What Your Hourly Wage Actually Pays in Alberta
Alberta has the lowest minimum wage in Canada at $15.00 an hour, unchanged since October 2018 — and yet an Albertan on it keeps 86.5% of that wage, the largest share of any province. Low pay and light deductions are not the same thing.
Step 1 of 2
What an hour of your time is actually worth
Alberta
You keep
$14.85
an hour, after deductions
Quoted $17.60 · you lose $2.75 an hour · keep 84.4%
That is $1,187.97 every two weeks, from $1,408.00 gross.
Off one cheque, then the year
- Federal tax $86.63
- Alberta tax $34.68
- CPP $75.77
- EI $22.95
- Gross a year $36,608
- Deductions a year $5,721
- Net a year $30,887
That is $2.60 an hour above the Alberta minimum of $15.00.
$14.85 an hour after deductions, from $17.60 gross. $30,887 a year.
Deductions take $2.75 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- $12.98kept from $15.00
- 86.5%of the quoted rate
- $26,989a year at 40 h/week
Frozen since 2018
Alberta’s general minimum wage has been $15.00 since 1 October 2018. There is no indexation formula, so it does not move with inflation and does not move on a schedule — it changes only when a government decides to change it.
Eight years of inflation have passed underneath a flat number. Every other province has raised its floor at least twice in that time, which is why Alberta went from having one of the highest minimum wages in Canada to the lowest.
Why Albertans keep more of it
At 40 hours a week, $15.00 an hour is $31,200 a year gross and $26,989 net — $12.98 an hour once deductions are out.
Alberta’s provincial tax takes less at this income than any other province’s, which is why the retained share is the highest in the country. It is worth being precise about what that means: a bigger slice of a smaller number. The Alberta worker still takes home less in absolute terms than someone on BC’s minimum wage.
The rates that are not the general rate
Alberta sets a separate, lower rate for some students under 18, and different arrangements apply to certain salespeople and domestic workers who are paid weekly or monthly rather than by the hour.
If you are paid by the hour and none of those apply, the general rate is your floor. The calculator assumes the general rate; enter your actual pay if you are on one of the exceptions.
What a raise is actually worth here
Because Alberta’s rate has been fixed since 2018, most Albertans on low pay get increases from their employer rather than from legislation. A one dollar rise in gross does not add a dollar to your account.
Tax, CPP and EI apply to the increase exactly as they apply to the rest, so roughly $0.87 of each extra dollar reaches you at this income. Enter your prospective rate to see the real gain rather than the announced one.
Frequently asked questions
What is $15.00 an hour after taxes in Alberta?
About $12.98 an hour at 40 hours a week — roughly $26,989 a year from $31,200 gross, after federal tax, Alberta tax, CPP and EI.
Why has Alberta’s minimum wage not gone up since 2018?
Because Alberta has no indexation formula. Provinces such as Ontario, BC and Manitoba adjust automatically against a price index each year; Alberta’s rate changes only by a government decision, and none has been made since October 2018.
If Albertans keep the largest share, are they better off?
Not on minimum wage. Keeping a larger percentage of a lower rate still leaves less money. An Albertan on the wage floor takes home meaningfully less per year than someone on BC’s.
Is this what my employer will actually withhold in Alberta?
It uses the same CRA payroll formulas your employer's software does, so the statutory lines should match closely. Differences usually come from a TD1 claim other than the basic amount, or from workplace deductions this cannot see.
How many hours a week should I enter?
Your usual paid week. Hours change the answer twice over: they scale the total, and they move how much of your income reaches the higher tax brackets, so 20 hours is not simply half of 40.
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.