Average individual income

$64,600

Average (after tax) household income

$104,900

% of households with income <$30k

9.3%

Average employment income

$63,450

Gender wage gap (total female employment income as a % of male)

58.8%

Wage gap between racialized Calgarians (average income of racialized persons as a % of City of Calgary average)

78.6%

People receiving government transfers

79%

Average transfer amount

$6,005

Average wage (average employment income / 37.5 hours per week)

$32.54

Unemployment Rate

12.5%

Fulltime/part-time status

47.5%

Percentage earning <$30k

Calgary: 40%

Food Bank usage (# of clients)

82,612

Basic Needs calls

10,888

Housing affordability % of people who pay 30% or more for housing

34.4%

Average rents (average shelter cost of tenant households)

$1,404

Housing requiring major repairs

4.5%

Percent unsuitable

5.1%

Low Income Transit pass and Fair Entry

45,774

% taking public transit to work

8.8%

Persons living alone

10.3%

211
A helpline and online database of Alberta’s community and social services.

Activity limitations

Based on the Census definition of "Activities of daily living."

Basic Needs calls

Number of calls to 211 requesting assistance with basic needs in the calendar year 2022.

Affordable Housing Units
This includes Calgary Housing Company and Non-Market Housing Units.

Calgary Food Bank
The figure shared of the Emergency Food Hampers distributed city-wide in a year is data from the Calgary Food Bank for 2022 and does not include other emergency food hampers from other providers.

Fair Entry Program

The City of Calgary fee assistance program.

Gender Wage Gap

Average female employment income as a percentage of average male employment income.

Government Cash Benefits (Government Transfers)
All cash benefits from federal, provincial, territorial or municipal governments (ii). Some examples are Old Age Security pension, Guaranteed Income Supplement, CPP, EI, Working Income Tax Benefit, and Social Assistance benefits.

Indigenous identity
Based on the Census definition of “Aboriginal Identity.”

LIM-AT
The low-income measure after tax refers to a fixed percentage (50%) of median adjusted after-tax income of private households (iii).

Part-time status for employment

Part-time status is an employee that is in an employment situation with under 30 hours per week. Full-time refers to over 30 hours per week.

Racialized
Based on the Census definition of “visible minority.”

i. Canadian Urban Sustainability Practitioners (2019). Energy Poverty and Equity Explorer Tool
ii. Statistics Canada (2017). Dictionary, Census of Population, 2016: Government Transfers
iii. Statistics Canada (2017). Dictionary, Census of Population, 2016: Low-Income Measure, After Tax (LIM-AT)
iv. Government of Alberta (2021). Payday loan business licence

Unsuitable Housing

A private household is living in suitable accommodations according to the National Occupancy Standard; that is, whether the dwelling has enough bedrooms for the size and composition of the household.

Census Data
This may not reflect current figures, as the census data available is from 2021. Each ward profile only includes data that is available at a community level.

Food Security
The Calgary Food Bank is not the only service provider in the areas identified in each ward profile. Additionally, not all people experiencing food insecurity also request food bank services. The data shared in this report is not representative of the entire food insecure population.

211 Data
Some individuals who contact 211 do not provide their postal code. As a result, the actual number of contacts may be higher, since the 211 data only reflects those who provided a postal code.

Gender

As the number of non-binary people reporting on the Census was very small, and in the interests of confidentiality, Statistics Canada randomly assigned non-binary respondents to male or female categories. Consequently, the 2021 Census reports gender as Male+ and Female+.

This project used quantitative (numerical data) to explore poverty at the ward level.

Publicly-available data
Information attributed to community names or postal codes in Calgary was aggregated by ward. This is based on the new municipal ward boundaries that took effect in October 2021.

Data was collected from the Calgary Food Bank, The Distress Centre (211 Data), Statistics Canada (2021 Census of Population), the City of Calgary Fair Entry program, the City of Calgary Affordable Housing and Calgary Housing Company, the City of Calgary Open Data Portal, the City of Calgary Ward Profiles for the 2021 Election, Calgary Housing Company, the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, and the Canadian Urban Sustainability Practitioners’ Energy Poverty and Equity Explorer Tool.