It probably comes as little surprise to most Canadians, but Statistics Canada has now confirmed that the median family was poorer in 2022 than in 2021.

The agency said the median after-tax income in 2022 was $60,800, an increase of 2.5 per cent compared with 2021.

But with inflation at 6.8 per cent, the median income in 2022 was actually four per cent lower than the previous year.

In British Columbia, the decline was even starker, going from $65,200 in 2021 to $61,720 the following year – a drop of 5.3 per cent.

Photo credit: StatCan

Pulling back a little, however, improves the picture for BC: between 2019 and 2022, the median family after-tax income actually increased by 1.3 per cent, while across Canada it declined by 0.1 per cent.

Digging deeper into the data, the picture appears to be a tale of two age groups.

Younger people suffered most, with families with a lone parent under the age of 25 seeing the largest decrease – 15.1 per cent – between 2021 and 2022, bringing that group’s median after-tax income to $24,690.

Couples aged under 25, meanwhile, saw the third-largest decrease (nine per cent), with the median income declining to $45,070. 

Photo credit: 123RF

By contrast, families in which the eldest adult was 65 or older were among the least affected by financial troubles.

Their median income did still decrease between 2021 and 2022, however, by 1.8 per cent (to $49,820).

Senior couples, meanwhile, saw their income drop 1.4 per cent, down to $74,200.

The proportion of senior families living in low-income households actually declined between 2021 and 2022. They were the only age group to see that improvement.