Average Household Expenses in Canada by Category and Household Type

The average Canadian household spent $76,146 on goods and services in 2023, and $83,821 including insurance, pension contributions and gifts (about $6,985 a month), according to Statistics Canada’s Survey of Household Spending, the latest year available. Shelter took 29% of that. This page breaks the spending down by category and household type, so you can set your own spending against it, for example when building a budget. Prices have risen since 2023, so today’s amounts run higher; the inflation rate page shows by how much. What these costs look like in each city is in the cost of living guides.

Average spending of all households

Average spending per household in 2023, in 2023 dollars. Averages include households that spent nothing on an item, which is why child care looks small across all households.

Statistics Canada, Survey of Household Spending 2023 (table 11-10-0224-01). “All other goods and services” is total current consumption minus the categories listed.

Income taxes, not shown above, averaged a further $21,545.

Spending by household type

The table shows four of the household types the survey reports, plus all households. It gives monthly averages (annual average ÷ 12) for the main categories; the guide to the cost of living alone builds city budgets from the one-person figures.

Statistics Canada, Survey of Household Spending 2023 (table 11-10-0224-01). Couples and lone-parent families are those with no additional persons in the household. Rows may not add exactly because of rounding.

Income taxes averaged $23,858 a year for couples without children, $31,600 for couples with children and $11,572 for lone-parent families. Child care, included in household operations, averaged $1,217 a year across couples with children and $419 across lone-parent families, including those who paid nothing; regulated fees by province are in the cost of living by province guide and the daycare cost guide.

What shelter and transportation spending covers

Shelter is the largest item. The table splits it into its main parts, for all households and for couples with children.

Statistics Canada, Survey of Household Spending 2023. Rent and mortgage payments are averaged over renters and owners alike, so neither line is what a renter or an owner pays. “Other shelter costs” is total shelter minus the lines above.

What a renter pays now depends on the city: the average rent page has current asking rents, and the average house price page has home prices. For a sense of a mortgage payment, a $500,000 mortgage at the Bank of Canada 5-year conventional rate (6.09% as of September 30, 2026) with a 25-year amortization costs $3,226 a month; the mortgage affordability calculator works out other amounts. Utility bills by province are in the average utility bills guide.

Transportation, the second-largest category of goods and services for all households, is mostly the cost of private vehicles:

Statistics Canada, Survey of Household Spending 2023. “Of which” lines are part of private vehicles.

Housing costs as a share of income

CMHC considers housing affordable when it costs less than 30% of before-tax household income, counting the rent (or mortgage payments, property tax and condo fees) plus electricity, heat, water and other municipal services. In the 2021 Census, 33.2% of renter households in Canada spent 30% or more of their income on shelter, including 40.5% in Toronto and 38.5% in Vancouver (Statistics Canada). By province, average spending differs widely; the cost of living by province guide compares it.

Using these averages in a budget

Shelter, transportation and food together made up 64% of average household spending on goods and services. Some ways to set up and compare a budget:

• The 50/30/20 budget rule splits take-home pay into needs, wants and savings.
• Negotiating rent and saving on groceries cover two of the largest everyday bills.
• The salary calculator shows take-home pay to set against these figures, and budgeting apps track where the money goes.