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A single person in Airdrie would need to earn $91,464 a year to be considered “comfortable,” according to a September 2, 2025, article in MoneySense.
Business writer Michael McCullough placed the city’s comfort threshold at $91,464. The magazine’s table listed Calgary lower at $87,984, Edmonton at $79,080, Red Deer at $78,384, St. Albert at $88,728 and Medicine Hat at $70,416.
What Canadians think “comfortable” means
McCullough’s article reported on a June poll of more than 9,000 Canadians conducted with Leger’s LEO panel.
“$100,000 was the most popular answer, chosen by 37% of respondents,” he wrote.
Another 25.8 per cent selected $150,000.
Slightly fewer, 23.8 per cent, picked the median Canadian salary of $74,200.
Smaller shares chose $200,000 (8.5 per cent) and $250,000 (4.9 per cent).
McCullough added: “There isn’t a clear consensus around how much money it takes to live comfortably in Canada. Your own answer will likely depend on your age… as well as the size of your household, the city you live in, whether you own your home outright, and any number of other variables.”
How MoneySense did the math
The analysis was based on CareerBeacon’s cost-of-living tool, which tracks expenses for a single renter — including rent, transportation, food, utilities, clothing, leisure and other expenditures.
McCullough explained: “We then considered the additional needs for income taxes (including Employment Insurance and Canada Pension Plan contributions), which typically net out to between 20% and 25% of gross income for middle-income earners, and savings at 10% to 15%. We then rounded up a further 10% to 20% as a ‘margin of comfort’ allowing for unplanned expenditures or additional savings.”
He summarized: “Using this as a guide, we took a comfortable living in each community to be approximately double the calculated average cost of living.”
In Airdrie, the tool estimated a single renter’s monthly costs at $3,811.
According to McCullough, that calculation produced the annual comfort figure of $91,464.
What Airdrie families actually earn
According to the Government of Alberta’s open data portal, which adapts Statistics Canada’s T1 Family File, the median family income in Airdrie was $123,030 in 2022. The dataset showed a five-per-cent increase from the previous year and a 10.7-per-cent rise over five years.
Separate City of Airdrie data, drawn from Statistics Canada’s Census Profile (Table 11-10-0008-01) and published by Localintel, placed the community’s median individual income at $50,500 in 2022 and $50,600 in 2023.
Housing market shift adds pressure
Income levels are only part of the affordability picture. Housing costs are another.
The Calgary Real Estate Board said easing sales in August 2025 contributed to a 12-per-cent year-to-date decline, with 1,248 transactions recorded.
In August, Airdrie saw 152 sales and 265 new listings. The board said this raised the sales-to-new-listings ratio to 57 per cent and prevented further monthly inventory gains.
As of August 2025, there were 535 units in inventory. CREB noted this was above long-term trends and the highest level since before the pandemic.
“The rise in supply has helped shift the market to more balanced conditions. However, with more supply options in both the new home, resale markets and in competing locations, there has been some downward pressure on prices in Airdrie,” the board said in its August 2025 report.
CREB reported the city’s unadjusted residential benchmark price at $531,100 in August 2025, down over last month and four per cent lower than levels reported in August 2024.
National comparison
McCullough wrote that across the 79 cities measured, comfort thresholds ranged from about $58,000 to more than $106,000.
He added: “The annual income required for a comfortable lifestyle varies from about $58K to over $106K, which is almost a two-fold gap depending on where you live.”
McCullough listed the highest figures as:
Richmond Hill, Ont. — $106,536
Milton, Ont. — $106,392
Whitby, Ont. — $105,624
Coquitlam, B.C. — $104,928
North Vancouver, B.C. — $103,512
He listed the lowest as:
Trois-Rivières, Que. — $57,936
Sherbrooke, Que. — $64,920
Medicine Hat, Alta. — $70,416
Fredericton, N.B. — $71,784
Sault Ste. Marie, Ont. — $72,744
Broader income context
McCullough reported: “The average Canadian household had a disposable income of $100,702 in 2024, according to Statistics Canada.”
He wrote that to reach the top quarter of individual earners requires $81,184 a year, while the top 10 per cent begin at $125,945.
McCullough added that “people who earn between $57,375 and $114,750 are considered middle-class.”
He also cited Living Wage Canada, which “pegs a living wage in Calgary at $24.45, and in Vancouver, $27.05. In the Greater Toronto Area, it’s $26. That works out to $48,672 a year based on a 36-hour work week.”
On poverty lines, McCullough wrote: “The highest costs for raising a family of four are all in the far north, peaking at $125,784 in Iqaluit, Nunavut. South of the 60th parallel, the poverty line for families is highest in Vancouver, at $59,508.”
The caveats
McCullough cautioned: “Just because you make the cut in your city doesn’t mean you’re living comfortably. Likewise, a person or family with no debt who owns their home outright may feel content living on a lesser income.”
He stressed the calculations were a rough guide based on single renters’ costs, extrapolated with tax, savings and contingency margins.
The comparison
By MoneySense’s calculation, Airdrie’s comfort line of $91,464 was higher than Calgary’s $87,984 — ranking the smaller city above its larger neighbour in the magazine’s table.
Sidebar: Alberta comfort lines and Airdrie housing snapshot
Comfortable income levels (MoneySense, Sept. 2, 2025)
Airdrie — $91,464
Calgary — $87,984
Edmonton — $79,080
Red Deer — $78,384
St. Albert — $88,728
Medicine Hat — $70,416
Airdrie housing (Calgary Real Estate Board, August 2025)
Benchmark price: $531,100
Year-over-year change: –4%
Month-over-month: down over last month
Sales: 152
New listings: 265
Sales-to-new-listings ratio: 57%
Inventory: 535 units (highest since before the pandemic)
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