Ontario Ranks 51st in Living Standards Comparison
AI-generated image · Bay Street Wire
A Fraser Institute report reveals Canadian provinces are lagging behind U.S. states in GDP, income, and productivity.
A new report from the Fraser Institute, as first reported by BlogTO, indicates that living standards in most Canadian provinces have declined relative to U.S. states. Comparing data from 1999 through 2024, the study analyzed economic metrics including productivity, private-sector jobs, employment income, and gross domestic product (GDP) per person.
According to reporting from BlogTO, Ontario currently ranks 51st in the comparison. The report found that New York led the rankings with a GDP of $134,470, while Alberta—the top-performing Canadian province—placed 25th with a GDP of $74,907. Other provinces ranking near the bottom include Newfoundland and Labrador (52nd), Quebec (55th), and Manitoba (56th). Saskatchewan placed 35th with a GDP of $70,921, and British Columbia placed 49th with $60,131. New Brunswick recorded the lowest GDP at $46,467.
Beyond GDP, the Fraser Institute found that every U.S. state had a higher median employment income in 2024 than any Canadian province, leaving all provinces in the bottom 10 for that metric. The report also noted a gap in labor productivity, stating that all but five U.S. states experienced stronger productivity growth than any Canadian province. While most provinces lagged, Prince Edward Island was the only jurisdiction in either country to see an actual decline in productivity by 2024.