Show me the money, in Northern Ontario.

AuthorCirtwill, Charles
PositionThink Tank - Income reports of the population

You can't make a living in the North, right? That is what we Northerners are often told. The real money is down south or out west. Well, not so fast.

A recent report on median incomes in Northern Ontario done for Northern Policy Institute shows that we do quite well on this measure. Median (as opposed to average) income is the point at which 50 per cent of the population is making above that amount and 50 per cent is making below that amount. It gives, to quote the report author, "a much better picture of how the typical" person or family is doing. While average income is easily influenced by small numbers of people taking home big paydays, median income gives a better picture of the financial health of most people in a region.

It may not be great news for some, but it is good news overall. Seven of our 11 districts are at or above the Canadian median income. Four are at or above the Ontario median. Greater Sudbury and Thunder Bay have the highest median incomes at $32,938 and $31,191, respectively. These numbers compare favourably to the Canadian median of $29,878 and the Ontario median of $30,526. Rainy River, Kenora and Cochrane districts all come in over the $30,000 per year level, while Manitoulin has the lowest median income at $23,662 per year.

Good news is also found when looking at Aboriginal income earners in several Northern districts.

Many of our Aboriginal people earn more than the provincial and national median incomes of between $20,000 and $22,000. In some cases, well above. In Greater Sudbury, the median income for Aboriginal people is in excess of $26,000 per year.

In fact, Aboriginal incomes exceed the provincial and national medians in Greater Sudbury, Cochrane, Sudbury and Nipissing.

Income, of course, is made up of many sources, including government transfers and money you earn from work. Money earned from work is called "market income." The share of income made up of earned or "market" income for the Aboriginal population is at the provincial level (80 per cent) in Cochrane and at the national level (82 per cent) in Greater Sudbury.

The percentage of market income for our Aboriginal neighbours is, however, consistently below their fellow Northerners. There is a similar and consistent gap in total...

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