What Your Hourly Wage Actually Pays
You are quoted a rate by the hour, then paid something else. In British Columbia the minimum wage of $18.25 leaves $15.33 an hour after deductions; in Alberta workers keep the largest share of their wage in the country at 86.5%, and in Nova Scotia the smallest at 81.4%. This works out the second number.
Step 1 of 2
What an hour of your time is actually worth
Ontario
You keep
$14.62
an hour, after deductions
Quoted $17.60 · you lose $2.98 an hour · keep 83.1%
That is $1,169.58 every two weeks, from $1,408.00 gross.
Off one cheque, then the year
- Federal tax $86.63
- Ontario tax $53.07
- CPP $75.77
- EI $22.95
- Gross a year $36,608
- Deductions a year $6,199
- Net a year $30,409
That is exactly the Ontario minimum wage. It rises to $17.95 on 1 October 2026.
$14.62 an hour after deductions, from $17.60 gross. $30,409 a year.
Deductions take $2.98 of every hour you work. If payday is still a way off, NotchUp can advance up to $1,500 of wages you have already earned for a $5 flat fee.
See what you could advance- 10provinces, CRA-matched
- 5raising the floor on 1 Oct
- $0to use, no signup
The rate on the posting is not the rate you earn
Every hourly job is advertised gross. Federal tax, provincial tax, CPP and EI come off before anything reaches your account, and none of them are mentioned in the advert. On a minimum-wage income the gap runs between roughly $2.02 and $3.11 an hour depending on the province.
Salary calculators answer this for people paid a yearly figure. If you are paid by the hour you think in hours, so this one gives you back an hourly number: what one hour of your time is actually worth once payroll has finished with it.
The province changes the answer twice over
It sets the wage floor — $18.25 in British Columbia against $15.00 in Alberta — and it sets the provincial tax that comes off the top. Those two effects do not point the same way.
Alberta has the lowest minimum wage in Canada and workers there keep the largest share of it. That is a bigger slice of a smaller number: the take-home per hour is still below British Columbia’s. Comparing provinces on either figure alone gets it wrong.
Five provinces raise the floor on 1 October 2026
Saskatchewan to $15.70, Manitoba to $16.40, Ontario to $17.95, Nova Scotia to $17.00, Prince Edward Island to $17.30. Each is confirmed and already in this calculator, which switches to the new rate on the day rather than waiting for someone to update it.
A raise is announced in gross. Tax and contributions apply to it exactly as they apply to the rest of your pay, so what lands is less than the headline. Entering the new rate shows the difference between the increase as announced and the increase as banked.
Hours matter as much as the rate
Halving your hours does not halve your take-home percentage. Less income reaches the higher brackets, so a part-time worker keeps a larger share of each hour than a full-time worker on the same rate — while taking home far less in total.
It also means two part-time jobs are not equivalent to one full-time job. Each employer withholds as though it were your only income, applying the basic personal amount in full, which can leave a balance owing at filing time.
Why your cheques may not all be the same size
CPP and EI are capped in dollars each year rather than charged forever at a flat rate. Once you have paid the annual maximum they stop, and every remaining cheque of the year is larger.
This does not happen at minimum wage: the ceilings sit above what 40 hours a week at the floor earns, so all 26 cheques are identical. It starts to matter well above the floor, and the calculator shows the jump and its timing only when it is real.
Frequently asked questions
How much is $20 an hour after taxes in Canada?
It depends on the province and your hours. At 40 hours a week, $20 an hour is $41,600 a year gross, and the take-home differs by roughly a thousand dollars a year between the highest- and lowest-tax provinces. Enter the rate above and pick your province for the exact figure.
Does this include CPP and EI?
Yes. Federal tax, provincial tax, CPP, CPP2 and EI are all included, and in Quebec the calculation uses QPP, the reduced EI premium and QPIP instead. It does not include workplace deductions such as a pension, union dues or benefits premiums.
Which province has the highest minimum wage?
British Columbia, at $18.25 an hour. Alberta has the lowest at $15.00, unchanged since 2018.
Why is my real cheque smaller than this?
Most likely a workplace deduction the calculator cannot know about — a pension contribution, union dues, benefits premiums or a taxable benefit. This shows the statutory deductions every employee has, which is the part set by law rather than by your employer.
Does part-time work change the tax rate?
Yes. Fewer hours means less income reaching the higher brackets, so a part-time worker keeps a larger percentage of each hour than a full-time worker on the same rate — while taking home considerably less in total.
Sources
Every rate, threshold and formula on this page was verified against these primary sources. If a figure here disagrees with one of them, the source is right and we want to know.