Census dives into city’s pocketbooks

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This article was published 16/09/2017 (2424 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Median incomes in Steinbach rose 16.6 percent between 2005 and 2015, but remain below provincial and national averages, according to data collected during the 2016 census and released Wednesday by Statistics Canada.

The median total income of Steinbach households stood at $61,355 in 2015, below the Manitoba ($68,147) and Canadian ($70,366) medians. Manitobans aged 25 to 54 made significantly less than the provincial average, taking in a median income of $41,659. Overall, Canada’s median household income increased 10.8 percent between 2005 and 2015.

One-person households in Steinbach had median total incomes of $29,280, while households of two or more collected $73,909. A total of 1,300 or 21.6 percent of Steinbach’s 6,025 households brought in more than $100,000 in total income, while 1,100 households grossed between $50,000 and $70,000.

Winkler (24.2 percent) and Brandon (23.3 percent) had the highest income increases among metropolitan communities in Manitoba. At 16.6 percent, Winnipeg tied Steinbach’s rate of median income growth, though Steinbach was home to the fastest growth in the number of households, at 41.8 percent.

An accompanying summary noted that almost every metropolitan area on the Prairies had income growth above the national average.

Despite experiencing a 20.3 percent increase in median income since 2005, Manitoba slipped from seventh to eighth place on the national stage due to even stronger growth in other regions of Canada. Manitoba’s updated median income figures put it ahead of Quebec and the four Maritime provinces but behind the rest of the provinces and territories.

In Steinbach, a total of 945 or 6.1 percent of respondents were categorized as low income. Nationally, the percentage of low-income Canadians increased slightly, from 14.0 percent to 14.2 percent, over 10 years.

At 8.2 percent, Steinbach children under six years of age were the age category most likely to live in a low income household. In Manitoba, 21.9 percent of children live in low income households. Nationally over the past decade, the percentage of young children living in low income households fell by 1 percent, to 17.8 percent.

About 2 percent of Steinbach residents aged 65 and over were deemed low-income, well below the provincial and national averages of 13.9 percent and 14.5 percent, respectively.

On the earning power front, 96 percent of reporting married or common-law couples across Canada were dual-income, up from about 66 percent in the mid-1970s, Statistics Canada observed.

Incomes were roughly equal among one-third of dual-earner couples, with female partners bringing in a higher income in 17 percent of such couples, compared to 51 percent for male partners.

Reflecting on long-term trends embedded in the numbers, Statistics Canada characterized the decade from 2005 to 2015 as one of “significant income growth and economic change,” as job growth shifted from the manufacturing sector to the construction and resource sectors. However, effects of declining oil prices were not “fully felt” at the time the data was gathered, it cautioned.

Census data on housing, Aboriginal peoples, immigration, and ethnocultural diversity will be released on Oct. 25, followed by education, labour, mobility, and migration figures on Nov. 29.