How the figures are made

Methodology

All wages come from the Job Bank wages 2025 open dataset published by Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) on 2025-11-19. The file lists low, median and high wages for the 516 occupation groups of the National Occupational Classification (NOC) 2021, for Canada, each province and territory, and the 76 economic regions of the 2021 Standard Geographical Classification.

Low, median and high

According to the Job Bank wage methodology, the low wage in most cases corresponds to the 10th percentile, the median is the middle point of the wage distribution, and the high wage in most cases corresponds to the 90th percentile of wages in the occupation and area. We show the figures exactly as published (rounded only for display) and do not average or recalculate them. On this site the three figures are drawn as one band: the band runs from low to high and the tick marks the median.

Local figures and larger-area figures

Each row in the source has a source code such as “LFS 2023-24 ER NOC5”. The geography word (ER = economic region, PR = province, ATL = Atlantic region, CAN = Canada) says which area the figure was calculated for. When the source shows a smaller area with a figure calculated for a larger area, this site does not present it as a local wage: the occupation is listed as “larger-area figure only” and no occupation page is created for that area. Rows marked N/A (not published) are left blank and never treated as zero. A few rows come from special sources (Canadian Institute for Health Information, administrative data for judges, Yukon Government data) that are published for the area itself.

Hourly and annual figures

Most occupations are published as hourly rates. For some (for example, where many workers are self-employed or paid by salary), Job Bank publishes annual amounts instead. The two units are never mixed in a comparison. The yearly figure shown on hourly pages is a plain multiplication — hourly wage × 40 hours × 52 weeks by default — and you can change the hours and weeks. It is not applied to occupations published as annual amounts.

Differences

Differences are the published median of one area minus the published median of another, with the percentage of the second. They are calculated only when both areas have a local figure in the same unit.

Data sources and periods

Figures come from the Labour Force Survey (2023–2024), small area estimation (2024), Employment Insurance data (2023–2024), the 2021 Census and some administrative data; the source and period are shown on each occupation page.

What the figures do not show

The figures are not job offers, union scales or minimum wages, and they do not include benefits, bonuses or overtime unless the source includes them. They describe an occupation group as a whole, not any one employer.