This article is republished with permission from Vibrant Communities Calgary (VCC). You can read the original article here.
Low wages, unstable work, and rising costs are making it harder for working Calgarians to make ends meet. Here’s what’s driving working poverty and how Calgary can help address it.
The following blog is a summary of Vibrant Communities Calgary’s latest policy brief: Working Poverty in Calgary. For a more in-depth analysis and detailed recommendations, download the full policy brief.
Calgary has long been a place with strong economic opportunities, relatively high wages, and a lower cost of living than many other Canadian cities. However, despite the growth in Alberta’s labour market in recent years, an increasing number of working Calgarians are struggling to afford basic needs like food, shelter, transportation, and clothing.
Between 2020 and 2023, the percentage of working poor in Calgary (that is, people earning income from employment yet still living below the poverty line) has more than doubled, going from 2.76% to 5.60%.
Why has Calgary’s working poverty rate increased?
Working poverty is driven by a combination of low wages, unstable work, and rising living costs. The key drivers of working poverty in Calgary include:
- The growing gap between wages and the cost of living. VCC estimated Calgary’s 2025 living wage at $26.50/hour, while Alberta’s minimum wage has remained at $15/hour since 2018. This shows how far earnings for many workers fall short of what’s needed to cover basic expenses, and a gap of this magnitude simply cannot be eliminated through household budgeting.
- The rising cost of housing. Over the past decade, Calgary’s median rent has risen substantially, bringing it closer to the high rents seen in cities like Toronto and Vancouver than to those in Edmonton, Hamilton, or Winnipeg. Since 2021 alone, median rent has increased by 44%, while Calgary Housing’s Affordable Housing waitlist grew to 7,739 households by June 2026.
- Growing food insecurity among working households. Rising costs, inflation, precarious employment, and stagnant wages have created a situation in which full-time work no longer guarantees food security. In a recent Calgary Food Bank survey, 65% of clients came from households where at least one person was working, with an average hourly wage of $19.30.
- Transportation costs that limit access to work and opportunity. Transit fares have increased by 11% since 2023, and more workers are relying on the Low-Income Transit Pass (LITP) because they cannot afford full fares. With more than half of LITP users employed, affordable transit helps low-income workers access jobs, education, and essential services.
- Income supports have not kept pace with inflation. As the cost of basic needs has risen, income supports have not kept pace, leaving many people with less purchasing power. For example, Alberta’s earned income exemption for people receiving Alberta Income Support’s Expected to Work benefit has remained at $230 per month since 2004, while prices have increased by 66% over the same period.
What’s the impact of a higher working poverty rate on Calgary?
Working poverty affects more than the people struggling to make ends meet. When wages don’t keep pace with the cost of living, the impacts are felt across Calgary through increased demand for services, higher costs, and greater pressure on the local economy. This includes:
- More pressure on municipal and community services. More Calgarians are relying on supports such as subsidized housing, affordable transit, food banks, and other services to meet their basic needs. From September 2024 to August 2025, the Calgary Food Bank provided over 200,000 emergency food hampers, up from 173,300 the year before, highlighting the scale of demand for basic supports.
- Higher costs associated with housing instability and homelessness. When people cannot afford to remain housed, the City faces additional costs related to emergency responses, law enforcement, outreach, and other services. Housing pressures have contributed to a sharp rise in encampments in recent years, with 311 calls increasing by about 410% between 2018 and 2023.
- Reduced access to work and opportunity. When workers cannot afford transportation, the result is not simply fewer trips—it can mean losing access to employment, education, and essential services.
- Impacts on Calgary’s economy and tax base. When workers cannot afford to live in Calgary, employers can have more difficulty attracting and retaining staff. Lower household incomes can also mean less local spending and tax revenue, creating broader economic and fiscal pressures for the City.
How can we reduce working poverty in Calgary?
Working poverty is shaped by factors well beyond the workplace, including the rising costs of housing, food, transportation, and other essentials. While many of the policy levers affecting income and affordability rest with the provincial and federal governments, the City of Calgary has an important role to play through transit, housing, service delivery, affordability programs, advocacy, and procurement.
Based on the evidence, we’ve identified several recommendations different orders of government can take to help reduce the gap between what people earn and what it costs to live in Calgary. For a more detailed overview of the recommendations below, please refer to the policy brief.
Municipal Recommendations:
- Explore opportunities to improve pay for Calgary’s low-wage earners, by strengthening living wage requirements in City procurement and advocating for better wage and workplace protections, including for gig workers.
- Increase the supply of affordable housing, by continuing to invest in market and non-market housing and aligning City policies to accelerate new development.
- Maintain affordable transit for low-wage workers, by protecting the Low Income Transit Pass and expanding transit affordability for workers who rely on it to access jobs.
- Explore improved access to affordable food, by using zoning, permitting, and local markets to expand grocery and fresh food options in underserved neighbourhoods.
- Explore leveraging the City’s Fair Entry program to improve the affordability of essential goods and services for low-income households.
Provincial Recommendations:
Increase incomes for Albertans living on a low income by raising the minimum wage, strengthening Income Support, protecting tips, and extending basic employment standards to gig workers.
Working Poverty in Calgary
Between 2020 and 2023, the percentage of working poor in Calgary more than doubled, going from 2.76% to 5.60%.
This report examines the main drivers of working poverty, how these pressures affect workers and local systems, and what role the City of Calgary can play in responding. Read the brief.
This article was co-authored by Alka Merlin and Patrick Berrigan.
