{
  "id": "basic-needs-cost",
  "category": "Cost of living",
  "title": "Yearly cost of a basic standard of living for a family of four",
  "geography": "Statistics Canada’s Market Basket Measure region “British Columbia, population 100,000 to 499,999” (includes Greater Victoria)",
  "scope": "province",
  "levels": [
    "Market and economy-wide factors",
    "Federal and provincial policy"
  ],
  "plain_question": "How much does a family of four need in a year for food, clothing, shelter, transportation and other basics, by the official poverty line?",
  "value": 59363.0,
  "display_value": "$59,363",
  "unit": "a year for a family of four, 2025",
  "period": "Calendar year 2025",
  "period_start": "2025-01-01",
  "period_end": "2025-12-31",
  "comparison": {
    "previous_period": "Calendar year 2024",
    "previous_value": 57943.0,
    "change_percent": 2.5
  },
  "trend": "context",
  "direction_good": "down",
  "right_direction": "Shown for context, without a better or worse label: it is a cost of living figure, like prices.",
  "trend_basis": "$59,363 in 2025 against $57,943 in 2024 (+2.5%), current dollars, 2023 base. Shelter $23,510; food $16,463. Vancouver: $64,351.",
  "since_text": "Shelter $23,510 a year, food $16,463. Vancouver $64,351.",
  "breakdown": [
    {
      "label": "Shelter",
      "display_value": "$23,510",
      "period": "2025",
      "detail": "2024: $23,020."
    },
    {
      "label": "Food",
      "display_value": "$16,463",
      "period": "2025",
      "detail": "2024: $15,854."
    },
    {
      "label": "Transportation",
      "display_value": "$5,272",
      "period": "2025",
      "detail": "2024: $5,225."
    },
    {
      "label": "Other expenses",
      "display_value": "$9,684",
      "period": "2025",
      "detail": "2024: $9,482."
    },
    {
      "label": "Clothing",
      "display_value": "$2,895",
      "period": "2025",
      "detail": "2024: $2,856."
    },
    {
      "label": "Communication services",
      "display_value": "$1,540",
      "period": "2025",
      "detail": "2024: $1,506."
    }
  ],
  "breakdown_title": "What the 2025 amount is made of",
  "caveats": [
    "This is the Market Basket Measure, Canada’s official poverty line: the cost of a basket of goods and services for a family of two adults and two children. A family with less disposable income than this is below the poverty line.",
    "Statistics Canada does not publish a basket for Victoria alone. The area is its region for B.C. communities of 100,000 to 499,999 people, which includes Greater Victoria; Vancouver has its own basket, shown for comparison.",
    "Amounts are in current dollars on the 2023 base. Statistics Canada rebases the basket from time to time; earlier bases are not mixed into this series.",
    "Shown for context. It rises with prices, so a higher figure means the basics cost more."
  ],
  "charts": [
    {
      "title": "Cost of the basket for a family of four (dollars a year)",
      "fmt": "money",
      "unit": "a year",
      "lines": [
        {
          "name": "B.C. communities of 100,000 to 499,999",
          "area": "bcpop",
          "series": [
            {
              "period": "2020",
              "value": 50012.0
            },
            {
              "period": "2021",
              "value": 51069.0
            },
            {
              "period": "2022",
              "value": 54656.0
            },
            {
              "period": "2023",
              "value": 56854.0
            },
            {
              "period": "2024",
              "value": 57943.0
            },
            {
              "period": "2025",
              "value": 59363.0
            }
          ]
        },
        {
          "name": "Vancouver",
          "area": "bcpop",
          "compare": true,
          "cmp": "Vancouver",
          "series": [
            {
              "period": "2020",
              "value": 54224.0
            },
            {
              "period": "2021",
              "value": 55384.0
            },
            {
              "period": "2022",
              "value": 59262.0
            },
            {
              "period": "2023",
              "value": 61621.0
            },
            {
              "period": "2024",
              "value": 62842.0
            },
            {
              "period": "2025",
              "value": 64351.0
            }
          ]
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "title": "Shelter and food in the basket (dollars a year)",
      "fmt": "money",
      "unit": "a year",
      "lines": [
        {
          "name": "Shelter",
          "area": "bcpop",
          "series": [
            {
              "period": "2020",
              "value": 19638.0
            },
            {
              "period": "2021",
              "value": 20187.0
            },
            {
              "period": "2022",
              "value": 21582.0
            },
            {
              "period": "2023",
              "value": 22427.0
            },
            {
              "period": "2024",
              "value": 23020.0
            },
            {
              "period": "2025",
              "value": 23510.0
            }
          ]
        },
        {
          "name": "Food",
          "area": "bcpop",
          "series": [
            {
              "period": "2020",
              "value": 12845.0
            },
            {
              "period": "2021",
              "value": 13141.0
            },
            {
              "period": "2022",
              "value": 14332.0
            },
            {
              "period": "2023",
              "value": 15410.0
            },
            {
              "period": "2024",
              "value": 15854.0
            },
            {
              "period": "2025",
              "value": 16463.0
            }
          ]
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "series": [
    {
      "period": "2020",
      "value": 50012.0
    },
    {
      "period": "2021",
      "value": 51069.0
    },
    {
      "period": "2022",
      "value": 54656.0
    },
    {
      "period": "2023",
      "value": 56854.0
    },
    {
      "period": "2024",
      "value": 57943.0
    },
    {
      "period": "2025",
