How does your household income compare with your neighbours? What provinces have the highest median family income? Statistics Canada has just released data from the new Canadian Income Survey (CIS), based on annual income information for 2012.

According to the release, median after-tax income of Canadian families of two or more people was $71,700. Families in four provinces – Ontario, Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia – had higher median incomes than the Canadian average. It should come as no surprise to anyone that Albertans are doing the best with a median family income of $92,300. Saskatchewan comes in second place with $77,300, followed by Ontario ($73,700) and British Columbia ($72,200). Families and individuals in Eastern Canada are earning much less.

Alberta families had both the highest median after-tax income and the highest median market income at $102,700. If, like me, you don’t know what that means, according to the Stats Can website, market income is the “total income before tax minus income from government sources.” To be specific, income from the market.

“Unattached individuals,” (which we understand to mean single person homes) in Alberta also had the highest median after-tax income at $36,500, and market income at $37,000.

Infographic of Canadian incomes by province

Here’s a cross-country breakdown of what we’re making.

Median after-tax income by family type

    Families: $76,900.

    Senior families (the highest income earner was 65 or older): $52,300

    Two-parent families with children: $84,600

    Lone-parent families headed by a woman: $39,100

    Unattached individuals: $27,300 (unattached seniors: $25,000; non-seniors: $28,300)

Here’s the information by country and province:

After tax income, families of two persons or more

    Canada: $71,700

    Newfoundland and Labrador: $64,500

    Prince Edward Island: $61,100

    Nova Scotia: $62,900

    New Brunswick: $59,300

    Quebec: $64,000

    Ontario: $73,700

    Manitoba: $68,100

    Saskatchewan: $77,300

    Alberta: $92,300

    British Columbia: $72,200

After tax income, unattached individuals

    Canada: $27,300

    Newfoundland and Labrador: $22,100

    Prince Edward Island: $23,300

    Nova Scotia: $26,300

    New Brunswick: $23,200

    Quebec: $26,200

    Ontario: $26,600

    Manitoba: $27,400

    Saskatchewan: $32,000

    Alberta: $36,500

    British Columbia: $25,200

Market income, families of two persons or more

    Canada: $71,900

    Newfoundland and Labrador: $56,400

    Prince Edward Island $59,600

    Nova Scotia: $59,200

    New Brunswick: $56,300

    Quebec: $63,100

    Ontario: $73,400

    Manitoba: $70,000

    Saskatchewan: $80,000

    Alberta: $102,700

    British Columbia: $70,800

Market income, unattached individuals

    Canada: $22,400

    Newfoundland and Labrador: $12,300

    Prince Edward Island $18,000

    Nova Scotia: $20,600

    New Brunswick: $17,800

    Quebec: $21,800

    Ontario: $20,600

    Manitoba: $22,300

    Saskatchewan: $30,400

    Alberta: $37,000

    British Columbia: $19,500

If, again like me, you’re confused by the discrepancies between after-tax income and market income, keep in mind that it depends on how much money people are getting from the government, then paying in taxes.

“In 2012, 18.7 million Canadians aged 16 or over received $138.8 billion dollars in government transfers. One-quarter of recipients of government transfers were seniors and they received just over half of the total transfers paid. Almost all (94.1%) of this amount for seniors comes from Old Age Security, Guaranteed Income Supplement, Canada Pension Plan and Quebec Pension Plan programs.

“Transfers received varied widely by family type. For non-senior families, median government transfers amounted to $3,500 in 2012, while for senior families, the median was $26,000. For female lone-parent families, the median was $10,300, while for two-parent families, it was $4,300.”

See the full report from Statistics Canada.