Here’s how much you’d have to make to be in Canada’s 1% of earners

A Canadian loonie is pictured in North Vancouver, B.C. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan Hayward

The top one per cent of tax filers made an average of $606,000 in 2023, according to Statistics Canada’s most recent “high-income Canadians” report.

In contrast, Canadian tax filers on average made $59,900 that year when adjusted for inflation.

Most groups saw their average inflation-adjusted income decrease that year. The top one per cent saw their incomes fall 0.6 per cent. Most others ate a 0.3 per cent cut, following a 3.2 per cent decrease in 2022.

The largest drop was among the 0.1 per cent of filers at a full percentage point, though that group enjoyed $2,131,900 in earnings on average.

What group are you in?

To be considered among Canada’s one per cent of earners, you’d have to make at least $293,800 in 2023, according to Statistics Canada.

To be in the 0.1 per cent group, the cost of entry was $930,100. Within that, Canadians earning more than $3,487,600 could call themselves 0.01 per cent earners.

That last group actually saw their incomes grow in 2023, contrasting the trend in lower income groups. On average, those people were paid $7,743,100, up 0.2 per cent from the year before.

Members of this group got a significant portion of their income from investments, dividends and other income.

By comparison, the general public gets about two thirds of their income through aggregate wages and salaries.