Local wages, local rents.

Why this exists

Cost of living is often described through abstract national macroeconomic metrics: CPI, average wage baskets, or national housing reports. While valuable, these national figures hide significant local realities.

The CanPol Index evaluates these pressures at the level of individual federal ridings instead of provincial or national averages, to illustrate how differently housing burden can land depending on where you live.

What the index does

For all Canadian federal ridings, it compares a real median 1BR rental cost against each riding's real median individual monthly income.

By calculating the resulting Rent Burden (the percentage of income spent on a single housing unit), the index provides a currency-neutral view of relative regional affordability and discretionary purchasing power.

Data status

Riding boundaries, median income, represented party, population, registered electors, and the safety score are all real, sourced government data from Elections Canada and Statistics Canada.

Rent is estimated by index-linking the 2021 Census riding-level rental patterns to current 2025 CMHC Rental Market Survey levels (Statistics Canada table 34-10-0133-01). Because CMHC surveys average rents at the metropolitan level (CMA) rather than per riding, using raw CMHC averages would smear the same rent across every riding in a city. To capture real local variations honestly, we take each riding's relative rental cost from the 2021 Census (median monthly shelter costs for rented dwellings) and re-base it so that the average rent across the metropolitan area matches the CMHC 2025 1-bedroom average. This provides a distinct, current, and real-data-grounded estimate for each riding. Because CMHC and Census profiles measure the rent of occupied stock (what existing tenants actually pay) rather than active online asking prices, these figures will naturally be lower than current rental listings for vacant units.

Taxation & disposable income model

All median salary figures reported on the website represent gross (before-tax) income. To estimate realistic purchasing power, the index calculates estimated net disposable income by subtracting progressive federal and provincial income taxes, CPP/QPP contributions, and Employment Insurance (EI) deductions.

Note that municipal income taxes do not exist in Canada. Municipal property taxes are property-owner levies generally factored directly into CMHC rents. While we model federal and provincial taxes, other household costs (such as food, transport, and childcare) are not subtracted from disposable income and vary by household.

Index averages vs. general renter statistics

You may notice that our calculated average rent burdens (~28% for single individuals and ~23% for families) are lower than some news reports or studies citing average renter burdens of 40% or more. This is due to differences in definitions.

First, our denominator is the median income of all residents (including homeowners and retirees), which is higher than the median income of tenant households specifically. Second, our standard rent burden metric divides rent by gross (pre-tax) income; calculating against net take-home pay yields much higher burdens.

Finally, our rent figures represent the occupied stock rather than active asking rents. Government surveys (CMHC and the Census) measure the actual rent paid by all current tenants, many of whom have lived in their units for years and benefit from provincial rent control guidelines. Active online listings (e.g., Zumper, Kijiji, Rentals.ca) show asking rents for vacant units currently on the market, which are typically 20% to 30% higher than what the average tenant actually pays. While asking rents reflect what a new mover faces today, occupied stock rents are the correct measure for the average burden on the existing population.

Why are some ridings withheld (Pending)?

For four remote ridings in Canada (Yukon, Nunavut, Labrador, and Desnethé—Missinippi—Churchill River), rent is withheld (null) and shown as 'Pending'. This is due to geographic limits in rental survey coverage.

CMHC only surveys primary rental markets in urban centres with populations of 10,000 or more. They do not conduct rental surveys in Nunavut or Yukon, and do not cover remote regions like Labrador or northern Saskatchewan.

While other large northern ridings (like Northwest Territories or Kenora) contain a surveyed hub city within their borders (e.g. Yellowknife or Kenora town), the nearest CMHC-surveyed cities to Yukon, Nunavut, Labrador, and Desnethé—Missinippi—Churchill River are far away across different economic zones (e.g. Fort St. John is 451 km from Yukon; Amos is 311 km from Nunavut; Corner Brook is 268 km from Labrador; and Prince Albert is 79 km from Desnethé—Missinippi—Churchill River).