By Dr. Bilal Akil, MD — Emergency Medicine, Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry, Western University · founder of mccQbank
Resident pay is set province by province, and rent varies from city to city. Put the two side by side and the picture changes. First-year (PGY1) salaries run from $58,728 in Quebec to $78,578 in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island. In the medical-school cities below, the average advertised rent for a one-bedroom apartment runs from $1,040 a month in Sherbrooke to $2,280 in Vancouver. Measured against a PGY1 salary, rent takes 18.8% of gross pay in Saint John and 38.3% in Vancouver.
This post was rewritten on 28 September 2026. The earlier version’s cost-of-living figures came from secondary websites and could not be checked against a primary source, so they have been replaced with Statistics Canada rent data.
Resident salaries by province
CaRMS publishes the resident salary scale for each province, with a link to the resident association or agreement behind it (CaRMS salary tables). PGY1 and PGY3 figures:
| Province | PGY1 | PGY3 | Updated on CaRMS |
|---|---|---|---|
| Newfoundland and Labrador | $69,175 | $79,848 | 23 July 2026 |
| Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, PEI | $78,578 | $89,462 | 24 July 2026 |
| Quebec | $58,728 | $70,890 | 23 July 2026 |
| Ontario | $73,367.35 | $85,564.01 | 6 January 2025 |
| Manitoba | $72,171.45 | $83,372.21 | 22 July 2026 |
| Saskatchewan | $68,329 | $80,700 | 23 July 2026 |
| Alberta | $67,440 | $80,058 | 22 July 2026 |
| British Columbia | $71,390.44 | $86,655.02 | 2 September 2026 (rates effective the first pay period after 1 April 2027) |
Two details matter when you compare them. Ontario’s figures were last updated on CaRMS in January 2025. British Columbia’s are listed as the rates that take effect after 1 April 2027, so they may not be what a BC resident is paid today. Quebec has the lowest scale at every level shown; the three Maritime provinces share the highest.
How much of a PGY1 salary goes on rent
The table below takes the average asking rent for a one-bedroom apartment in the second quarter of 2026, from Statistics Canada, and sets it against one month of the province’s PGY1 salary. The cities are the medical school campus cities named in the AFMC’s 2027 admissions guide, plus Winnipeg, Saskatoon and Regina from the University of Manitoba and University of Saskatchewan. Sorted from the lowest share of pay to the highest:
| City | Province | One-bedroom asking rent, Q2 2026 | PGY1 gross pay per month | Rent as share of gross pay | Left after rent (gross) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Saint John | NB | $1,230 | $6,548 | 18.8% | $5,318 |
| Sherbrooke | QC | $1,040 | $4,894 | 21.3% | $3,854 |
| Winnipeg | MB | $1,320 | $6,014 | 21.9% | $4,694 |
| Regina | SK | $1,250 | $5,694 | 22.0% | $4,444 |
| St. John’s | NL | $1,270 | $5,765 | 22.0% | $4,495 |
| Edmonton | AB | $1,260 | $5,620 | 22.4% | $4,360 |
| Saskatoon | SK | $1,340 | $5,694 | 23.5% | $4,354 |
| Thunder Bay | ON | $1,470 | $6,114 | 24.0% | $4,644 |
| Québec | QC | $1,210 | $4,894 | 24.7% | $3,684 |
| London | ON | $1,560 | $6,114 | 25.5% | $4,554 |
| Greater Sudbury | ON | $1,630 | $6,114 | 26.7% | $4,484 |
| Calgary | AB | $1,550 | $5,620 | 27.6% | $4,070 |
| Hamilton | ON | $1,720 | $6,114 | 28.1% | $4,394 |
| Kingston | ON | $1,720 | $6,114 | 28.1% | $4,394 |
| Halifax | NS | $1,880 | $6,548 | 28.7% | $4,668 |
| Montréal | QC | $1,480 | $4,894 | 30.2% | $3,414 |
| Ottawa (Ontario part) | ON | $1,900 | $6,114 | 31.1% | $4,214 |
| Kelowna | BC | $1,880 | $5,949 | 31.6% | $4,069 |
| Toronto | ON | $2,090 | $6,114 | 34.2% | $4,024 |
| Victoria | BC | $2,040 | $5,949 | 34.3% | $3,909 |
| Vancouver | BC | $2,280 | $5,949 | 38.3% | $3,669 |
Campus locations without their own figure in the Statistics Canada table, such as Lévis, Rimouski, Mississauga, Prince George and the Cape Breton campus, are not listed separately, and Prince Edward Island has no city in the table.
What the numbers show
- Saint John leaves the most after rent. The Maritime PGY1 salary is the highest in the country, and Saint John’s one-bedroom asking rent ($1,230) is among the lowest, so rent takes 18.8% of gross pay and leaves $5,318.
- Vancouver, Victoria and Toronto take the biggest share. Rent is 38.3% of gross PGY1 pay in Vancouver, 34.3% in Victoria and 34.2% in Toronto.
- Low rent does not make Quebec the cheapest place to train. Sherbrooke and Québec have two of the lowest rents on the list, but Quebec’s PGY1 salary is the lowest in Canada. Montréal leaves the least after rent of all 21 cities: $3,414 a month, gross.
- Within a province, the city matters as much as the salary scale. In Alberta, rent is 22.4% of PGY1 pay in Edmonton and 27.6% in Calgary. In Ontario it runs from 24.0% in Thunder Bay to 34.2% in Toronto.
How to read these numbers
- Pay is gross. These are salary scales, not take-home pay. Income tax and deductions come off before rent does.
- Asking rent is what landlords advertise. For Toronto, Vancouver and Montréal, Statistics Canada also publishes the average rent tenants actually pay, and it is lower: $1,840 against $2,090 asking in Toronto, $1,890 against $2,280 in Vancouver and $1,170 against $1,480 in Montréal (Q2 2026, same table). The paid-rent figure is a moving average of the last three quarters, and the whole table is labelled experimental.
- Each figure covers a whole metropolitan area, not the neighbourhood around a hospital.
- Rent is one cost among several. Food, transport, licensing and exam fees come on top. Our breakdown of the cost of becoming a doctor in Canada covers the rest of the training bill.
Using this when you plan your match
Money is a fair thing to weigh, but it is rarely the deciding one, and you rank programs, not provinces. Where the gap is large, it is worth knowing before interviews: for the same PGY1 year, a resident in Saint John keeps about $1,900 a month more after rent (gross) than one in Montréal.
For international medical graduates, the salary question comes after the match itself. The MCC states that passing the MCCQE is a requirement for IMGs applying for entry into a Canadian residency program (MCC). Our guides to how an IMG gets licensed in Canada and which exam to write first set out the order of steps. When you are ready to start the MCCQE, try 30 free questions.
