A single adult needs to make a higher wage to live in Nelson than they do in Vancouver.
That’s among the revelations in an annual report by Living Wage BC released Nov. 13 that calculates the rate that a full-time worker in a given community must earn to cover basic expenses and participate in community activities
Living wage is a weighted average of costs, government benefits and taxes for three different household types considered in the report. They include a two-parent family with two children, a single parent with one child, and a single adult living alone or with non-relatives.
The highest average living wage in B.C. is Whistler, which rose 5.4 per cent to $29.60, followed by Squamish at $28.00. Metro Vancouver’s average wage is $27.85, ahead of Revelstoke ($27.80), Golden ($27.80), Greater Victoria ($27.40) and Kelowna ($25.95).
The lowest living wage in B.C. is Grand Forks ($21.55), followed by Port Alberni ($22.60) and Trail ($22.95).
“Although inflation has moderated from the historic highs of 2022, the cost of living in B.C. continues to rise,” reads the report. “Ongoing investments in child care affordability, the full roll-out of the Canadian Dental Care Plan, and increases to the BC Rental Assistance Program for families with children, have helped offset some of the pressures on household budgets.
Not a single community in B.C. had a living wage matching the province’s minimum wage, according to the report.
Nelson’s living wage is $24.45 per hour, or $6.60 more than minimum wage. It rose 12 per cent since 2024, the highest increase among the 27 B.C. cities and regions included in the report.
Anastasia French, managing director of Living Wage BC and a co-author of the report, said this year’s edition is the first to include single adults and single parents.
The hourly rate required for a single adult living alone or with non-relatives in Nelson is $28.93. By comparison, a single adult needs $27.50 to live in metro Vancouver.
The cost of transportation is a major reason why. Nelson is the only community in the report where authors concluded that a single adult needs a car, whereas a family in Nelson can get by with just one vehicle.
There are more mass transit options in Vancouver and less need to own a vehicle.
“It’s much more expensive to be a single person in Nelson than it is to have a family of kids,” said French.
“In communities where you need to have the cost of a car, because cars are $5,000 a year more expensive than a transit pass, that pushes that single person’s living wage up.”
Meanwhile, it can also pay to have children. The report shows a family accessing the Canada Child Benefit has its living wage lowered by $2.20 per hour. B.C.’s Affordable Child Care Benefit decreases it by another 95 cents.
Single adults do have access to some benefits, such as B.C.’s renter tax credit or the federal dental care plan. But the elimination of the climate action tax credit in April raised the living wage for all residents by 10 cents.
The report says paying a living wage is beneficial for workers and employers. It helps workers achieve a decent standard of living while bolstering the local economy, reducing staff turnover, and increasing productivity and spending in local communities.
French acknowledged it may be a challenge for them and other small businesses to pay out what the report suggests, but doing so can lower staff turnover and increase morale.
“It also means that there’s more money in workers’ pockets that they’re hopefully then spending in the local community, continuing to strengthen local businesses.”
To read the complete report, visit www.livingwagebc.ca/living_wage_rates.
— with files from Tyler Harper and Brendan Jure