Household Incomes in Canada and the United States: Who is Better Off?

Simon Lapointe

No 2019-01, CSLS Research Reports from Centre for the Study of Living Standards

Abstract: It is commonly noted that Americans are on average richer than Canadians. For example, in 2016, GDP per capita was US $47,294 in Canada (PPP-adjusted) compared to US $57,798 in the United States. However, this comparison of average incomes does not necessarily imply that all or even most Canadians are worse off than Americans. This report shows that Canadian households in the bottom 56 per cent of the income distribution are in fact better off than American households at the same point of the income distribution. This finding is driven by the lower income inequality in Canada, and illustrates how the usual comparison of incomes between Canada and the United States using GDP per capita or average household income hides a critical part of the story.

Keywords: Canada; United States; Household Income; Well-Being (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J11 J31 O51 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019-07
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