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Money Talks

By July 26, 2010
CFN Team

Median Income

Of the 288 census divisions in Canada, which five do you think had the lowest median income when the 2006 census was taken? If you guessed that all five are in Canada's North, you would be correct. (Three are in Northern Manitoba, one is in Northern British Columbia, and one is in Northern Saskatchewan.)

But that's not the whole story. The top three census divisions for median income in the country are also in the North: Division 16 in Northern Alberta, Fort Smith in the Northwest Territories, and Northern Rockies in British Columbia. Natural gas, oil sands, and diamonds place these three census divisions at the top of the heap in Canada in terms of median income, ahead of both Halton (in Southern Ontario) and Ottawa.

Source: The Conference Board of Canada.

 

Methodology

Data for "Median Income" were exported from Statistics Canada's Profile for Canada, Provinces, Territories, Census Divisions, and Census Subdivisions, 2006 Census (catalogue number: 94-581-XCB2006001) using Beyond 20/20 Professional Browser.

These data were imported into Microsoft Excel for every census division in Canada. The resulting table was imported into ArcGIS software. The map was classified for < $20,000, $20,000-$32,000, and > $32,000. Median income statistics were rounded to the nearest $1,000 for the placement of labels in the three highest and five lowest categories in the North. The RANK function in Excel was used to order census divisions by median income for the "top five" and "bottom five" tables.

About the Series

Here, the North is a bi-weekly series researched, written, and produced by The Conference Board of Canada's Centre for the North. The series is designed to illustrate similarities and differences--between Canada's North and South, and between Northern regions-in keeping with the Centre's mandate to provide policy--directed research to decision makers.

This issue of Here, the North was researched and written by Peter Wilson.

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Post Date:
July 26, 2010
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CFN Team

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