      "value": 59363.0
    }
  ],
  "refresh_frequency": "Annually (spring)",
  "data_published": "2026-04-29",
  "source": {
    "name": "Statistics Canada, Market Basket Measure thresholds, table 11-10-0066-01",
    "url": "https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/tv.action?pid=1110006601",
    "dataset_url": "https://open.canada.ca/data/en/dataset/710db18e-6792-48ac-85f1-5758eda90f78",
    "table_url": "https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/tv.action?pid=1110006601",
    "table": "11-10-0066-01",
    "publisher_page": "https://www.statcan.gc.ca/en/subjects-start/income_pensions_spending_and_wealth",
    "locator": "Table 11-10-0066-01: British Columbia, population 100,000 to 499,999; 2023 base; Current dollars; Total threshold; 2025",
    "reads": "2025: $59,363; 2024: $57,943"
  },
  "licence": {
    "name": "Open Government Licence - Canada",
    "url": "https://open.canada.ca/en/open-government-licence-canada"
  },
  "attribution": "Adapted from Statistics Canada, table 11-10-0066-01. This does not constitute an endorsement by Statistics Canada of this product.",
  "retrieved_at": "2026-11-13T05:22:15Z",
  "licence_type": "open",
  "source_tier": 1,
  "measure_kind": "context",
  "better_measure": null,
  "status_rule": {
    "rule": "One rule for every measure: a change smaller than 5% of the earlier value, or smaller than the agency's own margin of error, is “About the same”; no change is calculated across a marked break in a series; homelessness estimates, prices, staffing and comparison pages are shown for context without a label.",
    "reason": "A cost of living figure, like prices: it is shown for context.",
    "threshold_percent": 5.0
  },
  "changes": {
    "year": {
      "period": "Calendar year 2024",
      "value": 57943.0,
      "text": "vs 2024: +2.5%"
    },
    "five_year": {
      "period": "2020",
      "years": 5,
      "value": 50012.0,
      "comparable": true,
      "text": "vs 2020: +18.7%"
    }
  },
  "direction": {
    "type": "context",
    "rule": "Outcome measures read Better, Worse or About the same; published government targets read Ahead of, On or Behind target; value-judgement measures read Rising, Falling or Steady in a neutral colour. A change smaller than the agency's own margin of error, or otherwise smaller than 5% of the earlier value, is About the same (or Steady). No change is calculated across a marked break in a series.",
    "key": "steady",
    "label": "Steady this year. Rising over 5 years.",
    "arrow": "▲",
    "rel": 2.5,
    "delta": null,
    "vs": "Calendar year 2024",
    "cur": "Calendar year 2025",
    "why": "A cost of living figure, like prices: it is shown for context. The change is 2.5% of the earlier value, below the 5% threshold. Over 5 years (since 2020) the change is 18.7% of the earlier value, at or above the 5% threshold, so the label also says Rising over 5 years.",
    "change": "2.5%",
    "one_year": "+2.5%",
    "five": {
      "period": "2020",
      "comparable": true,
      "rel": 18.697512596976726,
      "text": "+18.7%",
      "years": 5
    },
    "label_one_year": "Steady",
    "long_key": "rising",
    "long_label": "Rising over 5 years"
  },
  "benchmark": {
    "rung": 4,
    "rung_name": "Context measure: no target expected",
    "as_of": "2026-11-12",
    "items": [
      {
        "kind": "context",
        "label": "Context measure: no target expected",
        "area": null,
        "source": null,
        "documents_checked": null,
        "text": "Context measure: no target expected. The poverty line itself, a cost of living figure. Governments set targets for how many people live below it, not for what the basics cost."
      }
    ],
    "drawn": [],
    "rule": "Highest rung found is shown; the site never sets a target. Methods, Targets."
  },
  "no_target_expected": "The poverty line itself, a cost of living figure. Governments set targets for how many people live below it, not for what the basics cost.",
  "benchmarks": [],
  "highest_rung": null,
  "decided_by": [
    {
      "body": "BOC",
      "name": "Bank of Canada",
      "decides": "Sets and publishes the minimum rate at which it lends, as part of its job to regulate credit and currency.",
      "laws": [
        {
          "key": "boc21",
          "label": "Bank of Canada Act, s. 21",
          "url": "https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/B-2/FullText.html"
        },
        {
          "key": "boc",
          "label": "Bank of Canada Act, preamble",
          "url": "https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/B-2/FullText.html"
        }
      ],
      "last": {
        "text": "Rate set at 2.50% on October 28, 2026",
        "label": "Rate set at 2.50% on October 28, 2026",
        "url": "https://www.bankofcanada.ca/core-functions/monetary-policy/key-interest-rate/"
      },
      "next": {
        "text": "Next scheduled announcement December 9, 2026",
        "label": "Next scheduled announcement December 9, 2026",
        "url": "https://www.bankofcanada.ca/core-functions/monetary-policy/key-interest-rate/"
      }
    },
    {
      "body": "CAN",
      "name": "Government of Canada and Parliament",
      "decides": "If the Minister of Finance and the Bank disagree on monetary policy, the Minister can give the Bank a written directive, with Cabinet approval.",
      "laws": [
        {
          "key": "boc14",
          "label": "Bank of Canada Act, s. 14",
          "url": "https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/B-2/FullText.html"
        }
      ],
      "last": null,
      "next": null
    },
    {
      "body": "NONE",
      "name": "No government decides this directly",
      "note": "Most prices are set by sellers and buyers."
    }
  ],
  "main_decision_maker": "Bank of Canada",
  "label_1y": {
    "key": "steady",
    "label": "Steady"
  },
  "label_long": {
    "key": "rising",
    "label": "Rising",
    "years": 5,
    "change": "+18.7%"
  },
  "target_line": {
    "form": 7,
    "text": "No target expected",
    "target": null,
    "gap": null,
    "comparison": null,
    "applies_here": false,
    "note": "The poverty line itself, a cost of living figure. Governments set targets for how many people live below it, not for what the basics cost."
  }
}