Canada’s Young Adults Make Less Than 50 Years Ago, Senior Incomes Surged

Maybe Canada’s peak opportunity for young adults really was in the 70s and 80s? Statistics Canada (StatCan) data shows the median income didn’t budge at all in 2024 after inflation. Since peaking in 2021, the median income hasn’t made much progress after inflation—except for older Canadians. While older demographics continue to see their real (inflation-adjusted) incomes hit new highs, younger ones saw their incomes peak nearly half a century ago. Seriously. Canadian Median Incomes Stagnated The change in income for the median Canadian in 2024, by age group, inflation-adjusted to 2024 constant dollars. Source: StatCan; Better Dwelling. The median worker in Canada earned $46,300 in 2024, unchanged in real terms from a year before. Hopefully those inflation numbers are right, eh? While the median worker didn’t see their income erode over this period, age made a big difference. Canada’s younger workers actually saw a regression. Those 15 to 24-year-olds saw their income fall 1.9% in real terms in 2024, failing to meet inflation. It was an even worse year for those 25 to 34-year-olds (-2.4%), which is somewhat surprising. Not to sound like a broken record, keep in mind this excludes th...