Savings Rate by Income in Canada: What Canadians Actually Save

Your savings rate is the share of your income you put aside each year. It is the most direct measure of how fast you are building wealth, and it varies a lot with income: a household with little left after rent and groceries can’t save the same share as one with room to spare. This page shows how saving differs across income groups in Canada, the savings rates commonly suggested as targets, what those targets come to each month at different incomes, and how to work out your own rate.

How much Canadians save at each income level

Statistics Canada’s distributions of household economic accounts split households into five equal groups by income and estimate each group’s net saving. Net saving is disposable income minus consumer spending, plus the change in pension entitlements. A negative figure means the group’s spending was larger than its disposable income, on average, financed by drawing down savings, borrowing or selling assets.

Source: Statistics Canada, Distributions of household economic accounts (Table 36-10-0587-01), 2025.

These are averages for whole groups, so they mix households that save steadily with ones that are spending down savings, such as retirees. They measure saving against disposable (after-tax) income, a different base from the gross-income savings rate most personal targets use, so the two aren’t directly comparable.

What savings rate to aim for

There is no official target, but a few benchmarks come up often:

• 20% of take-home pay is the savings share in the 50/30/20 budget rule, which counts extra debt payments in that 20%.
• 15% of income from age 25 is Fidelity Investments’ retirement savings guideline. Starting later raises it: 18% from age 30 and 23% from age 35. The guideline was built for US savers, so it doesn’t account for the CPP and OAS.
• A rate worked out from your own numbers. Your retirement income goal, your expected CPP, OAS and workplace pension, and the years left to save give a more precise figure than a rule of thumb; how much you need to retire and am I saving enough for retirement? walk through that calculation.

Retirement is one goal among several. An emergency fund, a down payment or a car fund all come out of the same savings rate.

Monthly savings at different incomes and rates

The table converts a savings rate into a monthly amount: gross annual income divided by 12 months, times the rate. It’s arithmetic, not a recommendation for any income level.

To see how long a monthly amount takes to reach a specific target, use the savings goal calculator.

How to calculate your own savings rate

Savings rate = money saved in the year ÷ income for the year × 100

Use gross income or take-home pay, but use the same one each time so the rate is comparable from year to year, and with the benchmark you’re measuring against.

What usually counts as savings:

• RRSP, TFSA and FHSA contributions
• Workplace pension or group RRSP contributions, your share and your employer’s
• Deposits to non-registered investment accounts
• Mortgage principal paid on top of the required payments
• Money added to an emergency savings account or other savings

What usually doesn’t:

• Paying a credit card balance in full each month (that keeps you out of debt but doesn’t add to savings)
• Buying a car or other item that loses value
• Money set aside for spending that’s already planned, such as a vacation

Some people also count CPP contributions, since they fund a future pension; leaving them out keeps the rate focused on what you choose to save.

Ways to raise your savings rate

• Save first, spend the rest. An automatic transfer on payday, the idea behind paying yourself first, sets the rate before spending starts.
• Raise it with your pay. Moving part of each raise into savings lifts the rate without cutting what you already spend.
• Use an employer match. Some employers add to a group RRSP or pension when you contribute; the match counts toward your savings rate and is part of your pay.
• Use registered room. The TFSA contribution limit, the RRSP contribution limit and, for a first home, the FHSA contribution limit set how much can grow sheltered from tax. An RRSP or FHSA deduction can produce a tax refund that can go into savings too.
• Lower a big fixed cost. Housing, transportation and food are large, regular costs in most budgets; ways to save money fast covers the biggest cuts.
• Set a target. A plan such as how to save $10,000 in a year or the 52-week savings challenge turns a rate into a monthly number.

Savings rate, savings and net worth by age

A savings rate measures the flow of money into savings each year; savings balances and net worth measure the total built up so far. A steady rate held over decades builds a balance that grows faster in later years, as returns compound on a larger base. How much Canadians hold at each age is covered in average savings by age in Canada, with age checkpoints in how much to have saved by 30 and by 40. For assets minus debts, see net worth by age in Canada.

A savings rate is easier to hold to inside a budget; the budgeting guides cover the methods for building one.

Related pages

• Average savings by age in Canada
• How to save $10,000 in a year
• 52-week savings challenge
• Average RRSP balance by age
• TFSA contribution limit