^a Not available for 2010 and 2011.

^b Disposable income is calculated by subtracting the total federal taxes, total provincial taxes, Canada Pension Plan premiums and Employment Insurance premiums from the total income (calculation does not account for Quebec abatement).

^c Using Census definitions of family types (which include couple families, lone-parent families and non-family persons). Please note, beginning in 2000, Statistics Canada began using the term Couple Families for Husband-Wife Families. Couple Families include same sex common-law families.

Labour Force

Consists of all persons who reported income from employment (wages, salaries, commissions and self-employment income) or income from Employment Insurance.

Provincial Index (Province = 100)

The median income for the area is expressed as a percentage of the median income for the province.

Canadian Index (Canada = 100)

The median income for the area is expressed as a percentage of the median income for Canada.

Personal Income per Capita

This is obtained by dividing the total income (both market and transfers) by the population.

Index

This is a comparison of the variable for the given area with either the province (province = 100) or with Canada (Canada = 100).

Ratio

This is the relationship of one variable to another where both are different, as the ratio of males to females, for example.

Total Income

Note: This variable has been revised over the years, as reflected in the comments below; data users who plan to compare current data to data from previous years should bear in mind these changes. Also, it should be noted that all income amounts are gross, with the exception of rental income, limited partnership income and all forms of self-employment income.

Income reported by taxfilers from any of the following sources:

• Labour force income
• Employment income
• Wages/salaries/commissions
• Other employment income as reported on line 104 of the tax form (tips, gratuities, royalties, etc.)
• Net self-employment
• Employment Insurance benefits
• Pension income
• Old Age Security/Net Federal Supplements (including guaranteed income supplements and spouses' allowances since 1994)
• Canada/Quebec Pension Plan
• Working Income Tax Benefit (beginning in 2010)
  
• Superannuation and other (private) pensions
• Family Allowance benefits (up to and including 1992)
      Quebec family allowance (beginning with 1994)
      British Columbia family bonus (beginning with 1996)
• Family allowance for New Brunswick and Alberta (beginning with 1997)
• Interest and other investment income
• Dividend income
• RRSP income (since 1994; previously in "other income")
• Net limited partnership income (included in "other income")
• Alimony (included in "other income")
• Net rental income (included in "other income")
• Income for non-filing spouses (since 1992; included in "other income")
• Other incomes as reported on line 130 of the tax form (fellowships, bursaries, grants, etc.; included in "other income")
• FST credit (for 1989-1990 inclusive)
• GST credit (beginning in 1990)
• HST credit (beginning in 1997)
• Child tax credit (up to and including 1992)
• Child tax benefit (starting with 1993)
• Other non-taxable income (since 1990)
• Workers' compensation payments (shown separately starting with 1994)
• Social assistance payments (shown separately starting with 1994)
• Guaranteed income supplements (included with OAS since 1994)
• Spouses' allowances (included with OAS since 1994)
• Provincial refundable tax credits in Ontario, Quebec and Manitoba (since 1990), British Columbia and the Northwest Territories (since 1993); Quebec family allowances (since 1994); British Columbia family bonus (since 1996), New Brunswick and Alberta family allowance (since 1997).

Monies not included in income above are: veterans' disability and dependent pensioners' payments, war veterans' allowances, lottery winnings and capital gains.

Government Transfer Payments

For the purpose of these data, transfer payments denote the following payments made to individuals by the federal or provincial governments:

• Employment Insurance
• Family Allowance (to 1992)
• FST credit (in 1989 and 1990)
• GST credit (which began replacing the FST credit in 1990 and completely replaced it by 1991)
• HST credit (beginning in 1997)
• Child Tax Credit (to 1992)
• Child Tax Benefit (starting with 1993)
• Old Age Security pension/net federal supplements
• Canada and Quebec Pension plans
• Working Income Tax Benefit (beginning in 2010)
  
• non-taxable income and provincial refundable tax credits (both beginning in 1990)
• Quebec family allowance (beginning in 1994)
• British Columbia family bonus (beginning in 1996) and New Brunswick and Alberta family allowances (beginning in 1997).

The individuals in this case receive these payments without providing goods or services in return. Previous to the 1996 data, "Transfer payments" also included superannuation and other (private) pensions.

Number Reporting

This indicates the number of persons or items represented in a variable (e.g., the number of taxfilers reporting income in the year in question).

Per Capita

These amounts are the aggregate amounts for a given area, divided by the total population for that same area.

Income Aggregates

These are rounded to the nearest thousand dollars. See also "Total income" and the various sources of income.

Negative Income

This generally applies to net self-employment income, net rental income and net limited partnership income. Negative income would indicate that expenses exceeded gross income.

Median

Refers to the middle number in a group of numbers. Where a median income, for example, is given as $26,000, it means that exactly half of the incomes reported are greater than or equal to $26,000, and that the other half are less than or equal to the median amount. Median incomes in the data tables are rounded to the nearest hundred dollars. With the exception of "Total Income", zero values are not included in the calculation of medians for individuals, but are included in the calculation of medians for families.

Non-Negative Income

This is income that is zero or greater.

Economic Self-Reliance Ratio

The ratio of market income (of all kinds) to total personal income. For example, for a community that has a self-reliance ratio of 70.0%, this means that of all the income flowing into that community, 70 cents on the dollar came from market sources; the other 30 cents was transfers from government.

Average Couple Family Income

The total income of all the couple families divided by the number of such families. This excludes lone-parent families and non-family persons.

Couple Family

Consists of a couple living together (whether married or common law) at the same address, and any children living at the same address; taxfiling children must report a marital status other than married. Previous to the 1998 data, taxfiling children had to report “single” as their marital status. Beginning in 2000, same-sex couples reporting as couples are counted as couple families. See also Census families.

Lone Parent Family

Refers to a family with only one parent, male or female, and with at least one child. See also "Census families".

Non-Family Person

This is an individual who is not living with a spouse, single children or parent, with exception: the exception to the parent category is related to the marital status of the taxfiling child; only children who report marital status of "single" will be treated as children of a family; others will be non-family persons. See also "Census families".

Census Families

This definition of the family classifies people in the following manner: 1) husbands and wives (married or common law) living in the same dwelling, with or without children (children of any age who report "single" as their marital status, or imputed children); 2) lone parents (male or female) with one or more children. Thus, the residual population is called "non-family persons" and is made up of persons living alone and of persons living in a household but who are not immediate relatives of other household members.

Taxfilers and Dependents

This represents an estimate of the total population as derived from the taxfile. Included here are taxfilers, their non-filing spouses and their children; the latter can be filing or non-filing children. Spouses and children can be identified by the information on a taxfiler's return or from the child tax benefits file.

Taxfilers

Most taxfilers are people who filed a tax return for the reference year and were alive at the end of the year. Starting with the 1993 tax year, those taxfilers who died within the tax year and who indicated a non-filing spouse had their income and their filing status attributed to the spouse.

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