iStock-Andrii-Yalanskyi
Inflation-adjusted average incomes among the wealthiest Canadians fell slightly in 2023, according to Statistics Canada.
In the top 1% segment, inflation-adjusted incomes fell 0.6% to $606,000 in 2023, while tax filers in the top 0.1% saw their incomes decline by 1% to $2,131,900.
Canadians need to earn $293,800 to be considered in the top 1% of income distribution in 2023. The cutoff was $930,100 for the top 0.1%, and $3,487,600 or above for the top 0.01%.
It wasn’t just the wealthy — Canadians in most income groups saw their average inflation-adjusted income decrease in 2023. The average income of Canadian tax filers edged down 0.3% in 2023 to $59,900, following a 3.2% decrease in 2022.
The exception was among those the top 0.01% of the income distribution; their average income rose by 0.2% in 2023 to $7,743,100.
“Continuing adjustments to the Canadian economy in the post-Covid pandemic period, including slower growth in gross domestic product, rapid population growth — driven by a large increase in non-permanent residents — and an inflation rate of 3.9%, affected incomes in 2023,” Statistics Canada said in the report.
Despite the declines seen in 2022 and 2023, inflation-adjusted average income remained higher in 2023 for all income groups than in 2019.
The proportion of women in the top 1% of tax filers rose 0.8 percentage points from 2022 to 26.4% in 2023. These women saw their average income increase by 0.4% to $547,500. At the same time, the income of men in the top 1% decreased 0.8% to $627,000.
Wages and salaries accounted for two-thirds of the total income of all tax filers. Those in the top income groups have derived a smaller proportion of their total income from wages since the data was collected beginning in 1982.
From 2016 to 2023, income from wages and salaries as a proportion of total income for the top 0.01% fell from 67.3% to 50.8%. Other top income groups saw smaller declines, from 63.0% to 55% for the top 0.1% and from 64.3% to 61.5% for the top 1%.
On the flip side, the proportion of income derived from wages and salaries was little changed for everyone else, from 66.8% in 2016 to 67.1% in 2023.
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Jonathan Got is a reporter with Advisor.ca and its sister publication, Investment Executive. Reach him at jonathan@newcom.ca.
