What is the Living Wage?

We work with communities across BC to calculate their local living wage.

The living wage is the hourly amount that someone needs to earn to meet their basic expenses (including rent, food and transportation) once government taxes, credits, deductions and subsidies are taken into account. It does not include debt repayment or savings for future plans.

In a province as diverse as BC, communities differ when it comes to their cost of living. For example, while some communities may have lower housing or childcare costs, others may have limited transit and so have to take on the additional cost of a car.

No matter where they live, people should be able to afford a decent life. There are jobs that need to be done in every community, and therefore people need homes, services, and a good quality of life in every community. A local calculation allows communities to identify policy advocacy that would address poverty in their community.

The Living Wage is calculated using a 35-hour working week. According to data from the Labour Force Survey, in 2023 BC workers worked an average of 35.5 hours per week.

Read the full report "Living Wage Report 2025: Calculating what it takes to live in Metro Vancouver"

The Living Wage for communities in BC:

Living Wages in Canada

More and more communities across Canada are taking action in response to this country’s increasingly high levels of low-wage poverty. Why? They want everyone to afford the basic necessities of life, to live with dignity and to actively participate in their community – they want a living wage.

 Living Wage Canada supports this national living-wage movement through facilitated learning and information-sharing. The site’s Canadian Living Wage Framework provides a consistent living wage definition and calculation methodology, and a strategy for recognizing corporate and community leadership who commit to passing a living wage policy.