British Columbians pay the most for housing and utilities, health and dental care, transportation, food and clothing.
And our wages don't keep up.
A study conducted by Westland Insurance, with information from Statistics Canada and the Canadian Real Estate Association, shows that BC has the highest cost of living of any Canadian province.
All of us know life is expensive and BC tends to be even more so because of astronomical house prices and rents, constant hikes at the grocery store and soaring property taxes, utilities and insurances
But this study by Westland Insurance quantifies it and lays it all out on charts and lists.
The study examined 55 cost-of-living contributing factors and assigned a score and weighting (including median income) to each factor to come up with a final score out of 100.
See the lists below.
BC ranked highest cost of living with a score of 79 out of 100, more than No. 2 Ontario's 71 and No. 3 Alberta's 67.
The most affordable costs of living are in Newfoundland with 20 out of 100 and Prince Edward Island with 51.
The factor that gets the most weighting, at 36.1% significance, is median income.
The median income for a British Columbian is $42,060, third highest in the country behind No. 1 Newfoundland at $57,410 and No. 2 Alberta with $44,850.
However, BC's median income can't offset having the highest house prices in Canada at an average of $996,460, which is more than double the national average of $490,520.
In fact, BC's median income of $42,060 only covers 4.2% of the price of an average $996,460 house.
Housing is given a weighting of 10.4% in the study.
Of course, average is average, and BC's house price pegged at $996,460 is about right on for Kelowna, low for Vancouver and Victoria and high for Penticton, Vernon, Kamloops and Prince George.
The weightings are how Newfoundland maintains its affordability and status as the province with the lowest cost of living in the nation.
As previously mentioned, Newfoundland has the highest median income in Canada at $57,410 (thanks to offshore oil and gas, mining, rebounding fishery and growing tourism and tech industries).
Yet, Newfoundland has the lowest average house price at $291,807.
So, Newfoundland's median income can cover 20% of average house price, compared to BC's measly 4.2%.
Full study information here: https://www.
