Cost of Living

Inflation measures and the Bank of Canada target

This page tracks consumer-price inflation: the headline all-items rate and the Bank of Canada’s preferred core measure (CPI-trim). We also look at food specifically because it is the component households feel most.

Inflation (CPI, year-over-year)

Canada’s inflation rate, measured as the year-over-year change in the Consumer Price Index (all items). The grey band shows the Bank of Canada’s 1–3% target range, with the 2% midpoint as a dashed line.

How much prices have risen

Inflation is the rate at which prices rise. The Bank of Canada’s target is a range between 1% and 3%, with the midpoint of 2% providing the clear preference. It’s worth noting that a lower inflation rate, such as when the CPI moved from 8.1% in June 2022 to 2.7% in June 2024, does not mean prices are falling. Rather, it means they are climbing more slowly. That gap is a big part of why Canadians’ budgets still feel stretched years later. What’s more, specific aspects of Canadians’ budgets have risen more than the overall CPI measures. Food and shelter were each up 30% between 2019 and 2025. This shows the price level of the all-items basket and the most-felt categories, rebased so 2019 = 100 (the eve of the pandemic).

Has pay kept up?

The other half of cost-of-living pressure is whether earnings keep pace. The answer depends on which prices you measure against. This compares the median weekly wage (median better represents a typical worker, rather than an average that can be pulled upwards by a handful of high earners) with three price benchmarks, all rebased to 2019 = 100: the headline all-items index and its two heaviest, most-felt components, shelter and food. Against the all-items index, the median wage edged ahead. But shelter and food, which dominate the squeeze most households feel, rose faster than pay. So “did wages keep up?” is yes against the headline basket, no against the costs people feel most. One caveat reads across all of it: wage figures jumped in 2020 partly because lower-paid workers were the ones who lost jobs, lifting the typical-worker figure without anyone getting a raise; the gains since have been uneven, and pay lagged the 2021–22 price surge before catching up.

Headline, core, and food

Three views of the same question. All-items is the headline rate; CPI-trim is the Bank of Canada’s preferred core measure, which strips out the most volatile price movements to show the underlying trend; food is the most-felt component, and has generally run hotter than overall inflation.

Where inflation is coming from

Inflation is an average across a basket of goods and services, but the pieces move at very different speeds. This shows the 12-month change in each of the eight major components of the Consumer Price Index — which corners of the basket are running hot and which are cool. It is the rate each component is rising, not its weight in the headline figure (shelter and food carry the most weight in the average); the all-items rate is marked in grey for reference.

Food prices, by category

Food is the component households feel most. However, “food” covers a wide range of specific items from meat to restaurant meals, and these have risen at very different rates. This chart breaks the food basket into its major grocery categories plus restaurant meals. Use the dropdown to switch between the change over the past year and over the past five years; the longer window captures the post-2021 surge that increased most grocery prices significantly.

The policy rate vs. inflation

The Bank of Canada raises its policy interest rate to cool inflation and lowers it to support the economy, so the two move together over time. This chart pairs the policy rate (the Bank Rate, the consistent series back to 1935) with year-over-year inflation, both on one scale. The early-1980s spike (the rate reached above 20% against double-digit inflation) and the 2022–23 tightening cycle stand out. The grey band is the 1–3% inflation target.

The minimum wage, nominal and real

Minimum wages are set by each province and territory, so there is no single national rate. This chart shows the four most populous provinces. In nominal dollars the minimum wage only ever rises. However, if you switch to real to adjust for inflation, different stories can emerge. This is what tells you whether the lowest-paid are actually gaining ground relative to costs. (All 14 jurisdictions, including the federal rate, are in the data download.)

Other cost pressures

Inflation is only part of the cost-of-living picture. See also:

  • Housing: house prices, the price-to-income gap, rent, and household debt
  • Income & Inequality: wages, median income, and low-income and food-insecurity rates

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