Living in Halton takes $27.60 an hour, $9.65 more than minimum wage

A Burlington worker on Ontario's minimum wage of $17.95 an hour is $9.65 short of what it takes to get by in Halton. The region's 2026 living wage is $27.60 an hour, according to rates the Ontario Living Wage Network released during Living Wage Week, Nov. 9 to 13.

Community Development Halton, which has a Burlington office at 662 Guelph Line and posted the local figures on its website, says that gap works out to about $17,563 a year in gross earnings for someone working 35 hours a week all year. The provincial minimum rose to its current rate on Oct. 1.

The network sets regional rates, and Halton falls under its Greater Toronto Area rate. It starts from the expenses of three kinds of households (two adults raising two young children, a single parent and a single adult), then accounts for taxes, government transfers and benefits to find the hourly pay each region needs.

Halton's living wage has climbed about 61 per cent since 2014. The minimum wage has risen over the same years, but not enough to keep pace in dollars: the hourly shortfall is wider now than it was then.