You gotta make a cool half-million a year to be rich in BC

They are called the one percenters.

They are the richest among us -- those in the upper echelon who earn so much money that they belong to the elite group that looks down on the other 99% of the population that makes less than them.

In British Columbia, that one percenter amount is an average of $512,900 annually -- a cool half-mil.

To be this kind of truly wealthy, this cash blessed, you are probably an entrepreneur with a successful company who rakes in the cash.

After all, there are next to no salaried jobs out there that pay $500,000 a year or more.

Or, you could be a savvy investor who makes a half-million or more annually off an overflowing portfolio.

Conversely, it's probably a combination of both -- business income and investment yields -- that puts most one percenters in their rarified world.

These kinds of numbers came to our attention with www.onlinegambling.ca putting out a news release titled 'Revealed: How Much You Need To Earn To Be Wealthy in Every Province.'

At first, I wondered why an online gaming outfit would do such a number-crunching survey.

And then, I realized, of course, that onlinegambling.ca wants to raise its profile and be involved if any one percenters want to gamble away.

Onlinegambling.ca based its findings on 2021 Statistics Canada figures of the top one percent income earners.
"If British Columbia is where you call home, then you have to earn a whopping average of $512,900 (annually) to be considered part of the top 1%," reads part of the report.
"Seeing as Vancouver has the highest real estate prices in Canada, it comes as no surprise that the wealthiest residents are earning big bucks of around $530,900 a year."

The survey broke down what the average annual income was for one percenters in 10 provinces and 12 cities.

Two BC cities were ranked.

In Vancouver, the one percenter average is $530,900 and in Victoria $508,300.

BC is already affluent and attracts the wealthy for our lifestyle and that only drives the price of homes and the cost of living higher and higher.

Of the one percenters in BC, 74.8% are men and 25.2% are women.

You also have to realize that the one percenter annual income is just that -- a yearly haul of money.

One percenters will also have assets and net worth with fabulous homes, stacked investments, cars and possibly a boat, jewelry and other toys.

At $512,100, BC is second to only Ontario, where one percenters accumulate $542,100 annually and some of its cities, like Toronto, Ottawa, Kitchener and Hamilton have annual counts of $574,400 (the highest in the nation), $540,400, $488,100 and $482,800, respectively.

The lowest one percenter average in the country is in Prince Edward Island where it's $380,900.

Other city figures shook down like this -- $522,600 in Calgary, $461,600 in Edmonton, $477,900 in Winnipeg, $511,300 in Montreal, $436,900 in Quebec City and $476,800 in Saint John, New Brunswick.