How does your net worth compare to your city?

According to Statistics Canada's latest publicly published city-level breakdown (Survey of Financial Security 2019), Vancouver had the highest median household net worth among the eight largest census metropolitan areas at $521,500, followed by Toronto at $467,900. These figures predate the pandemic-era housing boom — provincial-level SFS 2023 data (released October 2024) shows BC's median net worth rose to $773,500 and Ontario's to $665,600, suggesting Vancouver and Toronto CMA medians have grown materially since 2019. Statistics Canada has not separately published CMA-level 2023 figures.

Vancouver — $521,500 median household net worth per Statistics Canada SFS 2019 (latest publicly published CMA figure). The driver is real estate: Vancouver-area homeowners have benefited from decades of appreciation that compounded sharply during the 2020–2022 housing boom. BC's provincial median rose to $773,500 by 2023 (SFS 2023) — suggesting Vancouver-specific medians are now well above the 2019 figure but the CMA-level 2023 update has not been separately published.

Two main reasons. First, home ownership rates in Montreal are lower than in Toronto — more renters means more households with no real estate equity, which is the largest single asset in most Canadian net worth measurements. Second, Montreal home prices, while rising, are still meaningfully lower than Toronto, so even owner households have less equity. SFS 2019 showed Montreal at $220,200 vs Toronto at $467,900 — more than 2× the gap. Quebec's provincial median of $371,000 (SFS 2023) suggests Montreal has likely caught up somewhat, but the relative position is unchanged.

The latest published national median is $519,700 from the Statistics Canada Survey of Financial Security 2023 (released October 29, 2024). This is up substantially from the pre-pandemic figure ($329,900 in 2019 per SFS 2019). The increase was driven primarily by real estate appreciation between 2019 and 2023; the pandemic-era housing boom alone added roughly $200K to median Canadian household net worth.

Yes. Statistics Canada's net worth measurement includes the principal residence at its market value (less any mortgage). For cities with expensive real estate like Vancouver and Toronto, the principal residence often accounts for the majority of a household's total net worth. SFS 2023 shows that for under-35 family units, median net worth WITH a principal residence is $457,100 vs $44,000 WITHOUT — a 10× gap. Excluding home equity gives a very different picture of household financial security.

They are conservatively low for cities with hot real estate markets. The 2019 CMA medians don't reflect the 2020–2022 housing boom or the partial cooling since 2022. The province-level SFS 2023 figures (BC $773,500, Ontario $665,600) suggest Vancouver and Toronto CMA medians have grown roughly 35–45% since 2019. For cities with flatter real estate (Calgary, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Montreal), the 2019-to-2023 growth is closer to 25–35%. Use the 2019 CMA medians as a relative ranking — the order is roughly stable; the absolute levels are dated.

The median is the middle household — half of all households have less, half more. The mean (average) is the total divided by household count. Because a small number of very wealthy households pull the average up, the mean is always materially higher than the median. For Canada in 2023, the median was $519,700 but the mean was over $1.2 million. For a typical 'where do I stand' comparison, the median is the more meaningful benchmark.

Calculate your total assets (cash, investments, home market value, vehicles, business equity) and subtract your total liabilities (mortgage, credit cards, lines of credit, car loans, student loans). The remainder is your household net worth. Compare that against the city or province median figures on this page. For more detail by age cohort, see our /ca/average-net-worth-by-age page which combines age and provincial data into a percentile finder.