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June 07, 2022 - 1:40 PM
The average young person in Kelowna runs a $475 deficit each month just trying to survive.
The fact that those under 29 years old have to go into deficit each month is startling, but Kelowna actually scores relatively well compared to the rest of the country where young people average a monthly deficit of $750 per month.
The numbers were released by the think tank Youthful Cities in conjunction with the Royal Bank of Canada, in the report Youthful Cities Real Affordability Index.
The report looked at income and the cost of living for those age 29 years old and under in 27 different Canadian cities.
Kelowna came in fifth place in the overall ranking, meaning the average young person in the city has a better standard of living than those in 22 other cities across the country.
Lethbridge came in top place although young people living in that city still run a deficit of $34 a month.
Quebec City, Edmonton, and Laval, were ranked from second to fourth position, respectively.
Halifax came at the bottom of the list with young people racking up a $1,290 deficit each month.
Yellowknife came in first place for income, but second to last in the overall ranking with a deficit of $1,149 per month.
Metro Vancouver, Ottawa, and Toronto all came in the top five positions for income.
However, Toronto was fourth from the bottom in the overall ranking, while Metro Vancouver and Ottawa Gatineau fared better, taking sixth and ninth place respectively.
Kelowna came in the eighth position when it came to income with young people on average earning $2,665 per month.
The cost of living in Kelowna came in 19th place at $3,140, considerably lower than Yellowknife in the top spot at $4,040 and Toronto in second at $3,853.
Kelowna scored poorly and came towards the bottom of the list when it came to the income difference between men and women.
The study found that women in Kelowna earn less and run a $602 deficit per month, compared to men that run a $343 deficit per month.
Lethbridge and Yellowknife have the greatest discrepancy between men and women, with men making 20 per cent more money than women.
Top of the list is Quebec City and Halifax, with men earning a little over one per cent more than women.
"Affordability shouldn’t only be about the basic necessities for survival," Youthful Cities spokesperson Claire Patterson said in a media release. "Affordability should also include the ability to pay for those things that contribute to the vibrancy of a person’s life when they are able to move forward and meet those key milestones we view as signs of success. In today’s Canadian cities opportunities to thrive simply aren’t equally accessible to all young people."
The report says that while young people are thought of as a "tik-tok obsessed" generation that overspends on oat milk lattes and avocado toast, the reality is that they are working to afford the toast, "let alone the avocado."
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