Minimum wage Canada 2026: federal and by province

According to Employment and Social Development Canada, the federal minimum wage rose to $18.15 an hour on 1 April 2026, up from $17.75 the year before. It is adjusted every 1 April in line with the annual average Consumer Price Index of the previous year, which rose 2.1% in 2025, and the result is rounded up to the nearest five cents.

Two things are worth knowing about it:

• It only covers the federally regulated private sector. That means banks, airlines, rail and interprovincial trucking, telecoms, broadcasting and similar industries. If you work in retail, a restaurant or an office that isn't federally regulated, your province's rate is the one that applies.
• The higher rate always wins. If the province or territory where you usually work has a higher minimum wage than the federal one, a federally regulated employer has to pay the higher of the two. Today that happens in British Columbia, Yukon and Nunavut.

These are the general adult minimum wages in force on 2 October 2026, with the date each rate took effect, from the federal Minimum Wage Database. Several changed on 1 October 2026.

• Nunavut: $20.17 (since 1 September 2026)
• Yukon: $18.51 (since 1 April 2026)
• British Columbia: $18.25 (since 1 June 2026)
• Federal: $18.15 (since 1 April 2026)
• Ontario: $17.95 (since 1 October 2026)
• Prince Edward Island: $17.30 (since 1 October 2026)
• Northwest Territories: $17.20 (since 1 September 2026)
• Nova Scotia: $17.00 (since 1 October 2026)
• Quebec: $16.60 (since 1 May 2026)
• Manitoba: $16.40 (since 1 October 2026)
• Newfoundland and Labrador: $16.35 (since 1 April 2026)
• New Brunswick: $15.90 (since 1 April 2026)
• Saskatchewan: $15.70 (since 1 October 2026)
• Alberta: $15.00 (unchanged since 2018)

The provincial labour websites confirm the main October changes. Ontario went from $17.60 to $17.95 on 1 October 2026 under its annual inflation indexation. Nova Scotia set $17.00 from the same date, Manitoba $16.40 and Saskatchewan $15.70, using a formula that weighs inflation and the average hourly wage in the province equally. British Columbia moved from $17.85 to $18.25 on 1 June 2026, also indexed to inflation. Alberta still lists $15 an hour as its general minimum.

Increases already scheduled

The only future general rate in the federal database at the time of writing is Prince Edward Island: $17.60 from 1 April 2027. The federal rate will be recalculated again on 1 April 2027 with the 2026 inflation figure, but that number hasn't been published yet, so we leave it out.

Special rates

Some provinces have lower or different rates for specific groups. Alberta, for example, allows $13 an hour for students under 18 for the first 28 hours a week while school is in session, and British Columbia has separate minimums for liquor servers, live-in workers and app-based delivery and ride-hail drivers. If your job is in one of those categories, check your province's page rather than the general table.

• Highest overall: Nunavut, at $20.17 an hour.
• Highest province: British Columbia, at $18.25.
• Lowest: Alberta, at $15.00, followed by Saskatchewan at $15.70.

The gap is bigger than it looks per hour. Between Nunavut and Alberta it is $5.17 an hour, which over a full-time year of 2,080 hours adds up to $10,753.60 before tax. Between British Columbia and Alberta it is $3.25 an hour, or $6,760 a year. Cost of living is very different across those places, of course, so a higher rate doesn't automatically mean more money left at the end of the month.

Canada doesn't have a single national full-time week, so we use the most common reference: 40 hours a week for 52 weeks, which is 2,080 hours a year. The formulas are simple:

• Weekly: hourly rate × 40
• Yearly: hourly rate × 2,080
• Monthly: yearly ÷ 12

All figures are gross, before income tax, CPP or QPP contributions and EI premiums, and without overtime or vacation pay.

• Nunavut ($20.17): $806.80 a week, $3,496.13 a month, $41,953.60 a year
• Yukon ($18.51): $740.40 a week, $3,208.40 a month, $38,500.80 a year
• British Columbia ($18.25): $730.00 a week, $3,163.33 a month, $37,960.00 a year
• Federal ($18.15): $726.00 a week, $3,146.00 a month, $37,752.00 a year
• Ontario ($17.95): $718.00 a week, $3,111.33 a month, $37,336.00 a year
• Prince Edward Island ($17.30): $692.00 a week, $2,998.67 a month, $35,984.00 a year
• Northwest Territories ($17.20): $688.00 a week, $2,981.33 a month, $35,776.00 a year
• Nova Scotia ($17.00): $680.00 a week, $2,946.67 a month, $35,360.00 a year
• Quebec ($16.60): $664.00 a week, $2,877.33 a month, $34,528.00 a year
• Manitoba ($16.40): $656.00 a week, $2,842.67 a month, $34,112.00 a year
• Newfoundland and Labrador ($16.35): $654.00 a week, $2,834.00 a month, $34,008.00 a year
• New Brunswick ($15.90): $636.00 a week, $2,756.00 a month, $33,072.00 a year
• Saskatchewan ($15.70): $628.00 a week, $2,721.33 a month, $32,656.00 a year
• Alberta ($15.00): $600.00 a week, $2,600.00 a month, $31,200.00 a year

If you work 37.5 or 35 hours, multiply your hourly rate by your real hours instead of 40. And if your rate changed during the year, as it did in Ontario on 1 October, your actual annual pay will be a mix of the old and new rates.

On a minimum wage income there is very little room for guessing, so the most useful thing is to know your real numbers rather than a rough idea of them.

1. 1. Work from take-home pay, not the hourly rate. Look at what actually lands in your account after deductions, ideally across two or three pay stubs, and plan from that.
2. 2. List the fixed costs first. Rent, phone, transit, insurance and debt payments. What's left is what you really have for food and everything else.
3. 3. Use a simple frame. The 50/30/20 rule splits income into needs, wants and savings. On a low income, needs often take more than 50%, and that's fine: treat the split as a starting point, not a test you have to pass.
4. 4. Set a weekly food and day-to-day limit. Weekly limits are easier to stick to than monthly ones when you're paid every week or two.
5. 5. Start a small cushion. Even $20 a week builds up. A first target of $500 already covers many small shocks, and our guide to the emergency fund explains how to grow it in stages.

If you want to put this into practice, personal budgeting with category limits is one of the free features in Neto, an app for iPhone and Android that works without connecting your bank: you log your income and expenses yourself, set a weekly or monthly budget per category, and get a warning when you reach 80% and 100% of it.

A minimum wage is a legal floor, not a description of what people actually earn. Many workers in the same province earn more because of experience, tips, overtime or union agreements, and some earn special rates below the general one. The figure that matters for your finances is the one in your own pay stub, and how much of it you manage to keep each month.

The federal minimum wage is $18.15 an hour since 1 April 2026, but it only applies to federally regulated workplaces. Provincial and territorial rates range from $15.00 in Alberta to $20.17 in Nunavut, with Ontario at $17.95 since 1 October 2026. Full time at 40 hours a week, that's between $31,200 and $41,953.60 a year before deductions, depending on where you live.

Sources: Government of Canada, Minimum Wage Database (current and forthcoming general rates); ESDC, federal minimum wage announcement, 24 March 2026; Ontario; British Columbia; Alberta; Nova Scotia; Manitoba; Saskatchewan. Figures checked on 2 October 2026.