How much do you need to earn to live in Alberta?

Rising interest rates and inflation are forcing people to question their monthly earnings, so how much does an average Albertan need to earn to lead a comfortable life?

You are not alone if you are struggling with inflation and expensive housing.

According to a recent survey by an insolvency agency, MNP Limited, one-third of Albertans don’t make enough money to cover their bills and debt.

Moshe Lander, an economist with Concordia University, explains to CityNews that whatever that number is, there is mounting frustration that a large portion of earnings goes to necessities.

“Albertans and Canadians, in general, are getting frustrated is it’s requiring a greater share of whatever that number is to allocate towards housing and towards groceries,” he said.

So what’s that magic number that you need to earn every month in order to lead a comfortable life?

Lander doesn’t say exactly, but he says whatever that number is, he asks how that is being distributed among the Canadians’ spending.”

“You take Canada’s GDP, which is around, say, $1.2 trillion, and you divide it by the number of Canadians that are there, which is 40 million Canadians. That works out to about 30,000 per person,” he explained.

“So if you’re a family of four, you’re talking about you need, say, around $100,000 to be average.”

A construction worker by profession, Jesus Vargus is a Calgarian who moved to Canada a few years ago from Mexico. He is making ends meet but feels the right salary would help his family live better.

“Five or six thousand, because that amount of money can help survive at the moment. It’s complicated, you know, because of inflation,” he said.

But Vargus is not the only one hoping to get that magic number in monthly income.

One person says, “Expenditure and inflation is hitting Alberta over time. It’s going to be harder to afford a lot of the services, transit, groceries, a lot of that.”

Another says, “In Alberta, if you want to lead a good life, I think $5,000 or $6,000 is the minimum amount that you have to make.”

“I think $4,000 to $5,000 after tax so people can have the freedom to do the things they actually want to do, not just go to work, come home sleep, go to work, you know,” one person told CityNews.

So how can Canadians improve their monthly earnings?

“Kind of the next evolution here’s that we need to recognize there’s two possible ways we can generate income. One is by work which is the traditional way. One is through investment, and that one is being under-exploited among average Canadians, average Albertans, and part of it is because they’re just saying, ‘I can’t save enough,'” Lander explained.

“You don’t have to save a lot, just enough that you can buy into a mutual fund.”