Income almost stagnant in Cornwall: census

The skyline of Cornwall, Ont. on Tuesday, June 27, 2017. (Newswatch Group/Bill Kingston, File)

CORNWALL – The latest census data on household income shows Cornwallites haven’t really made that much more at their jobs over the last decade.

Census data for the Cornwall area released today (Wednesday) shows the median total income in 2015 was $51,712 – a change of 2.2 per cent from 2005 ($50,589).

Meantime, the rest of Canada saw an average income increase of nearly 11 per cent from $63,457 in 2005 to $70,336 in 2015.

Roughly 30 per cent of households in the census area were bringing in $30,000-59,999 while another 25 per cent were bringing in less than $30,000 a year.

There is also some troubling statistics when it comes to low income in the city.

Roughly one in five people in Cornwall were classified as low income in 2015 (13,160 or 22.6 per cent) compared to 19.4 per cent in 2005. The 2015 national average was 14 per cent.

And low income is particularly prevalent among the young. Cornwall’s low income rate for those under 18 years of age was 32 per cent and people living in a one-parent household had a higher rate of low income at 43 per cent.

According to Statistics Canada, low income is considered to be those in a one-person household making $22,460 or less after taxes.

As for saving for the future, just over half of households said they were making contributions to an RRSP, a pension plan or TFSA – less than the provincial and national averages.

You can read more of the census data for Cornwall here.

Editor’s note: The statistics above are based on what is called the census division, which includes the city of Cornwall proper and a small portion of South Stormont around the city’s proper boundaries.