Cost of Living in Toronto 2026: Rent, Food, Transit and Taxes

Housing sets the cost of living in Toronto. In the second quarter of 2026, the average asking rent for a one-bedroom apartment in the Toronto area was $2,090 a month, down from $2,150 a year earlier (Statistics Canada), and the average home in the City of Toronto sold for $979,684 in August 2026 (Toronto Regional Real Estate Board). The Toronto-area unemployment rate was 6.8% over June to August 2026 (Labour Force Survey, three-month average).

This page lists the Toronto figures that official sources publish, then adds them up into two sample budgets. For other cities, start at the cost of living hub; the closest comparisons are Toronto vs Vancouver, Hamilton and Ottawa, and cost of living by province compares Ontario with the rest of Canada.

Sample monthly budgets

The two budgets below use only published figures: Toronto asking rents and transit fares, Toronto Public Health’s food-cost survey, Hydro-Québec’s electricity bill comparison, Ontario’s child care fee cap, and Statistics Canada household spending averages where no Toronto figure exists. The single person rents a one-bedroom with heat included and rides the TTC; the family of four (two adults, two children) rents a three-bedroom, both adults ride the TTC, and one child attends a licensed child care centre in the Canada-wide program for a full month . Neither budget includes a car, clothing, personal care, dining out, insurance or savings.

Household spending figures are Statistics Canada Survey of Household Spending averages for 2023, the latest survey, and are not adjusted for later price changes; they average over all households, including those that spend nothing on an item. The electricity bill is from Hydro-Québec’s comparison of rates in effect April 1, 2025, before taxes. For a single person’s full budget, including the costs left out here, see cost of living alone in Canada; for everything an average household spends in a year, see average household expenses.

Rent in Toronto

Asking rents are what a new tenant is quoted on a listing today. Toronto’s average rent by unit size, from Statistics Canada’s quarterly asking-rent series:

Toronto census metropolitan area, apartments, second quarter of 2026 (Statistics Canada table 46-10-0092-01). Statistics Canada marks the year-earlier figures “use with caution”, so treat the changes as approximate.

Rent paid by sitting tenants is a different measure. In CMHC’s 2025 Rental Market Survey, the average rent paid for a one-bedroom in a Toronto purpose-built apartment was $1,761, and the vacancy rate was 3.0%. The Toronto rental market page has the full CMHC figures.

Rents differ across the city and the suburbs. Rentals.ca’s August 2026 report, which covers apartments and condos listed on its network, gives these averages:

Rentals.ca/Urbanation National Rent Report, August 2026. These figures come from a different sample from the Statistics Canada series above, so the two don’t match. Further out, Hamilton’s average one-bedroom asking rent was $1,720 in the second quarter of 2026 (Statistics Canada); see the Hamilton cost of living page.

Buying a home in Toronto

Average sale prices are from the Toronto Regional Real Estate Board for August 2026; across the whole board area, including the 905 region, the average condo apartment sold for $617,593. Payments assume 20% down, a 25-year amortization and the Bank of Canada’s posted 5-year conventional mortgage rate of 6.09% (as of September 30, 2026), compounded semi-annually; they leave out property tax, condo fees and insurance. Try other prices and rates in the mortgage calculator, and compare cities on the average house price page. The Toronto housing market page tracks prices month by month.

Owners pay the City of Toronto’s 2026 residential property tax rate of 0.767311% of the home’s MPAC assessed value (Toronto property tax). Buyers in Toronto pay a municipal land transfer tax as well as Ontario’s; the Toronto land transfer tax calculator works out both.

Getting around

TTC fares in the table are its fares as of September 2026. The TTC no longer sells adult monthly passes: once you have paid 47 eligible fares in a calendar month with the same PRESTO card, debit or credit card, the rest of your TTC trips that month are free. GO Transit fares depend on distance; paying with the same PRESTO card, debit or credit card, adult riders get 15.7% off their first 35 trips in a calendar month, a larger discount on trips 36 to 40 and free travel after the 40th. The car insurance figure is Statistics Canada’s average written premium for Ontario divided by 12; premiums for Toronto drivers can differ (car insurance in Toronto).

Utilities

Some leases include heat and water in the rent, so check what yours covers. Province-by-province bills are on the average utility bills page.

Groceries

Toronto Public Health prices the Ontario Nutritious Food Basket every year: in 2026 it cost $1,242 a month for a family with two adults and two children, ages 8 and 14. The basket is a basic healthy diet without personal care or hygiene items, so a household’s real grocery bill can be higher. Ontario average retail prices for single items, such as $6.88 for 4 litres of milk and $5.00 for a dozen eggs in July 2026, are on the average grocery bill page with spending by household size.

Child care

In Ontario, licensed child care programs enrolled in the Canada-wide (CWELCC) system charge at most $22 a day for children under six, with no application needed; programs that aren't enrolled set their own fees. Since the cap took effect on January 1, 2025, the provincial average has been about $19 a day (Government of Ontario).

Income, taxes and rent

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. On the asking rent alone, before utilities, a one-bedroom at Toronto’s average needs a gross household income of $83,600 a year, and a three-bedroom $130,800. A single employee in Ontario earning $83,600 takes home about $5,228 a month after 2026 income tax, CPP and EI, compared with the single-person sample budget of $2,911.

2026 federal and Ontario income tax (including the Ontario Health Premium and surtax), CPP and EI. Ontario’s rates and brackets are on the Ontario income tax page. Ontario’s sales tax is the 13% HST.

The median after-tax income of Toronto-area families and people living on their own was $82,500 in 2024 (Statistics Canada, Canadian Income Survey). Where an individual income falls in the city’s distribution is on the Toronto income percentiles page.

Toronto vs other large cities

Rents: Statistics Canada, second quarter of 2026 (Ottawa is the Ontario part of Ottawa-Gatineau). Transit: TTC fares as of September 2026, TransLink fares from July 1, 2026, ARTM fares as of September 2026, Calgary Transit 2026 fares, OC Transpo fares as of September 2026. Electricity: Hydro-Québec comparison, rates in effect April 1, 2025, before taxes. Income: economic families and persons not in an economic family, 2024, Canadian Income Survey. City pages: Vancouver, Montreal, Calgary, Ottawa.

Related articles

• Cost of living in Canada
• Toronto vs Vancouver cost of living
• Cost of living by province
• Toronto rental market
• Toronto housing market
• Toronto income percentiles