lot

Sources:

• StatsCan: Table 11-10-0008-01  Tax filers and dependants with income by total income, sex and age
• StatsCan: Table 11-10-0055-01  High income tax filers in Canada
• StatsCan: Table 11-10-0078-01  Selected assets and debts by after-tax income deciles, Survey of Financial Security (x 1,000,000)
• Longitudinal Administrative Databank, 1982 to 2018