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.

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 child care 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:

Minimum wages are legislated by the provincial government and are set so that no employer may pay below the legal minimum. It currently sits at $15 per hour for most employees and $13 per hour for people under the age of 18 and hasn’t gone up since 2018. About 200,000 Albertans are on minimum wage in our province and in Calgary, the living wage is almost $9 higher than the minimum wage.

Alberta is the only province that didn’t increase its minimum wage in 2022 or 2023. Many Canadian provinces and all of the territories review their minimum wages annually as indicated in the table below.

The Alberta Living Wage Network calculates the living wage for 16 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.

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.

Employees 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.

Studies show that living wage employers experience a decrease in employee turnover and absenteeism, increased retention and productivity, and savings on rehiring and retraining. Employers can also use the living wage as a tool within their recruitment strategy for lower paying occupations. 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.