Vibrant Communities Calgary, in collaboration with the Alberta Living Wage Network, has published a new living wage for Calgary: $24.45 per hour. Government grants and regulations have helped life become more affordable to a degree, but many Calgarians are still struggling as housing and food costs remain high. This page will help you learn more about living wages in Calgary, Alberta, and Canada, and how employers can get involved to support employees and the local economy.
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Calgary’s Living Wage is $24.45 per hour
Living Wage now almost $10 per hour higher than Alberta's minimum wage
18 November 2024
Living wage at a glance
- A living wage reflects what people need to earn to cover living costs in their community. It is determined by calculating average expenses using local costs, subtracting taxes, and adding government transfers for a given household.
- Calgary’s living wage is 63% higher than Alberta’s minimum wage. People earning $15 per hour (or $31,200 annually) in 2018 lose upwards of $6,000 a year in 2024 without a pay increase.
- Our electricity and child care costs have gone down, with households spending about $1,500 less on electricity (half of what they paid the previous year) and about $2,000 a year less on childcare.
- Our food and housing costs have increased in 2024, with households paying about 10% more for food, and about $2,000 a year more for shelter, even after the savings in electricity costs.
- Almost 150 workplaces in Alberta, including almost 50 in Calgary, have committed to paying at least a living wage. They are showing us there is another way to do business.
Dig deeper into the living wage
Learn more about the living wage, how and why we calculate it, and how it differs from the minimum wage:
A living wage reflects what people need to earn to maintain a modest standard of living based on the actual costs of living in a specific community. It is determined by calculating average expenses using local costs, subtracting taxes, and adding government transfers for a given household. A living wage considers basic needs and also allows for extra costs like pursuing continuing education, having emergency savings and building financial assets. Employment income that is sufficient to cover the cost of living is vital to reducing poverty and building a resilient city and economy, so Vibrant Communities Calgary has been publishing living wages since 2008.
Calculating and publishing living wages informs business owners, policymakers, and employees about local costs and affordability measures and how they compare to other cities and provinces. Equipped with this information, policymakers can also evaluate how measures like utility rate caps and action on affordable housing and food can affect lower income workers in a city.
The living wage is a weighted average based on the number of two-parent family households (weighted at 56.5%), one-parent family households (9.6%), and single adult households (33.9%). This approach reflects multiple situations where people may have access to different government benefits and taxes and would be affected differently by policy changes. For instance, improving childcare affordability will affect each household type differently.
The methodology for calculating Calgary's living wage assumes that all adults in the household are working full-time hours (35 hours per week) and the following inputs are included:
Full details of the allocations for each category are provided in the 2024 Calgary Living Wage Brief.
The minimum wage, legislated by the provincial government, is the legal minimum that an employer must pay their employees. It is the same across the province. Living wage reflects what people need to earn to cover the actual costs of living in their community. Many employers choose to pay a living wage to ensure their workers can support themselves and their families and participate in their communities.
Alberta’s minimum wage is $15 per hour, or $14 per hour for people under the age of 18. There are approximately 126,000 minimum-wage workers in Alberta—43% or nearly 54,000 of whom are over the age of 24. Alberta’s minimum wage hasn’t increased since 2018 and we are now tied with Saskatchewan for the lowest minimum wage in the country.
Living wages across Alberta and Canada
The Alberta Living Wage Network calculates the living wage for municipalities across Alberta. View the details of each calculation.
There are many communities that publish living wage across Canada and formally established networks in Ontario and British Columbia. Annual figures are also released by organizations in Quebec, Saskatchewan, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia.
Certified living wage employers
Employers that pay a living wage directly or through a combination of wages and basic needs benefits, may be eligible for living wage certification through the Alberta Living Wage Network.
Research into Alberta’s living wage network shows that after certification, living wage employers experienced cultural, reputational, and economic changes, including higher employee retention, financial savings on rehiring and retraining, and organizational growth over time. Their employees reported experiencing improved mental and physical health and increased economic well-being, including the ability to start paying back student loans and put money into savings.
Living Wage Employers receive public recognition for demonstrating a commitment to socially responsible practices, making them more attractive to potential employees and customers. The Living Wage Employer Program recognizes and celebrates employers that pay their direct and indirect employees a living wage.
Explore Alberta’s living wage employers here.
Resources
- Learn more about Calgary’s living wage calculation.
- 21 municipalities in Alberta released their living wages today. Learn more about how Calgary’s living wage compares.
- View ALWN’s common questions and answers about living wages and how employers can get certified.
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