Overview
- Metro Vancouver’s living wage rose to $27.85 per hour, up 3% year over year and $10 higher than B.C.’s $17.85 minimum wage.
- Greater Victoria’s rate reached $27.40, the highest on Vancouver Island, as Living Wage BC added new communities such as Campbell River and Port Alberni and found none below $20.
- Calgary’s living wage increased to $26.50 per hour, $2 higher than 2024 and more than $10 above Alberta’s $15 minimum wage, with transportation, child care and food cited as key pressures.
- Hotspots include Whistler at $29.60 and Squamish at $28 in B.C., while Alberta’s Jasper tops that province at $31.80 and Airdrie at $29, with Medicine Hat and Cold Lake at the lower end.
- Report authors note roughly one in three B.C. workers do not earn a living wage and urge policy responses such as a $20 minimum wage and targeted affordability investments.