Real Wage

City guide · Figures as of 23 Oct 2026

What a job in Toronto really pays per hour

At the typical local salary of $71,629, a full-time office job you reach by public transit pays $20.72 for each hour it actually takes, not the $36.73 the salary suggests. Done fully remotely, the same job pays $27.60 an hour.

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The local figures

Typical salary$71,629 a year (Ontario average weekly earnings ($1,377.49) × 52)
Effective tax rate23.4% at that salary
Public transit$6.60 a day in TTC fares, 110 minutes round trip
Driving$7.05 a day in gas, plus $16.15 parking; 55 minutes round trip
Other job costsAbout $55 a week at five office days and $20 when remote (estimates)

Every figure is sourced at the bottom of this page.

Four ways to do the same job

The same salary and 37.5 paid hours a week, with no unpaid overtime. Only where you work and how you get there change.

SetupReal hourly wageJob costs a yearCommuting a year
Office five days, by transit$20.72$4,576477 hours
Office five days, by car$21.01$8,892238 hours
Office two days, by transit$24.48$2,454191 hours
Fully remote$27.60$1,0400 hours

Commuting by transit five days a week costs $1,716 a year in fares and takes 477 hours, about 60 eight-hour days. Going in two days a week instead gives back 286 hours and lifts the real wage to $24.48.

Driving instead of taking transit costs $4,316 more a year and gives back 238 hours, so the real wage by car is higher: $21.01 against $20.72 by transit.

What an office job here has to pay

For a five-day office job reached by transit to pay as much per hour as a fully remote job at $71,629, it would need a salary of about $93,423: $21,794, or 30%, more. By car, it would need about $90,468.

This uses the same effective tax rate for both salaries. Extra salary is usually taxed at a higher marginal rate, so the real break-even is somewhat higher. How the break-even salary works.

Where these numbers come from

Figures are in CAD. Round-trip times are average one-way commutes doubled. Driving assumes 14.4 miles each way at 27.2 miles per gallon unless noted. The methodology explains the method and its limits.

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