Asking rent for a one-bedroom as a share of a single person’s income

The change is 3.4% of the earlier value, below the 5% threshold. Over 4 years (since 2019) the change is 8.3% of the earlier value, at or above the 5% threshold, so the label also says Worse over 4 years.

A lower share means a one-bedroom at asking rent takes less of a typical single person’s income. In 2023: asking rent averaged $2,070 a month (four quarters), or $24,840 a year, against a median income of $46,490 = 53.4%. In 2022: $1,990 a month and $43,150 = 55.3%.

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. The rule.

Why it matters. It shows whether a person on their own with a typical income could afford a place listed for rent today.

• Calculated here, for the same calendar year: the four quarterly average asking rents for a one-bedroom apartment are averaged and multiplied by 12, then divided by the median total income, before tax, of people not living in a census family (mostly people living alone or with roommates) who had income.
• Asking rents are what new tenants are asked to pay for places listed for rent (Statistics Canada experimental estimates). Sitting tenants usually pay less, because rent increases during a tenancy are capped by the Province.
• Income is before tax and includes government transfers. Half of single people had less income than this, half more.
• Statistics Canada’s housing affordability standard is shelter costs under 30% of before-tax income; that line is drawn for reference. Rent alone, without utilities, is used here.
• Asking rents start in 2019, so the series starts in 2019. The latest rent quarter (Q2 2026) is newer than the latest income year (2023); they are not combined.

Area: Greater Victoria (CMA)

Statistics Canada’s Victoria metropolitan area: 13 municipalities plus nearby electoral-area and reserve lands.

Included

• Victoria
• Saanich
• Oak Bay
• Esquimalt
• View Royal
• Langford
• Colwood
• Highlands
• Metchosin
• Sooke
• Central Saanich
• North Saanich
• Sidney
• Juan de Fuca electoral area, part 1 (for example East Sooke, Jordan River and Shirley)
• First Nations reserves: Cole Bay 3, Union Bay 4, East Saanich 2, South Saanich 1, Becher Bay 1, Esquimalt, New Songhees 1A and T'Sou-ke

Not included

• Salt Spring Island
• Southern Gulf Islands (Galiano, Mayne, Pender and Saturna islands)
• Port Renfrew area (Juan de Fuca electoral area, part 2)

Official definition

• Statistics Canada: Victoria census metropolitan area (CMA 935), 2021 definition

How the agency describes it: Victoria census metropolitan area (Greater Victoria).

Published under an open licence: anyone may reuse it with credit. About licences.

Calculated here from public data; see “How we calculated it”.

Calculated here from

Statistics Canada

Licences

Open Government Licence - Canada

Period

Calendar year 2023

Updated

Annually, when Statistics Canada publishes the next income year (about 18 months after the year)

Retrieved

Nov 12, 2026, 10:22 PM B.C. time

Details

Formula and every input

Adapted from Statistics Canada, table 46-10-0092-01. This does not constitute an endorsement by Statistics Canada of this product. Adapted from Statistics Canada, table 11-10-0009-01. This does not constitute an endorsement by Statistics Canada of this product.