B.C. officially has one of Canada's highest costs of living

British Columbians struggling with rising costs of living in the province have some new stats to back up how hard their pocketbooks are being hit.

Statistics Canada recently published a report that shows which provinces are the most expensive to live in.

Purchasing Power Parities for Consumption and Household Income Across the Canadian Provinces and Territories is the first-of-its-kind study in Canada that spotlights the differences in purchasing power between provinces and territories.

Based on data from 2021, B.C. is tied for the most expensive province in Canada to live in.

“The standard of living from earning $75,000 in one province or territory is not the same as earning that amount in another province or territory if the cost of living differs in each location,” said StatCan in a release.

According to the report, residents in B.C., Ontario, and Alberta faced the highest costs of living in 2021.

Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick were the least expensive places to live.

When it comes to territories, Nunavut was the most expensive, and both Nunavut and the Northwest Territories were more expensive than any province.

“$1 spent in British Columbia purchased the equivalent amount of goods and services as $0.82 spent in New Brunswick,” added StatCan.

Findings also included the province with the lowest household disposable income and the value of “social transfers,” or public services.

Household disposable income per capita is one of the two factors StatCan uses to measure income.

The national statistical agency said that B.C.’s rankings were heavily affected by price adjustment, dropping to ninth in terms of household disposable income.

Manitoba and Nunavut had the lowest disposable income among provinces and territories, which the agency says was also true before price adjustment.

StatCan also examined the value of “social transfers,” public services like health care, as the second measure of income.

After adding the value of social transfers, B.C. had the lowest price-adjusted income among all provinces and territories in the report.

“Taken together, these results suggest that price adjustment and the value of publicly provided services both play an important role in understanding differences in economic well-being between regions,” explained StatCan.

A recent report also revealed that cost-of-living struggles hit B.C. newcomers way harder than in other provinces.

The findings come as part of new research conducted by TD, which states that there may be barriers preventing newcomers from achieving their financial goals, which in turn would impact the overall economic success of the province.

Regarding the cost of living, 61 per cent of B.C. newcomers are feeling more financially uncomfortable than newcomers in other provinces (56 per cent) and the general Canadian population (44 per cent).

Are you finding B.C.’s cost of living becoming too much for you? Let us know in the comments. If you’d like to share a personal story with us, email vancouver@dailyhive.com