All large BC cities rank in bottom 20 for median incomes in western North America, study shows

British Columbian cities have some of the lowest median incomes in western North America, a new study has found.

Of 59 large urban areas in the US and Canada, the seven biggest in BC are in the bottom 20, according to the Fraser Institute’s research.

Victoria was BC’s best-performing city at number 42, with a median annual income of $37,890.

But that pales in comparison to Seattle (ranked 3rd), where the median pay is $61,056.

The other six BC cities ranked as following:

• Vancouver (ranked 48th at $37,300)

• Kamloops (ranked 52nd at $36,060)

• Chilliwack (ranked 54th at $33,650)

• Kelowna (ranked 55th at $33,540)

• Abbotsford-Mission (56th at $33,070)

• Nanaimo (ranked 57th at $32,770)

Ben Eisen, senior fellow at the Fraser Institute and co-author of the report – titled "Measuring British Columbia’s Prosperity Gap at the Metropolitan Level" – said BC cities are outliers in western North America.

“Many British Columbians would likely be surprised to learn that workers in next-door Washington make substantially more than they do,” he said.

He added: “At a time when affordability is top of mind, workers in BC make considerably less money than their counterparts in other jurisdictions.”

The study looked at the median yearly employment income of 59 large urban areas in BC, Alberta, Washington, Alaska, California, Oregon, Montana and Idaho.

The median income among the group of 59 metropolitan areas was $43,810, considerably higher than the income in BC’s best-performing city.

Tech-rich San Jose came top of the list ($73,895) followed by San Francisco ($70,315).

Napa, CA., Anchorage, AK. and Portland, OR. all appeared in the top 10.

The highest-ranking Canadian city was Edmonton, which came 16th with a median income of $45,470.

In its summary of the research, the Fraser Institute explained: "British Columbia is an economic laggard with respect to key measures of income, with the relevant gaps widening in recent years."

Read the full study here.