Although not as high as it used to be (see Friday’s edition of The Owl), Alberta still leads all provinces when it comes to median income.

Recently released data from Statistics Canada show that annual median market income in Alberta in 2020 was $70,900. This was $15,200 (27%) higher than in Canada as a whole. The next closest province was Ontario at $59,500. The lowest median income was in New Brunswick at just $43,200.

With Alberta’s cornerstone oil and gas sector hemmed in since 2014 by price crashes, insufficient transportation capacity and efforts to reduce carbon emissions, the gap between median market income in Alberta and the rest of the country has contracted. In 2014, the median market income in Alberta was $29,200 (51%) higher than in Canada as a whole compared to the $15,200 (27%) in 2020 noted above.

When government transfers and income tax are taken into account, the median after-tax income in Alberta in 2020 comes to $77,700 and the gap between Alberta and Canada falls to $10,600 (16%).

Given the higher level of market income, it’s not surprising that the median amount of income tax paid by Albertans also led the country in 2020 at $10,400 versus $8,000 nationally or 30% higher in Alberta.

Answer to the previous trivia question: According to Our World in Data, the daily global median income as of 2017 was $6.68 (international dollars).

Today’s trivia question: When was the first U.S. Commissioner of Internal Revenue appointed?